iMac Memory and HD Upgrade

[deadkenny]

Hi!

I'm want/need to buy a new Mac because I will give my current CoreDuo "Blackbook" to my little brother when he starts studying by the end of September.

I really want some extra real estate on my screen that's why I will go for a 24" iMac. Unfortuneatly the memory and HD are extremely expensive in the Apple Store. I get a full 4GB of fast DDR2 667 RAM over her for the price of the Upgrade from 1GB to 2GB in the Apple Store. The same with the HDs - a 500GB HD will cost as much as upgrade as the HD would cost stand alone.

Now my questions: Does the iMac need S0-Dimms like a Notebook or will it work with standard DDR2-DIMMs and is it possible for me to change the HD or will that break/void my warranty?

 

[Parsec]

Check this page. I believe it will answer your question about memory.

Check this page for the disassembly of the iMac, however it doesn't seem to be that easy! You are warned !

But, I think that if you buy it at an Apple store nearby, they would gladly install it for you for a small fee. Perhaps you can even negotiate such a deal beforehand. At my store they even advised me to not purchase the RAM from Apple, but from the store and they installed it for me. It was half the price. If I were to upgrade the HD, I'm sure they would install it for me for a small fee.

Hope this helped you out.

Later, Parsec.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Now my questions: Does the iMac need S0-Dimms like a Notebook or will it work with standard DDR2-DIMMs and is it possible for me to change the HD or will that break/void my warranty?

Check the Guide on this -- we've covered this many times before.

Clarification -- Apple Stores (the Apple company stores) will not install third party RAM. Independent Apple dealers might do it for a fee.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I wish the hard drive could be swapped out as easy as the memory.

 

[deadkenny]

Hello All,

thanks a lot for the information. There is no way that I'm going to strip my iMac like that to replace the HD. That's just too freaking for me - I wish they had a slide at the bottom compareable to the one on the MacBook.

I will go for this configuration:

24" iMac
2.8 GHz C2D EE
1GB RAM (which I will upgrade myself with 2 x 2GB DDR2 667)
500GB HD

The 500GB HD ist the last one with a reasonable price IMHO. They charge 90€ for it and I would have to pay around 90€ for a 500GB HD here in a local shop. Of cause I'd have the 320GB extra then but that's ok for me. A used 320GB will bring 30€ on ebay at most.

We'll get a huge network harddrive or something similar anyway for time machine once leopard comes out.

I've got another question concerning the memory. There are different versions available, some say "DDR 667 CL5-5-5-12" some say "CL4-4-4-15" and most common are "CL5-5-5-15". What could that mean? CL4 ... is only available in 1GB modules not in 2GB modules.

I'm going to wait with my purchase until my brother is in his new school and get educational discount (and maybe a free iPod) then