Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iFixit Tears Down New Retina iMac, Internal Layout Largely the Same as Prior Generation

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,556
30,884



Though the new iMac with 5K Retina display was just released yesterday, iFixit has already acquired and disassembled one of the new machines, giving us a look at what's underneath the iMac's ultra thin display.

Apple's newest iMac continues to use many of the same design elements from previous iMacs, including an easily accessible RAM upgrade slot on the back of the device. With the RAM slot, users will be able to install their own RAM modules with little trouble.

retinateardowna.jpg
The 5K display, which has a resolution of 5120 x 2880, was manufactured by LG Display, the same supply partner that has manufactured iMac displays for Apple in the past. Aside from the display, iFixit found that the Retina iMac internals look much like the internals of the 2013 iMac, with the sole difference being a wider display data cable.

Along with an AMD Radeon M290X GPU and i5-4690 processor from Intel, the iMac contains SK Hynix 256 MB GDDR5 SGRAM. It uses the same SanDisk PCIe SSD as the late 2013 Retina MacBook Pro, with Marvell Controller, and it uses the same AirPort/Bluetooth card that was used in the 2013 27-inch iMac.

retinateardown1.jpg
The 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display earned a repairability score of 5 out of 10, the same score earned by the 2013 27-inch iMac. iFixit pointed out that the RAM, hard drive, and CPU are user replaceable with some adhesive cutting, but removing the glass and LCD panel from the machine remains a difficult task for all those but the most dedicated do-it-yourselfers.

Article Link: iFixit Tears Down New Retina iMac, Internal Layout Largely the Same as Prior Generation
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/17/fixit-tears-down-new-retina-imac/
mainstreetmark

mainstreetmark

macrumors 68020
May 7, 2003
2,228
293
Saint Augustine, FL
I am thinking that someday soon, we'll be seeing 5k cinemas. Same deal, minus the mac-mini Quato'd into the back. Word on the street is Mac Pros are suffering due to lack of 5k (4k?) option.

I've always preferred to upgrade my LCD and my CPU's separately, but perhaps that's just from old habits.
 
Seramir

Seramir

macrumors member
Nov 10, 2006
85
20
Oh no, LG displays again. Prepare for the onslaught of uneven yellowing and image persistence issues! :eek:
 
B

bbplayer5

macrumors 68040
Apr 13, 2007
3,129
1,127
Coming from an Apple tech, I can say these aren't as hard to repair as they appear. I actually like this design compared to some previous models.

The only drawback is having to buy special kits to repair them.
 
PowerBook-G5

PowerBook-G5

macrumors 65816
Jul 30, 2013
1,243
1,179
Rogifan said:
We need an iPad Air 2 teardown!
Click to expand...

No, how about that iPad Mini 2.5 - err, 3.

And how did iFixit get one so fast? Did the physical Apple Stores actually have them, or what? I very highly doubt that Apple would give iFixit a unit to do a teardown on.
 
C

coolfactor

macrumors 604
Jul 29, 2002
7,066
9,731
Vancouver, BC
Seramir said:
Oh no, LG displays again. Prepare for the onslaught of uneven yellowing and image persistence issues! :eek:
Click to expand...

I'm curious if the innovations that Apple packed into this display are exclusive to Apple, or if they are industry technologies that LG is free to use in displays for other customers?

Note that I said innovations, not inventions. I'm not claiming that Apple invented anything new, but they have delivered a top-class display, and clearly were involved directly in its design, especially with the custom timing chip. Would other companies be able to replicate that chip easily, I wonder?
 
MrWillie

MrWillie

macrumors 65816
Apr 29, 2010
1,466
484
Starlite Starbrite Trailer Court
coolfactor said:
I'm curious if the innovations that Apple packed into this display are exclusive to Apple, or if they are industry technologies that LG is free to use in displays for other customers?

Note that I said innovations, not inventions. I'm not claiming that Apple invented anything new, but they have delivered a top-class display, and clearly were involved directly in its design, especially with the custom timing chip. Would other companies be able to replicate that chip easily, I wonder?
Click to expand...

If I remember the keynote correctly, didn't they say that they had to invent the timing chip ? I am sure Samsung will announce their 5k display sometime next week, with their 'own' custom 'timming' chip, that they too have been working on.
 
N

Naaaaak

macrumors 6502a
Mar 26, 2010
637
2,068
The 5K display… was manufactured by LG Display
Click to expand...

DANGER! DANGER!

As much as I wanted to pull the trigger and order one of these iMacs yesterday, this is the main reason I didn’t get one right away. I am a first-gen MBPr owner who was – and still is – being burned by LG’s burn-in prone display.

csoG7HH.jpg


App Store and some other windows were visible for only a couple of mins before I started the installer. You think the Vista-like frosted-glass effect in Yosemite is cool? I’ve been living it for the past ~2.25 years.

Best of luck to new iMac owners.
 
W

wikiverse

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2012
690
955
mainstreetmark said:
I am thinking that someday soon, we'll be seeing 5k cinemas. Same deal, minus the mac-mini Quato'd into the back. Word on the street is Mac Pros are suffering due to lack of 5k (4k?) option.

I've always preferred to upgrade my LCD and my CPU's separately, but perhaps that's just from old habits.
Click to expand...

The thing about apples displays is that they aren't used by most professionals because they aren't even close to being the best in the market in terms of colour accuracy, especially for the price. And since 5k cannot runnover TB2 there is little to no chance of seeing a 5k apple Cinema Display within the next 12-18 months.

There isn't a market for them and they're currently technically impossible without dual TB ports being used or using a sub-4k signal that is upscaled in the display, which again would be a deal breaker for high end pro use.
 
Tankmaze

Tankmaze

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2012
1,707
351
I see this as apple pushing retina display to the desktop which would trickle down to the low end mac and eventually would get cheaper as the next revision comes out. And at that time, I would definetely buy the retina imac.
 
N

NomadicTy

macrumors regular
Feb 11, 2007
244
184
Fusion Drive

Would anybody know how much of the 3 GB Fusion drive would be SSD, and how much spinner?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom