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Teardown of New 21.5-inch iMac Reveals Glued Down LCD and Dual Microphones
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Several times more powerful? Even Intel would not dare to make such claims. We have around 10-15% increases in pure CPU power every year (Geekbench), but that does not usually translate as well to real world use and applications.
Is a 2012 iMac several times more powerful than a 2010 iMac? No. If you upgrade the hard drive and RAM a 2010 iMac can do 90% of the things that people normally do on a computer just as quickly as the 2012 iMac can do. Why should that person have to throw away a perfectly functioning computer that is slowed down by a hard drive?
This is a good post, and I thank you for it. So I suppose I'd have two things to say.
#1 Do you happen to know if anyone has inquired with the FTC to find out if this is sufficient grounds for voiding the entire warranty? The reason I ask is because it seems to me that changing the drive can cause the HD's fans to spin out of control, but that will damage the drive and not the other components in the computer. But since the HD drive is third party anyway, any warranty issue on that drive is to be taken up with the third party, not Apple. So I don't see why this should affect your warranty for the other parts.
#2 In any case, I'd inclined to now agree with you that unless you are willing to challenge Apple on these warranty issues, it's not a good idea to be swapping out the HD yourself.
Actually, no. If that were the case, there would be absolutely no point to the mandatory 2 year warranty. What you have to prove is that *you* didn't cause it to stop functioning, not that it was DOA. (IIRC, in the first year, the manufacturer has to prove that you *did* to avoid it being covered.)
Also, at least in the US, if you're getting warranty work done (even by an authorized third-party, as described in the original post), they usually get reimbursed for labor by the manufacturer. If it's different where the OP is, that sucks.
Guys, we've already said that CH is not part of the EU - forget about the two-year warranty. As for reimbursements from Apple to the AASP, I have no idea. The technician told me that the PSU coming fom Apple costs 110; plus 90 for labor. That's all.
Supposing I bring in my iMac to an authorized service center to install a third party SSD, will they do it? In this case the warranty remains intact..
No, I cannot say that I have, but I can see how this would go. From Apple's point of view the hard drive in the iMac is not just an air filter part that falls within the user-serviceable category. They have made it an inherent part of the design (hence the use of propriety connectors and firmware). Therefore I do not think you would able to argue Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. It would only apply in the case of memory. If you swapped the memory to brand B, and it is within Apple's specifications, then if some other part of the iMac stopped working some time down the line, then Apple would not be able to void your warranty.
Point 2: I think if you had a lot of money and time, you could potentially try to argue your points in court. But I think Apple would be able to get better lawyers...
The data is more densely packed on a 2.5", so a 1TB 2.5" might be faster than a 1TB 3.5" of both are 5400RPM (number of discs and read heads may also affect it). 5400RPM drives may have worse latency than 7200RPM, but the density makes up for it anyway.
I'd prefer a 3TB 3.5", though, because the largest 2.5" I can get is still 1TB
Their target audience are techies. We love technologies. How does it hurt them if something is hard to fix? I mean you said it yourself. They make money off page hits. And they will still get page hits. A lot of people visit them just to see their teardown, and learn about gadgets. We don't buy their tools, and they will still profit. They deal in knowledge not tools. So no conflict of interest. People interested in tech will always be interested in tech.
Edit: Just for emphasis, nothing they sell are exclusive items that you can only get from them. They just tools necessary for repair. And again, if something is easy to repair, you won't even need these specialized tools.
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That means, I only have the 768GB SSD option from Apple? That's sad. They should at least offer a 256, 512 option.
I was wrong, I tried to delete my post but it appears to be too late. SSDs don't have fans do they? If not, since Apple does offer SSD options, it seems like SSD installs should be ok, but I don't know if there are subtle arguments to be made here for the illegitimacy of installing SSDs. If they do have fans, then it seems to be a non-starter.
It's kind of annoying how people call them out for doing their job. They break things down to see how easily self reparable they are. If something isn't, they mark it as such. That's what they do.
It's pathetic for anyone to try and rag on them or make them look like they're grubbing for money just because they didn't paint an Apple product in the best light possible.
Okay I was talking about the 2011 iMacs where HD replacement by end users has been screwed up because of Apple using custom firmware on the hard disks for temp control.
