Teardown of New 4K 21.5-inch iMac Reveals Removable RAM and Modular CPU

[dogslobber]

Finally!!
Apple's new iMac is upgradable for the first time in years!! An upgradable iMac is a massive shift in direction from Apple

This. Some of us rejected the 2012-2016 models purely because they could not be upgraded as we decided. Now we can buy a low-spec machine and cram cheap part in there!

Sounds like Apple blinked first on my refusal to upgrade from 2011 iMac!

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Is it possible to take the back cover plate to a laser cutter specialist and make doors to access parts, so make it easy to change them whenever you need?

How often do you replace parts that makes it worth going to a laser cutting specialist?

 

[RogerWilco]

It's a small step in the right direction.

Yes indeed, a "small step in the right direction", LOL. Before you know it Apple will be marching boldly into the 1990s.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Finally!!
Apple's new iMac is upgradable for the first time in years!! An upgradable iMac is a massive shift in direction from Apple

Don't kid yourself. If it was "a massive shift in direction from Apple" these parts would be user accessible from the outside and wouldn't require the patience of a Saint and the skills of a surgeon to access them.

 

[tgwaste]

1TB 5400-RPM

i mean seriously.

 

[CWallace]

Do they have absolutely no clue that a casual/new Mac user is going to get the lower end iMac and have to deal with a 5400 HD and then swear them off for the next purchase? lol.

In all honesty, a casual / new Mac user is probably not going to notice the HDD speed. Especially as they are likely going from an older Windows PC that also has a slower HDD.

 

[cb3]

Does the 27 inch model have the small door on the back for upgrading RAM?

Who sells the most reliable RAM at a good price?

 

[mi7chy]

Soldered dGPU and non-standard system board form factor makes it disposable beyond warranty coverage. Better off building a hackintosh with all standard upgradable and serviceable components.

 

[Tinmania]

Sure enough, the good people at MR will find something to complain about this, too.

You say that like it's a walk in the park to get to the RAM:

After slicing through the adhesive that secures the 4K display to the iMac's housing and removing the power supply, hard drive, and fan...

I don't think many people want to do that just to upgrade RAM.


Mike

 

[crsh1976]

Wow, I must admit I'm impressed with Apple on this change of direction - I've been largely negative about them going all-soldered, this makes me very happy!

 

[aaronhead14]

This is such great news! Apple is finally realizing that customers don't like being cheated! I love this new change in course for Apple.

 

[citysnaps]

This is such great news! Apple is finally realizing that customers don't like being cheated! I love this new change in course for Apple.

How were customers being cheated?

 

[Wildhope]

This is great but it still seems difficult

 

[BorderingOn]

No, it's not. I just bought my mother one of these machines.

At 72, she's not interested in speed, much more in a lower entry price.

First, I think Apple could easily go solid state without changing the price much.

Second, people who don't know much about computers are more likely to complain due to not understanding why when they click one thing something happens and when they click another it just sits there a while. They think something is wrong. At least this has been my family tech support experience.
[doublepost=1496939095][/doublepost]

The base HD simply isn't for you (or most readers of this site). It's there as a cost savings for the enterprise, education, entry level mom and pop users, etc.

Why do people not get this? Realize that you are not an entry level consumer. Shell out the $100-200 for a better drive and stop complaining.

Why do people not get that fans of Apple products want everyone who buys one to have an awesome experience? I know I would not want a friend or family member to come back to me and say I don't know why you like that Mac so much; I just bought one and it's slow as hell.

 

[Glassed Silver]

Still far from perfect, but a very good step in the right direction.

This has me seriously ponder about my investment into the Mac platform in general again.

Overall, some very bad points aside, I have to admit that they did show solid commitment to the Mac by the now very low standards.

Now if this isn't a one-off, but a long-term strategy that they are going to repeat I will be much happier Mac user again I'm sure.

Keep it up, Apple. For once you didn't disappoint me on the Mac side in a sweeping way. (still wagging my finger at value proposition and the future of the 32bit stack)

No, it's not. I just bought my mother one of these machines.

At 72, she's not interested in speed, much more in a lower entry price.

I don't understand... It doesn't matter what your mother needs when she buys a PREMIUM computer.

The price tag Macs come with this SHOULD be the bare minimum and if your mother doesn't need it so be it, but by your logic you might as well buy her a Mercedes and claim that she doesn't need the engine it comes with, 80HP is enough after all!

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[citysnaps]

Why do people not get that fans of Apple products want everyone who buys one to have an awesome experience? I know I would not want a friend or family member to come back to me and say I don't know why you like that Mac so much; I just bought one and it's slow as hell.

So you'd be OK with Apple including the 256 GB SSD in the base iMac and increasing the price by $200 to $1,299?

But what if 256 GB isn't enough storage for that family member and they really need 1 TB?

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Good that they did this.

 

[BorderingOn]

So you'd be OK with Apple including the 256 GB SSD and increasing the base iMac price by $200 to $1,299?

But what if 256 GB isn't enough storage for them and they really need 1 TB?

