iFixit Teardown of New 21.5-Inch 4K iMac Reveals DCI-P3 Display, Empty Solder Pads

[Tech198]

Well done chaps.... Jolly good show and all that. !! *raises glasses*

Noting gets past iFixit regardless how hard it is to repair,...... They'll bust it wide open like a nutcracker cracks nuts..

Maybe a tough nut to crack... but persistent pays off ....

Just because Apple decides no one should service something themselves but not put thing screws, making it touch to open, doesn't mean u don't have a right to. Just because your in the Apple eco-system is not a valid point of that either... You bought it, u should be able to ticker if u want.


Apple does it's thing, and so do I.. (Apparently so does iFixit....)

 

[iCloudStrife]

I know it's tradition and I know it's a great point of difference for Apple, but at this point a non-expandable all-in-one desktop computer is just in no-man's-land if you ask me.

 

[pat500000]

My 2015 27" iMac is scheduled to be delivered to my door on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday next week. My credit card has already been charged, so I highly doubt they're going to charge me more. I'm getting 16GB RAM, which Apple says will be two 8GB modules (leaving the other two sockets empty). OWC has announced they are selling upgrades to 64GB, so that's an option (though more than I think I really need). I'm also getting the 2TB fusion drive, which should be big enough to hold my working files.

Hypothetically, Apple could be charging a lot more for a lot less computer than they really truly are. Given that hypothetic scenario, I could arguably be less willing to pay their price.

But I don't expect the specs or price of what I ordered to get changed before next week.

At least we have some sane people in this world.

 

[trifid]

Once more, people whining and screaming at Apple ....
Every news the same pattern.

These are the iMacs nowadays. Wonderful all-in-one not supposed to be customized or repaired by the final user. You must know that the day you buy it. There are no screws, no lids or whatsoever that could induce customers to think they are user serviceable. And you can ask the Apple salesman if you need confirmation.
Well, it will surprise you but my wife, or my father, or my uncle doesn't service her/his computer by herself/himself. And like them, millions and millions of other users all over the world.
So this could be a factor in a geek forum like this, but just a First World Problem out there.
Other than that, in forums like this, people are more educated than the average, so YOU ACTUALLY KNOW the iMac isn't serviceable. You actually know the standard HDD is just crap and you basically have to add $100 to the price to have a decent Fusion Drive.
My point ? You MacRumors user know what the iMac is. You like it, you configure it in the right way and buy it. You don't like it, you don't buy it.
Without being such a drama queen over the forum....

I'm not going to buy an iMac, but if I do, I'll configure it with a 512 Gb SSD and I would be sure to have a nice enjoyable computer for the next 4-5 years, with an AppleCare for sure. If it will broke, I surely would rely on Apple for servicing it.

Keep that attitude and Apple will solder ram on the 27" imac next year and charge you $500 for it. They have already soldered ram on the 21", this year they have soldered SSD. Next year? 27" iMac might not let you install ram. My point? If we don't voice concerns and give feedback to Apple, they will keep crippling whatever little expandability there is left.

You might say, well, why discuss this here? Go to Apple directly. No. Discussing here raises awareness with the mac community which communicates with family/friends/social media, and spreads the word, which in turn has better chances of reaching Apple.

And btw, I DO support for my family, if they ask me more speed, if I can install ram on their, iMac I will do it. If I can remove a couple of screws from their macbook and change the SSD, I will do it because it's doable. If Apple solders SSD on macbooks guess what? No more upgrades. This trend has to stop, and it starts by talking and discussing it here.

 

[oldmacs]

And btw, I DO support for my family, if they ask me more speed, if I can install ram on their, iMac I will do it. If I can remove a couple of screws from their macbook and change the SSD, I will do it because it's doable. If Apple solders SSD on macbooks guess what? No more upgrades. This trend has to stop, and it starts by talking and discussing it here.

Same with me. I do exactly the same thing for many people. A lot of people have a computer support person who does similar things for them.

 

[Max(IT)]

Disappointing but not unexpected. Apple has been pushing toward disposable computers for years now, and in the coming years we'll see what fallout this creates as users discover these Macs don't have the longevity of older models.

At least the 2.5" drive is replaceable, with some effort; most upgraders won't bother with the SSD slot anyway as Apple SSDs use proprietary interfaces and are difficult to come by. Replacing the hard drive with a SATA SSD is far more cost effective and for almost all purposes as good as using an Apple SSD.