So 2012 iMacs don't have that issue? From your post, thats what I can infer.
Hard drives and SSDs don't have their own fans. The fans that are being discussed are system fans and are placed wherever Apple deems them necessary. But both SSD and HDDs can get hot and hence why they have temperature sensors. Depending on what the temperature sensors report, the System Management Console (SMC) will tell the fans what to do. In the 2011 iMac to replace the hard drive one basically had to short that sensor so that it gives a pointless reading, but at least does not cause the fans to spin up at max RPM continuously. But the temperature of the storage drive is no longer being managed by the SMC. Apple can easily argue that you've broken the design of the system.
The problem we're discussing is inherent to how Apple have designed the temperature sensors to be part of the hard drive, so it applies to SSDs and HDDs.
I am not talking about the standard flash drives that are found in the rMBP and the 2012 iMac The default flash drive in the 2012 iMacs is not a normal 2.5" form factor SSD. It is more like an mSATA SSD, as found in the rMBP and goes in a different place. Regardless, you could potentially swap the normal hard drive to a 2.5" SSD, and then also put in a "mSATA like" (Since Apple uses its own propriety connector here too) flash drive into the appropriate place.
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What are you talking about? Why shoot the messenger (iFixit)?
1. Apple charges exorbitant prices for storage during initial purchase
2. Apple makes the one component in a computer that is most prone to failure to be non-serviceable
I cannot see how one could potentially think this is a good thing or try to criticise the messenger that is confirming this. Some of you are truly the perfect consumers that corporations desire. Sell them anything and they will buy it. Never mind, they will even defend our design choices that clearly make it worse for them. And we wonder why people criticise Apple fans? I am an Apple fan. I love Apple products and have more of them than most people here. That gives me a duty to criticise their design decisions that are bad for the consumer. Only mindless drones accept whatever they are served.
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+1
What exactly are you and the person you quoted actually adding to the discussion, apart from reaffirming the Apple fan stereotype? It's funny how the 1984 Apple advert to make fun of IBM is now a truth when it comes to Apple.
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I don't believe this is the case, but the iFixit tear down does not confirm it one way or the other. This is actually one of the worst iFixit teardowns that I've seen. It seems rushed and lacking information and does not say anything about whether we have the same issue with the temperature sensor that we had on the 2011 iMac. Maybe we can wait for OWC to pitch in on this issue - normally something appears on their blog a couple of days after the launch of a new iMac.
Having said all that, I am 99% confident that the drive in the iMac will have propriety firmware and propriety temperature sensors.
This is fair, yet it happens so rarely because power users upgrade so regularly. For non-power users, it's irrelevant because most wouldn't know what to do anyway and a large proportion welcome the drama as it allows them to buy new gear without buyers remorse...
I agree. Just because iFixit dares to criticise an Apple product we have the obligatory bashing. I think it's absolutely ludicrous and sad.
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There is clearly a large market for aftermarket Mac RAM. That is why all of the major aftermarket RAM manufacturers have Mac RAM validation and include the info on their products. They would not be doing this if it didn't make business sense to them. To say it's a small proportion of users is naive and misinformed.
So you say, that iMac's with SSD option are custom build macs and you can only go with a SSD when you are buying the computer? There is also no working SSD upgrade later?
I was only talking about spinners. I am in the market for DIY memory myself so I agree with you Seb. For what it's worth, after the iFixit report, I decided against doing that on the top
Of the range 21.5" and have opted instead for the 27"
Of the range 21.5" and have opted instead for the 27"
You don't know what type of tape Apple is using. Plus Apple has no idea either how long this "tape" will be effective for. Just cutting corners again for Apple and cheapening the brand at every turn since Job's passing imo. Maps, iPadmini, scratchgate, so on and so on.... 3 things Job's would of gone bonkers over.
Yes, to have an SSD in the 2012 iMac you need to opt for the Fusion drive or the pure flash storage. The fusion drive is just 128 GB flash storage + normal mechanical HDD + a special version of disk utility that will make the flash storage and mechanical drive appear as one to the OS + algorithms that manage where your data is actually stored, probably at the CoreData level.
