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

[mudflap]

Anything else you need, you whiny, soiled-rotten Macrumors serial complainers?

Wow. Apple have withheld the solder and glue!!

Thats good - but in 2017 why is Apple still selling computers with 5400RPM ( despite being fusion ) hard disks..? Not even 7200..

Probably because Apple figured out that the 5400 rpm drive was barely slower than the 7200. And yes, I'm serious.

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

Wow. Apple have withheld the solder and glue!!

Thats good - but in 2017 why is Apple still selling computers with 5400RPM ( despite being fusion ) hard disks..? Not even 7200..

But beware.

if you feel that the drive can be easily replaced to a SSD, think again.

I remember (just vaguely) that Apple had embedded a non-standard temperature sensor on their drives which forced MacSales.com to provide a clumsy external adapter to account for the sensor, interposed between board and drive.

And here it is, from MacSales.com! With a warm welcome to Tim Cook's bean-counter playground:

"Unlike Prior Generations, Apple iMacs from late 2009 to current 2015 & later utilize digital reporting and even custom firmware for SMC drive temperature reporting. OWC's Exclusive HDD Kits include our custom digital monitor that 'talks Apple SMC' and maintains proper temperature reporting and Apple Diagnostic compatibility allowing you to upgrade an existing 3.5" HDD with any 3.5" SATA HDD of your choice up to 10TB."​

 

[blackcrayon]

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.

Good catch. I wonder how much Apple service centers will charge to upgrade internal parts. And if that includes 3rd party ones. Like, if it were $99 + parts it would be worth it in a couple years for someone that doesn’t want to crack it open themselves.

 

[blacktape242]

just put the magnets back on the monitor and not the glue! God i miss the old days.

 

[DaveOP]

If the starting point is a 5400-rpm, non-fusion, mechanical hard drive, then I think a cheap 500GB MLC SATA drive is a good comparison. It would still perform better at minimal additional cost.

That pro-grade Samsung 960 with NVMe interface should indeed be an extra $$ upgrade. No argument against that. But I think it should be a 1TB NVMe drive as the $500 upgrade, with a 500GB SATA SSD as standard.

If they sell the low-end iMacs, great, they've clearly done their marketing homework. It just rubs me the wrong way with Apple's attitude of PRO PRO PRO. Nothing about a 5400-rpm mechanical drive, even one that holds 1TB, seems fitting with a $1299 PC in 2017. It feels like buying a low-end Lexus and getting manual windows.

Asking honestly, would you be ok with them changing the price to $1499 with this cheap SSD, all other hardware not changing?

 

[Haswell]

But beware.

if you feel that the drive can be easily replaced to a SSD, think again.

I remember (just vaguely) that Apple had embedded a non-standard temperature sensor on their drives which forced MacSales.com to provide a clumsy external adapter to account for the sensor, interposed between board and drive.

And here it is, from MacSales.com! With a warm welcome to Tim Cook's bean-counter playground:

"Unlike Prior Generations, Apple iMacs from late 2009 to current 2015 & later utilize digital reporting and even custom firmware for SMC drive temperature reporting. OWC's Exclusive HDD Kits include our custom digital monitor that 'talks Apple SMC' and maintains proper temperature reporting and Apple Diagnostic compatibility allowing you to upgrade an existing 3.5" HDD with any 3.5" SATA HDD of your choice up to 10TB."​

What about booting off an external SSD in a USB 3.1 or TB 3 enclosure?

 

[bladerunner2000]

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

Well, there is one thing. 5400RPM? Still? Amazing.

You're not allowed to have valid complaints because someone else doesn't like valid complaints.

 

[aaronhead14]

How were customers being cheated?

By Apple selling them disposable products that can't receive upgrades, and by doing it for no reason. There was no reason for Apple to ever solder on the RAM or the CPU, except to cheat customers. Glad to see they've reversed course!

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

What about booting off an external SSD in a USB 3.1 or TB 3 enclosure?

Not likely.

For starters:

1. instability from a loosely-coupled connection leading to filesystem corruption.
2. no TRIM support on external connections
3. protocol encaps/decaps inefficiencies
4. ...

Works only on a Keynote presentation. /s

 

[Altis]

21.5" is a bit small these days. 23-24" is about perfect for a single monitor IMO.

 

[Chicane-UK]

The only two things that are replaceable on the mainboard are the CPU and RAM. CPU's practically never fail. RAM, more so, but even RAM is very reliable nowadays. There are so many other components (fan, hard disk or SSD, GPU, power supply) that are more prone to failure.

I don't understand all the hoopla about this being upgradeable. All the work to get into it, the chances of damaging something during the process...it's not really upgradeable. No one will want to void their warranty the first 1-3 years, so no upgrades during that time...I just don't see this as "upgradeable" except for the brave few that don't care about warranties or those with the skills to do it.