What a silly definition is "disposable computer" ...
If you configure well your iMac, it will works flawlessly for 4-5 years at least. And it will keep an high resale value even after that period, being a good choice for someone with less needs.
If it will break, Apple can service it. Not being user serviceable doesn't mean not being serviceable at all !
I know that on a tech geeks forum most of the people are able to do it by himself, but this doesn't reflect the average customers attitude.

 

[oldmacs]

What a silly definition is "disposable computer" ...

It is designed to be disposable. After all if the SSD fails, then you have to replace the logic board, which is often more expensive or close to the expense of buying a new computer. Like how an iPhone is disposable as when it gets to slow, you have to buy a new one, instead of like a computer where you can upgrade it.

If you configure well your iMac, it will works flawlessly for 4-5 years at least. And it will keep an high resale value even after that period, being a good choice for someone with less needs.

Most people don't have the funds to do so. I'd give a baseline iMac 3/4 years before it became outdated. How do you think 2008 era Macs are still useful today? 2GB of ram and a slow 160GB Hard-drive (what my 2008 Macbook had) would not be at all useful by 2012 had the RAM and storage been soldered.

Do you not understand that most users will not have the funds or the ability to upgrade their Mac at purchase to something that will be still good to use into the future? That means when they have to (prematurely) get a new computer, their old machine will be far less desirable.

This is why iOS devices last for a much shorter time than Macs. If you could upgrade the storage or RAM on an iOS device, the iPad 2 for example would be far more useful today. Of course we know why iOS devices are not upgradable (they are designed to be as portable as can be), but the iMac is a DESKTOP machine. EG one that you will only move occasionally.

Resale value will be less for a machine that has hopelessly outdated and non upgradable specifications. The base iMac in a couple of years will be hopelessly outdated.

If it will break, Apple can service it. Not being user serviceable doesn't mean not being serviceable at all !
I know that on a tech geeks forum most of the people are able to do it by himself, but this doesn't reflect the average customers attitude.

Its far less environmentally friendly having to have Apple replace more than just the individual component. Soldering things means that it is more expensive, less environmentally friendly and more likely to get dumped.

Many average customers get their computer person or an upgrade place to fix/upgrade their Mac. Once my warranty period ends stuff Apple's over priced prices, I go elsewhere to get better service, less expensive service and great customer service.

We are in a world where we live beyond our means and the environmental damage and impact of the throwaway society is massive, so now more than any other time is where we should be ensuring that things are repairable in a modular way, upgradable and will last as long as possible. And of course this isn't what apple wants to do, they're a corporation and anything that could cut into their profit margins doesn't matter to them.

 

[Jimrod]

Ah well, my desktop PC is slowly dying and for a long time I'd been hoping to finally get an iMac, sadly for the rendering work I need to do they are just not man enough for the job. I can only see Apple products going downhill in desperate attempts for "thinness" nowadays (only at the edges and not including stands, camera bumps etc of course).

Jony and Tim seem to be all about the image, ego, fashion market rather than actual tech, Steve at least seemed to be able to get the balance about right... Yeah I'm being one of "those" guys but every new product that comes out seems to sway my opinion more that way.

 

[McGiord]

Once more, people whining and screaming at Apple ....
Every news the same pattern.

These are the iMacs nowadays. Wonderful all-in-one not supposed to be customized or repaired by the final user. You must know that the day you buy it. There are no screws, no lids or whatsoever that could induce customers to think they are user serviceable. And you can ask the Apple salesman if you need confirmation.
Well, it will surprise you but my wife, or my father, or my uncle doesn't service her/his computer by herself/himself. And like them, millions and millions of other users all over the world.
So this could be a factor in a geek forum like this, but just a First World Problem out there.
Other than that, in forums like this, people are more educated than the average, so YOU ACTUALLY KNOW the iMac isn't serviceable. You actually know the standard HDD is just crap and you basically have to add $100 to the price to have a decent Fusion Drive.
My point ? You MacRumors user know what the iMac is. You like it, you configure it in the right way and buy it. You don't like it, you don't buy it.
Without being such a drama queen over the forum....

I'm not going to buy an iMac, but if I do, I'll configure it with a 512 Gb SSD and I would be sure to have a nice enjoyable computer for the next 4-5 years, with an AppleCare for sure. If it will broke, I surely would rely on Apple for servicing it.

