Aluminum iMac Disassembled and First Impressions

[usarioclave]

iMac disasembly questions

It looks like they used a suction cup to remove the glass. Other threads I've read agree that the screen is held on by magnets. Odd. So could you just pry it off?

The LCD removal looks like they just unscrewed it and lifted it up. Nice.

If that's so, this iMac is substantially easier to upgrade than the previous generation.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Anyone know what latency apple uses in the 1 GB chip they put in there? Although from what I've seen nowhere is selling better than 5.

CAS Latency 5 is standard for DDR2-667 SODIMMs

I haven't seen any faster ones available yet. One thing is that there is a huge shortage of fast (DDR2-800 and above) components, it's really hard to get DDR2-800 modules that aren't made out of overclocked 667 components. Generally, to get a lower latency, you use the faster component and reduce its clock speed

(And we don't know in fact if the MAc motherboards will automatically exploit faster latency - Apple has never built this in in the past, and of course there is no BIOS to adjust it yourself.)

 

[iSee]

Has anyone seen a more descriptive (in English) disassembly of the iMac?

I'm really curious about exactly what pieces and parts are being used.

Childish = thinking 'badass' and 'sophisticated' are the same thing.

He said sophisticated and badass, meaning it's both things--otherwise it would be a redundant statement.

Don't worry about your mistake, though.

You'll probably catch on to how conjunctions work when you grow up a little.

 

[Deefuzz]

The glossy screen being forced upon you is kind of crap.

I'm glad when I got my MBP I had a choice between glossy and matte.

More reason to save towards the Mac Pro.

 

[nemaslov]

The glossy screen being forced upon you is kind of crap.

I'm glad when I got my MBP I had a choice between glossy and matte.

More reason to save towards the Mac Pro.

OK when I work on my White iMacs with the window slightly behind me I do not see any reflection whatsoever on the screen. If I look around the screen at the glossy white plastic, I can see some reflection.

These new ones are the opposite. Reflections on the screen, none on the matte surround. I have a macbook glossy too and it is on my desk near me sometimes and I cannot work with it due to the large windows in my studio. Maybe if all I had were glossies? I just wish I had a choice. I'd choose the matte.

I also do presentations and I take my iMac with me on the road. I have an iHugger case for it and it works better than a laptop because of the screen and sound. Each environment is different and I think I would be afraid to take the glossy version with me. I never know what faces the screen and someties there are 6 to 8 people viewing not all straight on. The matte mac works perfectly for this.

 

[Digitaljim]

Tell me about your G5 enclosed Hackintosh. It sounds like what I am after.

I am very interested in your Hackintosh. The price is even better than I expected. Can you give me details? I take it that it runs OSX. If so, I want one bad.

Yep, OSX works fine once you get it going. Lots of details at http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page. Follow their guides to components that work (ie. avoid soundblaster sound cards) and hunt a cheap Mac chassis down on ebay.

 

[CasinoOwl]

You know it's really great to see that someone in Edinburgh Scotland sees this the same way I do. The more I look at it, the worse it looks to me. Notice that gigantic black staring at you 24/7? I am still stunned at what a God awful "design" this is. And the keyboard? Unbelievable how anyone can like it.

The art monsters have spoken. Nothing is personal opinion with you people. It's God Awful and that is that. I guess I must be one of those people people with incredibly poor taste you are mystified and repulsed by. I think the iMac looks great. I can't wait to get one.

 

[mongoos150]

This thing reflects light from all over the place and the keyboard is horrendous. I can't tell you how bad this thing looks because I'm looking at so many reflections of stuff throughout the store behind me that it is pathetic you can't buy this baby matt. It's a lovely piece of art but this is a case of form preceeding function instead of vice versa. Not good.

Myself and others have completely opposite sentiments. The keyboard is f*cking awesome, way less fatigue. Feels like you're typing on a flat surface. Also the reflections are not a problem at home.

 

[flipperanubi]

a

 

[khunsanook]

Kingston RAM is good, but the KTA-MBP667/1G /2G are the ones that Kingston recommends for the intel Macs, not the KVR- ValueRAM series.

There are some good options for mail order within Canada too, for Kingston Micron and Samsung.

