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Teardown of New 21.5-inch iMac Reveals Glued Down LCD and Dual Microphones
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It was done for reasons
My brother is a genius and fixes these everyday this was done because they got complaints about dust after they take it apart between the screen and glass. Apple is just fixing issues before they happen to stop complaints and make it easier and faster to get your computer back when people bring them in. People just get apple care!!!!!
My brother is a genius and fixes these everyday this was done because they got complaints about dust after they take it apart between the screen and glass. Apple is just fixing issues before they happen to stop complaints and make it easier and faster to get your computer back when people bring them in. People just get apple care!!!!!
Applecare for a 21 inch is only 169 for 3 years, lower with a student discount. Its really not that much...Best Buy is 269, and doubtful they have student discounts. plus you have to deal with best buy, the most infuriatingly out of touch company in tech sales
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This is incorrect, there are no Macs with i3 processors in them
I'm sorry, but you obviously have not been around to see that this iMac is EXACTLY the company that Apple has always been.
1. Apple has always dictated to users what they want. Guess who ditched the 3.5 first? Apple burns through connection standards faster than anyone else, USB, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, Thunderbolt, Lightning, 30-Pin.
2. Apple has totally switched platforms at least 2 times since I've been a Mac user. Each time they support the legacy platform for a minimum amount of time and then completely, 100% drop support. OS 9 > OS X. PPC > Intel.
3. Apple computers since the return of Jobs have been about trying to achieve a balance between aesthetics and performance. The G4 Cube was underpowered, overpriced, but gorgeous. My first Mac laptop was a G4 Powerbook Titanium. Gorgeous machine, but WHEN one of the wimpy hinges inevitably failed, you had to pay for a costly repair because the screen was (surprise, surprise) glued to the bezel. Or hack it up yourself and repair it with an epoxy.
Apple is and always will be a premium computing brand. Being in the Mac OS world means you have to just accept that it will cost more in the long run, and you will have to be willing to swallow what Apple gives you each time.
However, saying that Apple doesn't build quality computers is ridiculous. They may not have the specs you want, but they push manufacturing to its very limit. They use higher quality materials than any other manufacturer.
This is wrong. There are. Education specials of yesteryear. Not yet for this iteration of iMac but pretty sure there was for the 2010 iMac for sure. Maybe even the 2011?
As you can see even here where the 2011 iMac with i3 shows up in the benchmarks
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1499395/
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You don't have to fix your car yourself. Main point is that it has to be fixed. Usually by someone else. Making that harder will cost you more.
Apple is making this for short term profits.
They get much higher profits for making disposable computers.
People need to buy more AppleCare, since they can't repair macs by themselves any more. It will cost Apple a whole lot more to fix these new macs under AppleCare, but they get more profits by selling more ram and storage. Suddenly Apple has became like HP, which get most of its profits by selling ink to printers.
A mac buyer used to buy enough ram and storage for now and upgrade later if needed. Now they have to max ram and storage at the start even if they don't need them now and Apple is charging quadruple prices for that.
Most pc makers are not following Apple on taking away features, expandability and repairability. Many new pc's have still vga and other legacy ports and nobody has problem with them. On most pc's you can still change ram and storage by yourself.
If Apple would just license osX out, everybody would just be happy.
Not that they even have to care about osX and macs anymore.
They are making about 3% of their revenue from desktops and probably a lot less of their profits, desktop computers are any longer only a PR thing for Apple.
Bad repairability and expandability of macs will drop their resale value fast and in few years people will buy less of them because of this.
And when many countries does not have even single Apple store this isn't so easy thing to do.
These new iMac "none-in-ones" will became abysmal mess of wires and boxes; external GPU, external ODD, external HDD, external SSD, and so on...
Since you can't be sure now if you need 16GB or 32GB in 2015 with 10.9.
So why pay Apple 4 times as much for that additional 16GB that you might not even need? Really, why? Because Apple does not give you any choise...
Still, the real matte screen would be much less reflective. But hey, you couldn't advertise how nicely the glass is glued to lcd, if there's no glass...
100% of hdd's will break some day. And many would like to have bigger and faster hdd/ssd even if the old one hasn't died yet.
Let's see after few years, who would still pay those amounts for an old iMac, whose ram and storage can't be reasonably replaced. Those old iMacs might end up more expensive than new ones. And this is Apple's idea; people would buy new ones instead of used ones. So I wouldn't rely on resale value any more.
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You do understand the problem of your logics here?
When power users upgrade, where does their old computer go?
To the non-power users!
And what happens when their non-upgradeable hdd dies?
They get mad and don't buy used computers from power users anymore.
Suddenly, the problem does affect the power users...
