I already know that the RAM is not user upgradable but does this new stir friction welding make it even harder for us to pull apart the iMac to install our own RAM anyway?
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How hard will it be to upgrade RAM on 21"
- Thread starter MorganJones
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I would guess that the RAM on the 21" iMac might just be soldered into the motherboard, if their latest laptops are any indication....
We have no idea until someone does a teardown. It might not be upgradable at all - ie, soldered to the logic board.
It might just be hard to get to. Until someone actually gets their hands on one and takes it apart, the only people who can give you a definitive answer are Apple themselves.
The new welding process will have no effect on getting into the iMac. Everything depends on if they still use magnets or some kind of clips to hold the glass/display in place. If they do still use magnets or clips, it will be possible if the ram is not soldered to the logic board. If the display is held in place with any kind of adhesive, you will probably be out of luck.
looking at the Tech Specs page on the iMac webpage it says "8GB (two 4GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 memory" under the memory section which would indicate that it is not soldered on, since it would be on 1 chip if it was soldered on.
It's 2 x 4GB because it's dual channel RAM. The total number of actual chips involved could be 4, 8, or 16, depending on the density of the individual chips. The original 4GB that came with my MBP had 32 total chips, 16 on each module, the 8GB I upgraded to has 16 total chips.