Yes Kingston might recommend the more expensive "KTA" RAM, but I've been using the "KVR" valueRAM for the past year without a hitch. Great stuff

 

[jouster]

Arrgh. They STILL haven't fixed the biggest annoyance: The hard drive is a bitch to replace.

They're not going to 'fix' it because it isn't a problem. The iMac is aimed at people who want simplicity and ease of use. If you want a bigger HD, order one from Apple or get a Pro.

 

[autechre]

Yes Kingston might recommend the more expensive "KTA" RAM, but I've been using the "KVR" valueRAM for the past year without a hitch. Great stuff

Have you been using it in an iMac or a Macbook/pro? I don't see why there would be a problem using it (the KVR), unless I'm missing something...

 

[l33r0y]

I just switched over yesterday to mac and bought an iMac yesterday. Very sad to say that my experience has actually been pretty bad. The new iMac is great I bought the 20" 2.4 the only thing is the first one that I bought had a dot on the screen which looked like a dead pixel but when I took it to mac genius they said it was probably that something got stuck in between the glass and the screen.
I got a brand new iMac. It's been working fine today and then guess what? I notice another dot on the screen.

I'm not down with paying 1500 for an apple iMac to have to return it twice already because the screen is screwed up. It's a bit ridiculous to have this happen twice...Not very happy about switching over to apple. http://images.macrumors.com/vb/images/smilies/mad.gif

Dead or stuck pixels can occur in and LCD, be it a iMac, PC or a TV. It's not Mac specific. The only issue is as its an all-in-one system, the whole machine needs to be returned instead of just the display, which is inconvenient granted - but if you were to return your PC monitor, you still wouldn't be able to use your PC!

 

[dazzer21]

...but can I upgrade the processor (Penryn?) when the time comes...?

 

[Eidorian]

...but can I upgrade the processor (Penryn?) when the time comes...?

Yes, but enjoy opening it up.

 

[jgerry]

I'm interested in trying the new keyboards, but it looks too flat to be even remotely useful. I already hate typing on my flat MacBook Pro keyboard compared to my old IBM Model M + wrist pad. Also, why would they release a full keyboard with number pad that's wired via USB, but the Bluetooth wireless keyboard (which I'd definitely be more interested in) not include that? I don't understand that crazy decision at all. Bizarre.

As for the new iMacs? Fugly. I really don't care for the huge black area surrounding the display. NOT elegant and subdued. And count me as one Mac user who cannot stand the trend toward glossy displays. I bought a matte display on my MBP. If I had not had the option of buying matte, I wouldn't have bought the computer.

And this trend towards the cheapie 6-bit displays? Completely unacceptable from a company like Apple that used to pride itself on using better quality components.

 

[Wie Gehts]

Oh God...like sausages, I didn't want to know how this things made. It looks like someone threw a sh*tload of metal and plastic onto a large oven pan and steamrolled over it.
And its stuffed with crumpled metal foil left over from the roswell crashsite.

I want to buy, now I'm turned off. How do you replace a defective drive, God forbid after your warranty or applecare is over?
Do these things come with a keyboard an mouse anymore? Are these Santa Rosa?

I've been sitting on the fence since january. Damn you apple, there's always something not quite right with your product.

 

[Eidorian]

I want to buy, now I'm turned off. How do you replace a defective drive, God forbid after your warranty or applecare is over?

Apple does it or you get a third party repair.

Do these things come with a keyboard an mouse anymore?

They come with the new slim keyboard and the Mighty Mouse

Are these Santa Rosa?

Yes they are.

 

[thevofl]

Matte As Choice

Some people can look past this, but it is a complete distraction.

Matte As Choice!

More pics will follow

 

[mrgreen4242]

Yes, u can purchase cheap ram, but there are horror stories of doing so and people's macs get fried. The bad news, the warranty is voided because you installed 3rd party hardware. I don't know if it's u installing and/or the 3rd party ram that does it, the warranty does get x'd.
I'm a careless cowboy with my toys, and I install my own ram, but I at least try to purchase the same ram apple uses. memoryx.com will tell you which ram to get if u want to match ram and install yourself.
I could see an unethical person purchasing such ram, and if occuring any troubles, uninstalling such ram and taking it in for repairs? I think I'm just the same as you and would like to pinch some pennies when I don't necessarily have to spend a fortune

Good luck!