How many people do you know who *buy* second hand computers? Because I know none. And besides, the VAST majority of HDDs will last more than 5 years...
Quite a large number do that's why the is such a strong market for second hand Mac's.
I appreciate that. I have sold one such machine (2007 Macbook Pro) myself via Amazon. But I suspect these buyers are buying these machines as an entry level into the Apple ecosystem, which these days is essentially the MacBook Air range that sport SSD so the HDD failures is not an issue...
Second hand iMac? Less likely. You can hardly send these through the post!!!
Again there is a large market for second mac's to include desktop mac's particularly 27's. People use them as TV's as well as computers. You also have to remember most people care very little what Processor, RAM or HDD it has as long as it does their office work and then can run netflix on it.
For example I just sold my PM G5 Quad on Amazon for 500 euro.
So where do these macs that power users "upgrade" go?
Vast majority doesn't cut.
Would you buy a computer that's storage has 40% chance of failure for the first year of ownership and you or computer shop nearby you can't replace it or replacing costs more than the hard disk itself?
Have you checked google's and other studies about hdd's failure rates with gigantic amount of samples?
It cracks me up when people say their computer is "Gorgeous" ..lol
Would anyone here recommend the base 21" iMac to run AutoCAD?
Would anyone here recommend the base 21" iMac to run AutoCAD?
Computers, like cars, are tools. No one wants an ugly car. Why should they want an ugly computer?
Hmmm, maybe ifixit could tell us precise location of ram slots relative to chassis, so those who want easy access can dremel a door for ram upgrade... 
Ha ha!!! That's what I am gonna say when I get mine. Waiting for my 27 inch. Yes, I am a girl lol.
Apple is using the same methods to keep this skinny desktop together that they have "perfected" in their throw-away merchandise. A by-product MAY be reduced dust inside, but I doubt that had any reason behind it.
As to "just get AppleCare!!!" - Fine, if you're paying for it.
Apple is already under attack from at least 1 country for pushing AppleCare, when in fact they are responsible for FREE repairs for their products for more than their standard 12 months, under consumer laws. To push AppleCare is bad enough, to push it because a new line of computer has been manufactured in a way to make it incredibly hard to repair - that is just absurdly anti-consumer.
Frankly, I hate that idea that "Let the buyer beware" would become Apple's motto.
First, HP is posting losses these days, not profits. Second, checking their net revenues, the Printing division which counts ink and hardware itself (consumer and corporate) is not their big money maker at all, that's just some forum-goer-lets-laugh-at-HP rumor :
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MTYyNzc1fENoaWxkSUQ9LTF8VHlwZT0z&t=1
Page 7 contains the gory details. Out of 29B$ of net revenue, the printing group, hardware and ink was responsible only for 6B$. Their biggest money makers are Personal Systems and Services. Page 9 breaks it down even more showing printing supplies (ink if you will) is only a 4B$ part of their revenue stream. If you want to discuss pure margins, page 11 shows that Software is their highest margin sector, with Services barely trailing printing.
HP's offering portfolio is much more balanced than Apple's in a way, they just aren't making money this year contrary to Apple that has been riding the wave of the iPhone (close to 50% of its revenues).
So let's stop spreading the "HP is an ink company" FUD please.
Spot the Reg reader.
It's an appropriate term.
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Great, so it becomes a three year then throw it away PC. It might be made out of highly recyclable materials but that's no use when the HDD fails after 38 months and you have to throw it away. Better to repair than replace.
If they'd used anything other than glue I wouldn't have a problem with it. If they're that confident in the non-serviceable product they'd include a three year hardware warranty as standard.
Yes because we're always looking to upgrade our TV's with a new hard drive...oh...no...wait...more ram...no...hmm...
How the hell you managed to compare a TV's serviceability to a computer is beyond me.
You can upgrade the hard drive when you buy the computer. If you unexpectedly become a wedding photographer a year later, you just buy a damn external hard drive.
As with phones and tablets, computers are becoming more of a consumer electronic device, than a hobby device.
Which is great, because when was the last time your tv crashed, or you had to flash the firmware on your car because you bought new tires?
A better car analogy would be, would you buy a car without a hood? BTW, some people do modify their cars firmware.
Only problem with this is Apple Genius' don't actually have any inside information as to why Apple does what they do. So your brother is guessing.
Well yea, there were i3s in Macs 2-3 years ago, when the series was relatively new...and I guess educators get the "day-olds" so to speak. I meant there are currently no Macs available for purchase through a mainstream channel, as the OP implied
No. There was. Until 21st November 2012 you could buy an i3 iMac. Sorry. But it's true. Very niche. But it was available...