The real thing is that we all were used to select a mid tier iMac and then be able to upgrade it as needed in a few months, nowadays you have to pay more for getting the configuration you want, and this now is something between $300-$1200 extra that we were not used to pay for it. Specially when Financing is not that easy as it was before. The mid tier model was always available for example at Best Buy and there you can have zero interest financing, currently they don't do any customization, and Apple isn't offering good financing deals to existing and long time customers. The sad part is that they are only focused on making the iMac affordable and easy to finance to those whom are willing to pay for the low tier model which is a ripoff, catering mainly to new customers. Sadly these marketing experiments seem to be providing them with more $$$$ and loyal Apple customers like us are simply venting our frustration.
If money isn't your problem good for you, many of us don't have that extra cash to get the right configuration as we used to get.
Apple makes it harder by not releasing a Mac mini or a model in between it and the iMac, in addition to not releasing a 5K display, and eliminating the possibility for target display mode.
We are stuck with glued disposable only configurable Macs when you initially buy them, again we were used to get a decent model that we could upgrade in a few months with whatever RAM and storage we wanted without breaking the bank account or risking to damage the computer. So it's no longer only the cost side of it, but the physical limitations of components that are soldered or cannot be replaced at all.

 

[navaira]

My fiancee's 27" iMac (late 2011 if I recall correctly, can't be bothered to switch it on now and check) was getting a bit slowish, especially with VirtualBox running Windows on 1 GB of assigned RAM. I expanded the RAM to the max. VirtualBox runs like a dream now. Applications open and close faster. He's still on a 5400 rpm spinner, so SSD will be the next step.

Obviously Apple's idea is now "you want faster? buy a new one for more money". This is going to work with the sort of people who have no problem spending €2500 on a new computer. Ones who can't afford to do it are either stuck with a slow computer, or, well, get a Windows PC.

Mac sales dropped year-to-year, didn't they? Something tells me they will again in 2016.

Also it's hilarious to see that iFixit prove that the iMac is basically impossible to upgrade and somehow many members here take it as a clue to scream at iFixit like they soldered the RAM on.

 

[Max(IT)]

iFixit promotes environmental responsibility by calling out companies that make unrepairable products. I had the battery replaced in my retina MacBook Pro and it required replacing the entire top case of the computer. It's strange to see all these pedants on MacRumors when Apple was founded by people who flouted convention and law (anybody remember Woz's blue box, or Steve Jobs backdating stock options?). iFixIt broke a contract between two companies--it wasn't found guilty of committing financial fraud like Apple was by the SEC. Does no one remember Steve Jobs flying a pirate's flag over the Mac building? He was a conniving, thieving person and proud of it. My grandparents lived where he started out. He would borrow money from people to work on projects at Apple who never saw a penny back. iFixIt is innocuous compared to all the compromises in ethics a company as large as Apple has to make just to exist as it does with its ridiculous profit margins. Tim Cook oversaw all product manufacturing leaving the US to a country with horrendous human rights violations, and Apple spends millions each year buying Congressmen to further their interests, including trade deals and pushes to nearly eliminate capital gains tax on profits made abroad. Rooting for Apple against the big guys in 1997 was one thing, but it's a bit sick now.

Wow never seen such a compilation of BS in the same post.
Unrepairable? Who said that ? Apple can repair EVERY SINGLE PRODUCT they sell. It is difficult for USERS or third party unauthorized to do it.
All the other things about apple being bad and evil just made me laugh and I don't even take time to comment.
But ..... Tim Cook oversaw what ? Dude reality check: most of the electronic products are made in China.
And you surely have plenty of evidence about Apple bribe congressman....

 

[0098386]

That's very sad to hear and does affect my decision to buy one of these when my current iMac goes.

 

[McGiord]

Wow never seen such a compilation of BS in the same post.
Unrepairable? Who said that ? Apple can repair EVERY SINGLE PRODUCT they sell. It is difficult for USERS or third party unauthorized to do it.
All the other things about apple being bad and evil just made me laugh and I don't even take time to comment.
But ..... Tim Cook oversaw what ? Dude reality check: most of the electronic products are made in China.
And you surely have plenty of evidence about Apple bribe congressman....

everything can be repaired with money. The point is it shouldn't be there a need to repair them if the Macs didn't stop working. Currently my late 2013 27" iMac has the spring that keep it in position from the base broken. A design or manufacturing issue that showed up 2 months after the first year. I don't get Apple Care and never will. **** happens but it is happening too frequently. Go to any Apple store and see the proportion of people buying stuff vs the people waiting for a repair or service. Apple manufacturing Quality is terrible. Paying $150-300 per repair or replacement of a component that may cost $5 isn't right, specially something which shouldn't be damaged during the lifetime of the computer, which now seems to be just one year.

 

[joshen]

The NDA mess in here bahahaha. Get over it.