That's pretty much completely untrue. "Bad" memory isn't going to damage your computer, at worst it will corrupt data on your system until you remove it. Back in the PPC days some Macs were a bit picky about what RAM would work well, but these days you can get pretty much any decent brand as long as it's the right speed and memory type. Head over to Newegg.com and you'll get a good price and be able to read a bunch of reviews from other users. Typically at least one Mac user will chime in and confirm that the memory worked on their system.

The 20" is TN Film (6-bit).

The viewing angles for the 24" suggest a S-PVA or S-IPS (8-bit), but I would like confirmation of this before I buy.

Personally I wouldn't by another TN Film based iMac or monitor.

Anyone know what's in the MacBooks? I thought those were similar tech to the new iMac? Anyways, a bit disappointing, but not a huge blow for most as long as it still looks good.

The art monsters have spoken. Nothing is personal opinion with you people. It's God Awful and that is that. I guess I must be one of those people people with incredibly poor taste you are mystified and repulsed by. I think the iMac looks great. I can't wait to get one.

I'm getting pretty tired of those people too... they don't like it so it MUST be the worst thing ever! It's just notp ossible that some (even most!) prefer a higher contrast screen and are willing and able to adjust the lighting in their rooms a little to get it! Or, worse yet, some people LIKE short travel keys! OMG WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!

Some people can look past this, but it is a complete distraction.

Matte As Choice!

Only a couple of those came through for me (the ars pics, I think) but what stands out for me is that 1) the screen is off, try turning it on and checking glare, backs a big difference; 2) the first pic is from the angle you'd use it. The glare was less than my anti-glare coated CRT, and really only showed the bright flash. Not that bad, considering the improvement you get in terms of contracst and color saturation.

 

[sinser]

I love the matte finish. Ever since I got my first big TFT it's been matte. It's amazing the difference seeing no reflection of yourself or other things about the room.
Granted I have a little 19" TFT that is glossy, but I don't have problems with it because it's sheltered in a darker area by the tower.

Doesn't matter where I move the screens that have the matte finish I don't get the problem you speak of. The HDTV is also matte and its amazing the difference how the glare and reflection is gone.

The only thing that bugs me about cleaning the 19" because its glossy is everytime I wipe it you see all the little fibers start sticking to it from static. Sure that wont annoy the majority of people, but I'm picky
I don't have that problem with the matte screens, one wipe and its spotless.



Agreed.

You can see how distracting that would be, you'd need to find the perfect area to sit that from not getting all the reflections.
That would drive me crazy, doesn't matter where I position the matte screens I don't get that!

Don't get me wrong though. The new iMac I think looks beautiful, but thats too glossy for my liking. It's like a show piece. If this is the route the Apple displays are going...

Oh, man it's a true nightmare!!! I can't stop myself from complaining about these glossy screens. I'm really sensitive to on screen reflection, something that I have experienced in the past and that caused me distraction and headache. I can see that some people like glossy screens (but I don't know a single real person that prefers them over matte displays) but I just want the possibility to choose, an option. I wanted an iMac but seems that i'm stuck with my old Powerbook.

 

[MattG]

Glossy screen...suddenly I'm pretty happy with my pre-aluminum iMac.

 

[whooleytoo]

It seems to me they may have made a conscious decision to make the iMac styling fit in more with consumer electronic design trends?

 

[tomd89]

The black outline is partly to reduce the visual impact of the chin, if the whole thing was is silver then the chin would look larger than it being in two colours. Also it emphasises the screen and indeed does make it apear as if the screens floating.

Go and see one in an Apple store, they are stunning in person!

 

[whooleytoo]

The black outline is partly to reduce the visual impact of the chin, if the whole thing was is silver then the chin would look larger than it being in two colours. Also it emphisises the screen and indeed does make it apear as if the screens floating.

Go and see one in an Apple store

Yup, the black border is very effective at just that, making the chin seem smaller than it is, when it's probably virtually unchanged from the previous model.

(Unfortunately, I don't have the option of visiting an Apple Store, not without flights anyway..)