It depends on what you mean by "working". I cannot say with any absolute certainty whether an upgrade via an AASP to an SSD or "flash storage" will be offered on the 2012 iMac. People will find work arounds though and there will be ways to do the upgrade via unofficial means. That will mean voiding your warranty though.
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Err... what? Apple will be very sure how long this tape lasts for. It would have gone through rigorous testing. Since you have absolutely no idea about industrial design there is really no point in continuing this conversation.
Yes, everything was perfect when Mr Jobs was around...
1998 hockey puck mouse
The cube
MobileMe
iPhone 4 antenna
MusicMatch and its inability to do basics like show all the album art on all devices, even though it's on the master from where I matched my library - it's actually the most amazing random algorithm I've ever seen since there is no logic to which songs/albums it forgets the art work for.
and the list goes on
...oh, no, wait. It wasn't at all. Take off the rose-tinted glasses.
Thanks for the explanations! That means, that Apple should at least offer the 256GB or the 512GB solution. I'm not happy with the Fusion-Drive. First of all, it's only 128 GB of flash memory and second if I like to install bootcamp I have no chance to put windows on the SSD ( is that right? At least I read something about it). Also the Stress-Test from Mac World has shown some weak points... teach me if I'm wrong....
Agreed. I don't want to pay £1000 for a 768 GB flash drive that is not user-replaceable either.
Yes, there is no chance. If you have the 1 TB fusion option, then you can only create the Bootcamp partition on the mechanical hard drive and will see no benefits from fusion when in Windows. That means Windows will run the from the slow HDD. You cannot install Bootcamp at all if you have the 3 TB fusion drive, due to a bug and we cannot be sure when Apple will fix this.
In my perspective there are too many disadvantages when it comes to Fusion drive and I don't have the time to discuss them all tonight.
The main one is that considering Apple's track record with version 1 software releases, I wouldn't trust Fusion drive with my data. When they manage to get Time Machine to actually work flawlessly, then I shall reconsider my views. If you have used the same Time Machine backup for a long time, then you'll know what I am talking about. Effectively you will get to a point where you can no longer back up and the TM status stays at "Preparing for backup" for hours without doing anything. The only recourse seems to be to format the back up drive and start a new Time Machine backup, which negates the entire point of having an incremental backup in the first place.
Some people seem to divide up the world into those that like Apple unerringly, and...THE ENEMY! As if the only true way to be a fan of something is to never question or complain about it.
And that's the thing. I think the new iMac is pretty good, save for the couple of things I'm complaining about. I'm not griping about not be able to easily replace the harddrive just to have something to gripe about. It's a legitimate concern for me. I don't want to have to deal with the extra hassle of taking it to a repair shop just because "olol, DIY is not something most people do so it's not needed". Who cares what most people or do don't do? It's a computer. Computers have been self serviceable (to a point) for the last 20+ years. I can understand some things be proprietary due to the small size and shape of the machine. But the harddrive and ram? They're bog standard parts. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to just swap them out. Just put a couple little beveled holes in the back and there you go. It'll ruin the feng shui of the thing, but...who cares? Like we're all going to be lovingly staring at the backs of our iMacs all the time, gently running our fingers across the perfectly smooth aluminum surface as our eyes slowly glaze over from the wonder and delight.
Now I can find ways around maybe possibly not being able to pop out the drive. Mounting a couple of SSD's via Thunderbolt is (from my as of right now limited amount of studying on the subject) a perfectly acceptable solution without practically any drawbacks. If I go with this new iMac, I might end up doing that some time down the road. But still, it'd be nice to have both options.
...even if I am one of the rare, neglected, and completely unimportant .001% of the population that knows a tiny bit about computers beyond IT TURN ON AND PLAY MUSIC AND INTERNET OLOL WEEEEEEE.
Yeah, telling possible buyers that a 1500 dollar computer is un-repairable outside an Apple store is suchhhhhhhhhhh a bad thing.
You want to say, that it's possible to install the whole System ( OS X and probably bootcamp) on a external SSD ( USB3 or Thunderbolt ) and use the iMac Drive only as an archive Drive? Why not. This would open more options. E.g. to buy the 3 TB internal drive and Boot from a fast and cheaper SSD.
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I've only glanced at a few articles, but apparently it is doable.
Once I got a bit more time, I'm gonna read up a lot more on it.