 

[Max(IT)]

I also love Apple. They still offer me the best Operating System and in general hardware design that I like and nifty things like MagSafe. Most people I know off the internet call me an Apple Fanboi, but I just don't like non repairable/ non upgradable hardware, especially when its not for achieving portability (iOS devices and Macbook Retina/Airs). I don't like it when any other company does it, but especially when Apple odes it as the competition tends to follow.

And you keep spreading FUD by calling iMacs non repairable. They are. By Apple.
The fact you can't do that doesn't mean it can't be repaired.

Or perhaps some people don't just like to support everything Apple does, especially when they're decisions motivated on making Apple richer, that negatively impact upon the environment and the longevity of machines. If Apple weren't making decisions like this than there wouldn't be complaining.

I can guarantee that you'd have the opposite arguments, and would still support Appel if this was the other way around and making their computers more upgradable.

I'm not supporting anything since I'm not going to buy an iMac.
Every other considerations about me you can leave out of the thread.
Apple made a decision, you vote with your wallet. Last time I checked, in a collapsing market where all the others vendors lost 11% over the last year, Macs were the only computer gaining 6%

 

[oldmacs]

Wow never seen such a compilation of BS in the same post.
Unrepairable? Who said that ? Apple can repair EVERY SINGLE PRODUCT they sell. It is difficult for USERS or third party unauthorized to do it.
All the other things about apple being bad and evil just made me laugh and I don't even take time to comment.
But ..... Tim Cook oversaw what ? Dude reality check: most of the electronic products are made in China.
And you surely have plenty of evidence about Apple bribe congressman....

So we have to pay the price of an entirely new logic board if the SSD dies? or one ram module?

Having to pay Apple prices for repair often means that it makes more sense to replace the whole machine, which is poor for the environment.

 

[oldmacs]

The fact you can't do that doesn't mean it can't be repaired.

So you think its better than instead of simply replacing a dead SDD, that you now have to pay Apple's inflated repair costs to replace the WHOLE logic board instead of just the SSD?

Do you understand the economic and environmental ramifications of that?

I'm not supporting anything since I'm not going to buy an iMac.
Every other considerations about me you can leave out of the thread.
Apple made a decision, you vote with your wallet. Last time I checked, in a collapsing market where all the others vendors lost 11% over the last year, Macs were the only computer gaining 6%

Apple made a poor decision. Poor for customers and poor for the environment. You are supporting it as you've decided to stand up for Apple because for some reason you think that its higher profits for Apple is more important than the environment or customers.

I find it laughable that people use sales data to justify things. Mcdonalds sells more than then high end restaurants do. Does that make the decisions they make about their food any better? No it doesn't.

 

[trifid]

Wow never seen such a compilation of BS in the same post.
Unrepairable? Who said that ? Apple can repair EVERY SINGLE PRODUCT they sell. It is difficult for USERS or third party unauthorized to do it.
All the other things about apple being bad and evil just made me laugh and I don't even take time to comment.
But ..... Tim Cook oversaw what ? Dude reality check: most of the electronic products are made in China.
And you surely have plenty of evidence about Apple bribe congressman....

Replacing the entire motherboard just because of SSD failure isn't repair, it's replacement, because Apple will probably charge you $1000 for a 'repair' that should cost $100 to replace just the SSD alone and you'll likely buy a new mac at that point. So please, stop being disingenuous. "Oh dude but you should be Applecare" No. More profits for Apple just because they are being greedy and solder the SSD? No way.

If something is being made complex unnecessarily (soldered SSD) expect users to rightfully complain about it. It makes zero sense to solder it, other than more profits for Apple due to servicing and upgrades.

 

[arcite]

Love the iMac, hate that Apple is continuing down the road of making their products un-upgradable.

Apple products are essentially just disposable now.

The imac has Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3, plus ethernet. What more connectivity does one need?

 

[oldmacs]

All the other things about apple being bad and evil just made me laugh

So you must be ok with Apple breaking laws? Thats nice then

 

[Max(IT)]

Keep that attitude and Apple will solder ram on the 27" imac next year and charge you $500 for it. They have already soldered ram on the 21", this year they have soldered SSD. Next year? 27" iMac might not let you install ram. My point? If we don't voice concerns and give feedback to Apple, they will keep crippling whatever little expandability there is left.

You might say, well, why discuss this here? Go to Apple directly. No. Discussing here raises awareness with the mac community which communicates with family/friends/social media, and spreads the word, which in turn has better chances of reaching Apple.

And btw, I DO support for my family, if they ask me more speed, if I can install ram on their, iMac I will do it. If I can remove a couple of screws from their macbook and change the SSD, I will do it because it's doable. If Apple solders SSD on macbooks guess what? No more upgrades. This trend has to stop, and it starts by talking and discussing it here.

