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Apple Online Store Offering Refurbished Current-Generation 21" iMac, Shipping in 1-3 Days
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iFixit seemed to have no problems getting inside of the thin iMac. The case opens, apparently, just as easily as my 2007 Core 2 Duo iMac.
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2544+Teardown/11936/2
Hard drive appears to be easily replaceable, though you do need to use a heat gun to get past the adhesive holding the screen on. On the 2007 iMac you had to take a ton of stuff off JUST to get to the hard drive. The new thin one, just take the screen off and there is the hard drive.
I dont know why people are so stuck to this idea that the system is "welded" shut.
As if you would notice the difference. You wouldn't know the difference if the HD spun at 500, 5000, or 500,000 rpm or 7200 rps. it's the result that matters, does the software run very fast? Yes it does.
There could be a ****in genie hamster inside for all you know. You know what else "matters"? The length of the average circuit trace on the IC itself. How about the type of alloy of the platter? The magnetic coating thickness? The size of the sectors and number of cylinders? The inertia of the read/write head? Those matter too, why don't you criticize those specs? You must be a HD engineer right? Lmao.
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Wrong.
Returns from users who thought the thinness would make an impact on their lives.
So what's the point of an all-in-one? Why not have a PC completely sprawled out all over your desk? Aluminum is crap. it's fine if the motherboard is just sitting on the floor, ill wrap it with tin foil and it'll look good enough. Who cares about an efficiently designed desktop, it just sits there anyway.... Lmao
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It's because they're first class morons. Lol
The RAM is soldered on, isn't it? And the GPU? I did expect the hard drive to be replaceable. The iMac G5 could be opened extremely easily.
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No, it is not soldered on, just click on the linked iFixit report. There is just no access hatch for it like on the 27" model, ie, you have to take of the screen and the motherboard to get to it.
And was the GPU ever replaceable with an iMac?
IMHO CPU replacements are seldom interesting. Even if the rest of the hardware allows it, and even for the very few people who ever want to do this, it is often only done much later, when the 'upgrade' cpu has become cheap, because it's become outdated.
I'm not sure about these chips but often you need to tinker with the firmware as well, in order to get things working. All in all it is only for the most nerdy people. Which I have a soft spot for but as pointed out earlier in this thread, is probably one of the smallest minorities of Apples customers.
Often a video card, SSD and RAM upgrade are more interesting and effective ways to upgrade a computer.
I'm not sure about these chips but often you need to tinker with the firmware as well, in order to get things working. All in all it is only for the most nerdy people. Which I have a soft spot for but as pointed out earlier in this thread, is probably one of the smallest minorities of Apples customers.
Often a video card, SSD and RAM upgrade are more interesting and effective ways to upgrade a computer.
I don't know about the other iMacs, but the 2006 Intel iMac (which I used to have) had a replaceable GPU. However, it was under a lot of stuff, so it was annoying to get to. The only thing not held together only with screws was the screen, which had a small amount of duct tape (WTF?) holding it, but it was easy to get past.
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It does not. There's adhesive! From that article:
"Unlike in the previous iMac, this glass is held in place with more than magnets.
To our dismay, we're forced to break out our heat gun and guitar picks to get past the adhesive holding the display down."
"Repair faux pas alert! To save space and eliminate the gap between the glass and the pixels, Apple opted to fuse the front glass and the LCD. This means that if you want to replace one, you'll have to replace both."
"Putting things back together will require peeling off and replacing all of the original adhesive, which will be a major pain for repairers."
That sounds horrible. But I did find one cool thing:
"Dual microphone technology has been utilized in mobile devices for years to cut out background noise during phone calls. Now, the same idea is being applied here to improve sound quality during intimate FaceTime chats with your mother."
To get real anal retentive with the definitions here, you can still replace the GPU in the current 27" iMacs, since they're using easily swapable MXM cards. The problem is, finding another MXM card to replace it with.
Welded...NOT
Only the very thin aluminum sides of iMac next to screen is welded to back curving aluminum plate. Glass screen & flat panel monitor are laminated together then glued / sealed into place.
Only the very thin aluminum sides of iMac next to screen is welded to back curving aluminum plate. Glass screen & flat panel monitor are laminated together then glued / sealed into place.
Everyone knows this basic fact. I was speaking generically.
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Insane, no. Overpriced, yes.
No, the ram is glued in and not soldered as first thought. Its just a dab of hot glue.
On Apple's online store, upgrading from the stock 500GB drive to a 750Gb drive costs $160NZ. Looking on somewhere like Ascent, the difference between the average 500gb drive and the average 750gb drive is about $30NZ, and in many cases less. That means Apple charges a $130 premium on the upgrade from a 500gb to a 750gb drive, which is totally ridiculous.
Yep, only 1800 rpm SLOWER than existing drives in "old" iMacs
Regardless, it doesn't look good for Apple to sell refurbs so soon after release...
I wonder how much more Apple shares will drop this week
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...How do you know this? Cache specs or real life tests? They're not even made by Apple, by the way.
I didn't care for the drive speed really. Barely know the difference. But the speed of the 21" I bought was just too freaking slow. And I returned it.
It makes a bigger difference than you'd think. Comparing my Mac running off two striped HDDs versus just one HDD, everything opens so much faster when striped. And then my friend's rMBP with its SSD blows mine away, booting up in about 10 seconds.