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New Product Teardowns Continue: iMac, Mac Mini, Magic Mouse

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Following on the heels of yesterday's dissection of the new MacBook, the remainder of Apple's major new products have now been subjected to similar analysis.


095745-oct_09_imac_500.jpg


27" iMac Teardown (iFixit)
First, iFixit features the new 27" iMac. Among the discoveries in the teardown:

- Use of the 27" iMac as an external display via its MiniDisplayPort connector requires that the machine be fully powered up, as the signal is routed through the main logic board.
- The 27" iMac unsurprisingly carries the biggest power supply ever seen in an iMac, putting out 310 watts.
- The CPU and GPU are located on opposite sides of the machine and have separate massive heat sinks, allowing Apple to utilize desktop-class processors within the thin iMac's profile for the first time. In addition to the heat sinks, the iMac carries six temperature sensors and three large fans to aid in heat dissipation.
- The AirPort antenna is routed to directly behind the Apple logo on the rear of the machine, providing better Wi-Fi performance by placing the antenna next to the only plastic portion of the machine's back.

iFixit also dissected the new Magic Mouse that is included with the updated iMac models and can also be purchased separately. The teardown reveals the expected touch sensor capacitors under the top surface of the mouse from the Apple logo forward. The Magic Mouse also uses a keyboard-and-mouse-specific BCM2042 Bluetooth chip from Broadcom for communication.


095746-oct_09_minis_500.jpg


Comparison of New Traditional (left) and Server (right) Mac mini Models (macminicolo.net)
Finally, macminicolo.net offers a comparative dissection of the new traditional and server Mac minis released earlier this week. The two versions are essentially identical with the exception of swapping in a second hard drive for the optical drive (and a corresponding modification to the exterior case to eliminate the optical drive slot) in the server model. The new models are also nearly identical to the previous-generation models with the exception of minor spec bumps.

Article Link: New Product Teardowns Continue: iMac, Mac Mini, Magic Mouse
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2009/10/22/new-product-teardowns-continue-imac-mac-mini-magic-mouse/
Glad to see the iMac teardown happen early too. I am highly considering the quad core system.

The cooling capacity, large power supply, and the ability to use it as an external IPS monitor for my MacBook Pro are all awesome features. Never thought I would replace my aging PowerMac with an iMac, but this is the first iMac that really has me thinking.

image.php
 
The Mac Mini Colo guys have the most revealing revelation IMO. The March 2009 Mini (and the new Mini) both support 8GB of RAM now after the recent firmware update. The new Mini's come with this update already applied.

I tried to get the guys over at Mac Sales to test with 8GB of RAM after that firmware update and had a bit of an email thread going with a guy but gave up on it after 2 weeks without an answer.
 
The inside of the 27'' iMac looks sinister. Has Apple ever used black circuit boards before?

pcguru83 said:
Nope. Regular old 2.5" drives.
Click to expand...

Seems like they should have used one 3.5'' drive instead of two 2.5'' drives...
 
Interesting that the video signal is routed through the motherboard rather than "direct" to the display. Does this mean they could potentially offer the ability to capture & record video via this port?
 
pcguru83 said:
The Mac Mini Colo guys have the most revealing revelation IMO. The March 2009 Mini (and the new Mini) both support 8GB of RAM now after the recent firmware update. The new Mini's come with this update already applied...........
Click to expand...

no answer to my biggest question: whether the cpu is soldered though
 
Mac Mini CPU

Does anyone know if the CPU in the new Mac Mini is socketed? The colo teardown doesn't show or mention this and ifixit hasn't done the new mini yet...
 
Interesting, unless I missed something in the teardown pics, it looks like there's nothing in the chin but the ram. I wonder if Apple kept it around just because it's a trademark look.

Also, if the video input is routed through the motherboard, does that mean that it won't work if the motherboard is fried?
 
jav6454 said:
310 Watts isn't that much power when you think of it. A decent gaming computer will make you buy a minimum 500W and up.
Click to expand...

