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

[v3nt]

teardown is cool but are there any benchmarks / performance tests?

 

[gnasher729]

I think this violates one or two of Dieter Rams' design principles.

Good design makes a product useful. It'd be more useful to have a detachable screen.

Good design is environmentally-friendly. It'd be better to have the computing components in the base for easier upgrading of the much more rapidly depreciating parts. Running this components away from the screen should increase its lifespan too.

Apple are interested in higher profits (making disposable commodities) over good design - last time I ranted about that, it was directed towards Microsoft.

Why would an iMac be more useful with a detachable screen? Actually, that would be total nonsense. You _might_ talk about an iMac with a detachable computer, but I doubt anyone wants that.

Have you read any of Apple's reports about enivronmentally friendly design? Probably not.

What you are asking Apple to do is actually something that nobody wants. Building a product with the intent that it can be upgraded in three years time is something that nobody does unless they want to go bankrupt. If someone buys an iMac today and in three years they think it's too slow, it gets sold or handed down. _I_ don't want to pay the extra cost for a rubbish design made for a usecase that I don't care for, and nor do 99.9% of customers.

 

[dafgag]

why isn't it called itearit?

 

[rjohnstone]

I just noticed that in one of iFixit's pictures, the iMac says it's assembled in the USA.

Interesting they didn't make a point of that on Thursday.

Final assembly is here, however all the components are manufactured in China.
None of it is manufactured here.
Not sure how Apple sees this as economical in any way.
More a PR thing I suspect.

 

[thekeyring]

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.

The new Mac Pros can support 4K displays, and presumably will be updated to support 5K when there are more 5K monitors for sale.

 

[hagr182]

I want one, but Apple Mexico charges a premium over the U.S. final price. Does anyone knows if the fully speced iMac is available in stores? or if i can order a custom one to an apple store and pick it up?

(I need the i7, 4gb video, max ram config for my needs and future proofing, storage I could care less since I own many external HDDs from my work)

 

[Mashurrab]

You make t sound Apple has never used Samsung part in other products too.

And that's not true.

You say most.... I would say that would include phones, which the screens are not LG at all.

I never mentioned SAMSUNG anywhere in my comment and never said that they are not used and so your comment is not true.

About SAMSUNG, years ago you would see SAMSUNG a big percentage of any product APPLE has made, but recently you can see a full line that does not have a single SAMSUNG part in it like the new 5k iMac.

In all cases LG is still the biggest screen manufacturer in the world and sometimes bad patches happen and they get replaced. I have seen this in many "high end" products not from APPLE.

 

[AlecZ]

I keep going back and forth between them with my home desktop builds and I honestly can't say there's much difference. The only difference you'll see is when a certain game is optimized for a certain GPU brand ... but if your GPU is powerful enough ... it's irrelevant.

For games, this is true. It's interesting that if you want to do Bitcoin mining, there's a big difference. AMD is better for whatever reason. Not that I'd ever do that, but I know a guy with a mining rig / server / Hackintosh.

 

[AlecZ]

I think this violates one or two of Dieter Rams' design principles.

Good design makes a product useful. It'd be more useful to have a detachable screen.

Good design is environmentally-friendly. It'd be better to have the computing components in the base for easier upgrading of the much more rapidly depreciating parts. Running this components away from the screen should increase its lifespan too.

Apple are interested in higher profits (making disposable commodities) over good design - last time I ranted about that, it was directed towards Microsoft.

There's also sleekness, which people value, and few care about detachable screens. But I personally prefer the iMac G5 design above all. It was as easy to open as a Gateway tower. Also, it had no annoying tapered edges or bulge on the back and a solid color instead of two-tone. The only problem was that the parts were horrible.

 

[metanoiapi]

I just watched the tear-down video. I'm disappointed to see the magnets for the LCD go; if a so-called "genius" ever worked on my iMac (heaven forbid) the iMac would never be the same again-what with the double sticky tape and all; most likely there would be a few gaps around the edges. What a shame :-(

 

[JHankwitz]

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?

If I recall right, there were rumors over a year ago of Apple working on displays that everyone thought were for the upcoming Apple TV. Looks like this is what they were working on. LG will likely be able to license this from Apple.

 

[RDStrong]

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.

The current Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) standards are 2k (2048 × 1080) and 4k (4096 x 2160) with 8k in the works. 5K would be too much of a minor jump to be worthwhile.

 

[JHankwitz]

Will it bend if I sit on it?

 

[mBox]

Not sure if its been mentioned but are the Thunderbolt ports shared?

 

[mainstreetmark]

The hardware in the iMac is hugely superior to any Mac Mini that you can buy, so I'd say you are making inflamatory remarks just to wind people up.

And once Dell gets going, you can buy that monitor without a computer, for exactly the same price as the iMac.

I'm not trying to be inflammatory. I am stating that many people prefer more rez to more cpu, and because of that, the Mac Pro isn't an option.