Well the laptops start at 128GB and there is now iCloud Documents. Plus, I think Apple would do just find offering a lower end SSD at the same price point. They have to decide what the correct balance is between customer experience and gross margin. As it stands, I think the price is too high for the hardware you get as it directly affects one's enjoyment of the computer.

 

[CWallace]

Does the 27 inch model have the small door on the back for upgrading RAM?

Yes.

Who sells the most reliable RAM at a good price?

Crucial and Kingston are two solid options.

I don't understand... It doesn't matter what your mother needs when she buys a PREMIUM computer.

The price tag Macs come with this SHOULD be the bare minimum and if your mother doesn't need it so be it, but by your logic you might as well buy her a Mercedes and claim that she doesn't need the engine it comes with, 80HP is enough after all!

As we are mostly PC ex-pats, we tend to judge computers on their specifications because that is how we were indoctrinated to look at PCs since that was the only point of difference when they all ran Windows.

For a not-insignificant number of people, however, macOS is what makes a Mac a "premium" PC compared to a Windows box - not the CPU clock-speed, GPU fill-rate or disk transfer speed.

I know I could easily build a heck of a lot faster Windows 10 system for a heck of a lot less money, but for me, macOS is the reason for paying more for a Mac. And yes, I could roll my own Hackintosh, but the reason I switched from PC to Mac in 2007 (with an iMac) was because I was tired of the annoyance of building my own PC and then working on configuring and updating it to keep it running at peak performance. My iMacs are ready to go out of the box and remain so for the 2-3 years I keep them before selling and upgrading.

 

[citysnaps]

Well the laptops start at 128GB and there is now iCloud Documents. Plus, I think Apple would do just find offering a lower end SSD at the same price point. They have to decide what the correct balance is between customer experience and gross margin. As it stands, I think the price is too high for the hardware you get as it directly affects one's enjoyment of the computer.

But what if that family member values storage over speed. And a 1 TB drive is needed and makes sense.

In that case, and I can see that situation being true for many people, getting a base iMac for $1,099 (like you can today) makes a lot of sense and is a great value. Or pay $100 extra for the 1 TB fusion drive.

 

[fat jez]

The 5200 HD is really quite remarkable. Anybody who has gone from a 5200 drive to an SSD, as I did when I replaced the drive in my 2012 Mac mini, will know how enormous a difference this makes to the performance of a computer. Shameful profiteering from Apple.

It looks like a 2.5" drive as well, so I'm assuming space is at a premium. But since 7200rpm laptop drives are available, that's no excuse.

I ended up giving my partners 2012 iMac an upgrade with a Thunderbolt 500GB SSD, made quite a performance difference over the 5400rpm drive inside.

 

[GhostRaider]

At least a 7200rpm HDD would be accepted but still a 5400rpm is a cheap move from Apple

 

[djcerla]

First, I think Apple could easily go solid state without changing the price much.

Second, people who don't know much about computers are more likely to complain due to not understanding why when they click one thing something happens and when they click another it just sits there a while. They think something is wrong. At least this has been my family tech support experience.
[doublepost=1496939095][/doublepost]

Why do people not get that fans of Apple products want everyone who buys one to have an awesome experience? I know I would not want a friend or family member to come back to me and say I don't know why you like that Mac so much; I just bought one and it's slow as hell.

Apple could certainly include a small SSD instead of a 5400 RPM HD. But for folks like my mother that would be a downgrade as she needs space.

Apple has market segmentation policies: for people like you and me, the actual starting price is higher. But people like my mother wouldn't buy a Mac at that price, whereas they're perfectly fine with an HD.

I much prefer having the option of a cheaper version rather than not having it.
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You say that like it's a walk in the park to get to the RAM:

After slicing through the adhesive that secures the 4K display to the iMac's housing and removing the power supply, hard drive, and fan...

I don't think many people want to do that just to upgrade RAM.


Mike

Uh? You don't have to do it by yourself... Apple resellers do this kind of things every day.

 

[dannys1]

If you look at some of the Apple videos about iMac Pro you will see that it has two (at least) full size DIMM sockets so not all is lost.

Yeah, that's why I said "technically upgradable" it's not soldered. There just isn't a user accessible hatch and Apple have said it's not "user upgradeable".

I noticed that on the 21" iMac ram isn't "user upgradeable" BUT can be upgraded by an Apple service centre at a later date. It no longer says "order what you need right now". I did send this tidbit to MacRumors but they ignored it.

This is the exact message on the store.

Note that the 21.5-inch iMac comes with 8GB of memory built into the computer. If you think you may need more memory in the future, it may be preferable to upgrade at the time of purchase. Memory can only be upgraded by Apple or an Apple Authorised Service Provider if you choose to update at a later date.

 

[apolloa]

I wonder what the actual difference in cost is to apple for a 1TB 5400rpm hard disk vs say a 512gb laptop style (whatever thats called, the blade type) SSD. I would guess that it can't be much...just the weight savings could offset the cost difference to them with shipping if the SSD saves like a pound per unit

The cost savings will be massive, Apple will be making a huge fat profit by not fitting SSD drives as standard. You have to take the small price difference per drive and multiply by a few million.