So you are basically fighting an Holy Crusade against Apple ? Oh my, give me a break...
Only thing Apple is listening are sales numbers.
If all the people are concerned about non upgradable iMacs, sales numbers will be low and Apple will react.
I bet it's not going to happen because 4K iMacs are wonderful.
Btw in this sense I'm playing your game: I'm not going to buy one....

It is designed to be disposable. After all if the SSD fails, then you have to replace the logic board, which is often more expensive or close to the expense of buying a new computer. Like how an iPhone is disposable as when it gets to slow, you have to buy a new one, instead of like a computer where you can upgrade it.




Most people don't have the funds to do so. I'd give a baseline iMac 3/4 years before it became outdated. How do you think 2008 era Macs are still useful today? 2GB of ram and a slow 160GB Hard-drive (what my 2008 Macbook had) would not be at all useful by 2012 had the RAM and storage been soldered.

Do you not understand that most users will not have the funds or the ability to upgrade their Mac at purchase to something that will be still good to use into the future? That means when they have to (prematurely) get a new computer, their old machine will be far less desirable.

This is why iOS devices last for a much shorter time than Macs. If you could upgrade the storage or RAM on an iOS device, the iPad 2 for example would be far more useful today. Of course we know why iOS devices are not upgradable (they are designed to be as portable as can be), but the iMac is a DESKTOP machine. EG one that you will only move occasionally.

Resale value will be less for a machine that has hopelessly outdated and non upgradable specifications. The base iMac in a couple of years will be hopelessly outdated.



Its far less environmentally friendly having to have Apple replace more than just the individual component. Soldering things means that it is more expensive, less environmentally friendly and more likely to get dumped.

Many average customers get their computer person or an upgrade place to fix/upgrade their Mac. Once my warranty period ends stuff Apple's over priced prices, I go elsewhere to get better service, less expensive service and great customer service.

We are in a world where we live beyond our means and the environmental damage and impact of the throwaway society is massive, so now more than any other time is where we should be ensuring that things are repairable in a modular way, upgradable and will last as long as possible. And of course this isn't what apple wants to do, they're a corporation and anything that could cut into their profit margins doesn't matter to them.

All this speech about environmental are just an excuse on your part ....
Do you think Apple just trash defective boards ? They swap , they repair and then then put it in refurbished units.
iMacs and Mac in general aren't cheap computer. If you can't afford to pay up front for the model you need, taking in account your needs for the next 4-5 years, you shouldn't buy one.
Now since you seem to be tech savvy, you should know what configuration you need and could decide if you can afford it or not.

 

[arcite]

Replacing the entire motherboard just because of SSD failure isn't repair, it's replacement, because Apple will probably charge you $1000 for a 'repair' that should cost $100 to replace just the SSD alone and you'll likely buy a new mac at that point. So please, stop being disingenuous. "Oh dude but you should be Applecare" No. More profits for Apple just because they are being greedy and solder the SSD? No way.

If something is being made complex unnecessarily (soldered SSD) expect users to rightfully complain about it. It makes zero sense to solder it, other than more profits for Apple due to servicing and upgrades.

If it fails within warranty period, Apple will pay for it. Otherwise, as with all other Apple hardware, buy AppleCare. This isn't rocket science.

 

[Wahlstrm]

Please don´t show me this..

I just hate the feeling I get when seeing that basically the smalest $0.5 component failure will turn the iMac I want in to a $4000 paperweight..

 

[Max(IT)]

My fiancee's 27" iMac (late 2011 if I recall correctly, can't be bothered to switch it on now and check) was getting a bit slowish, especially with VirtualBox running Windows on 1 GB of assigned RAM. I expanded the RAM to the max. VirtualBox runs like a dream now. Applications open and close faster. He's still on a 5400 rpm spinner, so SSD will be the next step.

Obviously Apple's idea is now "you want faster? buy a new one for more money". This is going to work with the sort of people who have no problem spending €2500 on a new computer. Ones who can't afford to do it are either stuck with a slow computer, or, well, get a Windows PC.

Mac sales dropped year-to-year, didn't they? Something tells me they will again in 2016.

Also it's hilarious to see that iFixit prove that the iMac is basically impossible to upgrade and somehow many members here take it as a clue to scream at iFixit like they soldered the RAM on.

No. Mac sales are growing, in a collapsing market...

 

[trifid]

If it fails within warranty period, Apple will pay for it. Otherwise, as with all other Apple hardware, buy AppleCare. This isn't rocket science.

You don't solder SSD on a motherboard, not on a macbook and not on a desktop machine, it's not rocket science