Do new iMacs contain non-replaceable battery?

[Schtibbie]

I saw some teardown photos of the current iMacs (not very tear-downable at all of course) and I thought I saw one of those round 2032 batteries in there. Is that the PRAM battery? If so, how on earth would that EVER get replaced? Is it supposed to last way way longer than anybody keeps a machine? And by "way way longer", I don't mean just 3 years...

 

[c1phr]

I have windows boxes that are pushing over 10 years old (they're Linux servers now) and have never had that battery replaced. In fact, I think I've only ever had to replace one of those coin batteries ever. I think that PRAM battery being user replaceable should be the least of someone's worries.

 

[rigormortis]

the way macs seem to work i figure, is that your coin battery could be dead. it could of died 5 years ago, and you would have no idea it has failed, because every time the computer boots , it just gets the new time off the net

on a pc, it would be more drastic it would make you go into cmos settings and set all that stuff each time you boot

something that the mac does automatically

the way i figure, if your clock battery dies, you might notice it, if you turn off your computer, and your volume control wasn't the same as it was before you turned off your computer, i suppose

i remember changing the coin cell in my mac mini 2006, i forgot why i did it

probably there major reason that none of us have to change the pram battery often is we never actually turn off and unplug our computers.

remember the ATX standard. the ATX changed the motherboard , in such a way that parts of that motherboard are always on and are in a low power standby state, and in order to actually turn off the computer all the way you have to actually physically unplug the computer

 

[senseless]

I've had off brand coin batteries fail in high temperature commercial computers after just 4 years. I assume Apple is using a high quality battery that will last much longer.

I don't know if the battery is always discharging, or just when the computer is off.

 

[Brian Y]

the way macs seem to work i figure, is that your coin battery could be dead. it could of died 5 years ago, and you would have no idea it has failed, because every time the computer boots , it just gets the new time off the net

on a pc, it would be more drastic it would make you go into cmos settings and set all that stuff each time you boot

something that the mac does automatically

the way i figure, if your clock battery dies, you might notice it, if you turn off your computer, and your volume control wasn't the same as it was before you turned off your computer, i suppose

i remember changing the coin cell in my mac mini 2006, i forgot why i did it

probably there major reason that none of us have to change the pram battery often is we never actually turn off and unplug our computers.

remember the ATX standard. the ATX changed the motherboard , in such a way that parts of that motherboard are always on and are in a low power standby state, and in order to actually turn off the computer all the way you have to actually physically unplug the computer

Kind of true, kind of not. The PRAM battery is only used when the iMac is unplugged. You could remove the battery, and the machine won't lose the time or other settings until it is switched off at the mains.