Thanks to a report by an iLounge reader, additional details on internal differences between the 30GB and 60GB iPods have been discovered. As initially shown through a diagnostic test of the new iPod, the 60GB model actually contains twice as much SDRAM – 64 Megabytes rather than 32 Megabytes. SDRAM typically serves as a buffer for audio and video clips, and additional memory can reduce the number of times an iPod’s hard drive is accessed, thereby further improving battery life.
Like the 32MB component, the 64MB chip is a Samsung part, here labeled K4M51163PC. Previous teardowns of the new iPod have not revealed this difference in components, as they have focused on the less expensive 30GB iPod.
In combination with the 60GB’s new hard drive, which is shown to be a Toshiba MK6008GAH, and the unit’s battery (additional pictures of which are shown at Read More below), the additional memory helps the larger iPod to provide nearly six hours of tested audio run time over the smaller one, over two more hours of photo slideshows, more than one hour of additional on-screen video and over two extra hours of on-TV video. As noted in our comprehensive review, this is the first time that component differences between full-sized iPods have been used to create battery performance distinctions between models.