That's why the best video card you can get on the new iMirror is a one year old mid range ATI card on a $2K computer and you're stuck with it for the next 3-4 years. The triumph of form over function.
 
Chaszmyr said:
The inside of the 27'' iMac looks sinister. Has Apple ever used black circuit boards before?



Seems like they should have used one 3.5'' drive instead of two 2.5'' drives...
Click to expand...

Yes, they've slowly been switching over to black for over a year now. The unibody laptops all have black PCBs, the Nehalem Mac Pro and the previous-gen (Nvidia 9400-based) iMac have black PCBs as well,
 
why not 7200RPM?

I am still unclear why Apple only puts in 5400RPM drives in the Mini...they are much noticeably slower than a 7200RPM.

Heat?

I dunno...I've replaced numerous laptop's with 5400 drives to 7200 and never had an issue.

Most Mac sites that offer drives/kits to upgrade your Mini (at least since 2007) showcase 7200RPM drives and I've never heard anyone complain of a problem after upgrading.

It would be a nice $50 option on the Minis (especially the server models) to upgrade to a 7200RPM drive.

Anyone else have thoughts?

-Eric
 
pcguru83 said:
The Mac Mini Colo guys have the most revealing revelation IMO. The March 2009 Mini (and the new Mini) both support 8GB of RAM now after the recent firmware update. The new Mini's come with this update already applied.

I tried to get the guys over at Mac Sales to test with 8GB of RAM after that firmware update and had a bit of an email thread going with a guy but gave up on it after 2 weeks without an answer.
Click to expand...

Maybe he died.
 
Sort of off topic, but..

Does anyone know if iFixit (and others) put these disassembled machines back together and they always work perfectly first time? This is the bit I find more interesting!

AnDy
 
3.06Ghz LGA 775 CPU - real desktop version YEAH!YEAH!! and these processors are cheap :cool: apple is making ton of money from even the base iMac!

base three model with LGA775 socket and one model with 1136

E8600 (6M L2 cache, 2 Cores, 2 Threads, 3.33 GHz 1333 MHz FSB 45nm) $266
E7600 (3M cache, 2 Cores, 2 Threads, 3.06 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB 45nm) $133
 
Too bad you can't buy the mini with the dual hard disks without Leopard Server. Put in an SSD to boot from and a 7200 rpm disk for files along with 8GB RAM and you have the headless mac many are looking for.
 
mlyon said:
Too bad you can't buy the mini with the dual hard disks without Leopard Server. Put in an SSD to boot from and a 7200 rpm disk for files along with 8GB RAM and you have the headless mac many are looking for.
Click to expand...

Just get one of the Optical to 2.5 Sata adapters referred to in the 27" teardown article and roll your own. I think I am going to go that route.
 
ericinboston said:
I am still unclear why Apple only puts in 5400RPM drives in the Mini...they are much noticeably slower than a 7200RPM.

Heat?

I dunno...I've replaced numerous laptop's with 5400 drives to 7200 and never had an issue.

Most Mac sites that offer drives/kits to upgrade your Mini (at least since 2007) showcase 7200RPM drives and I've never heard anyone complain of a problem after upgrading.

It would be a nice $50 option on the Minis (especially the server models) to upgrade to a 7200RPM drive.

Anyone else have thoughts?

-Eric
Click to expand...
I upgraded my 2007 Mini to a WD Scorpio Black 320Mb 72k HDD with no issues at all so it should be perfectly possible to offer 72k HDDs as an option and as you say there is a noticeable performance increase.
 
mlyon said:
Too bad you can't buy the mini with the dual hard disks without Leopard Server. Put in an SSD to boot from and a 7200 rpm disk for files along with 8GB RAM and you have the headless mac many are looking for.
Click to expand...

That's what crossed my mind too. Guess there's nothing stopping someone doing that themselves now. Prob more hassle than it's worth, but then it could be a good project:)
 
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