I'm seeing in the picture a separate HDD as well? Or is it only the fusion drive which is separate, and the SSD still soldered to the board?

 

[kemal]

So the trick is to buy it with the 1TB Fusion drive and then look into replacing parts. That way you get the (Apple custom) SSD socket and the means to mount the hard drive ~ which one could replace with a 512GB+ SATA SSD. Leaving the 32GB SSD as "fast cache" for the SSD.

 

[bladerunner2000]

By Apple selling them disposable products that can't receive upgrades, and by doing it for no reason. There was no reason for Apple to ever solder on the RAM or the CPU, except to cheat customers. Glad to see they've reversed course!

There was a reason though;

To disrespect and stiff their consumers for every penny they could. Apple's a pretty disgusting company today... very different from what it was 10 years ago.

 

[Naraxus]

As one of the more vocal critics on MR, I have to admit I'm pleasantly surprised by what Apple's done. Would not have expected this.

 

[MH01]

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

Hey....how about a thread without constant whinging as the first few posts about fellow posters.

poeple is glass houses.....

Anyway, upgradable ram and CPU....wow....this with external GPu....I have changed my mind about the iMacs...

 

[Glassed Silver]

Yes.




Crucial and Kingston are two solid options.




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.

That's true, there is definately an Apple tax and being an Apple user for 11 years now I always were able to justify it, but the value proposition is NOT just macOS, it's a factor, but not 100% of the price.

Nobody is keen on buying a Mac Mini at Mac Pro prices. Maybe the extreme example highlights a bit better where I'm coming from.

It's alright if Apple gets good margins from their computers, but don't tell me there is anything premium about a slow HDD in a $1000+ machine.

It might be enough for his mother, point taken, but she SHOULD be getting more for her money.

And specs always matter, stop kidding yourself.

I'm not in the market for a new computer for nothing.

If anything, specs determine how long you can keep a computer usuable.

Glassed Silver:ios

 

[MH01]

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.

Why ? Cause you decided for her? Just cause she is 72 does not mean she would not appreciate a faster and smoother experience...... nice that you decicde for her...... yup roll eyes...

 

[stol]

From any point of view, $100 for an extra 32GB SSD module is ridiculous.
It should be standard on every Mac.

Feels like they are just checkin' how far they can take it with this joke.

 

[0388631]

Thats good - but in 2017 why is Apple still selling computers with 5400RPM ( despite being fusion ) hard disks..? Not even 7200..

Noise and power efficiency would be my guess. They make upgrade it to a 7200 RPM drive in the future, charging a bit more or less, or it allows them to convert more people to SSD. The leap between a 5400 RPM drive and PCIE SSD is huge. So is the price difference.

 

[zen]

But beware.

if you feel that the drive can be easily replaced to a SSD, think again.

I remember (just vaguely) that Apple had embedded a non-standard temperature sensor on their drives which forced MacSales.com to provide a clumsy external adapter to account for the sensor, interposed between board and drive.

And here it is, from MacSales.com! With a warm welcome to Tim Cook's bean-counter playground:

"Unlike Prior Generations, Apple iMacs from late 2009 to current 2015 & later utilize digital reporting and even custom firmware for SMC drive temperature reporting. OWC's Exclusive HDD Kits include our custom digital monitor that 'talks Apple SMC' and maintains proper temperature reporting and Apple Diagnostic compatibility allowing you to upgrade an existing 3.5" HDD with any 3.5" SATA HDD of your choice up to 10TB."​

What? No no no. You just install a fan controller piece of software. I had to do it with my Mac Mini when I replaced the factory SSD with a Crucial SSD.

 

[Glideslope]

Anything else you need, you whiny, soiled-rotten Macrumors serial complainers?

Well, at least one does not have to put much effort into your user name.

 

[Pakaku]

- surprisingly - Apple's smallest all-in-one desktop machine has both removable RAM and a Kaby Lake processor that's not soldered onto the logic board.

Oooooooooh, I like that, what could possibly go wrong?

After slicing through the adhesive that secures the 4K display

...Oh

 

[star-affinity]

right. does that mean one should not use APFS for this

This is why I find it really strange that they still offer a mechanical hard drive in the lower end of the just released iMacs. No support for the new files system (APFS) on all those machines. So not only are those computers missing on the much better performance of a solid state drive, but also the new modern filesystem aimed att flash based storage.

I seriously don't get it, Apple.

Edit:
Seems APFS also works with mechanical drive as per the post by @CWallace bellow.

 

[CWallace]

This is why I find it really strange that they still offer a mechanical hard drive in the lower end of the just released iMacs. No support for the new files system (APFS) on all those machines.

APFS is compatible with mechanical disk drives, it is just optimized for solid-state storage.

From the APFS FAQ:

1) Can I use Apple File System with my existing hard disk drive?

Yes. Apple File System is optimized for Flash/SSD storage, but can also be used with traditional hard disk drives (HDD) and external, direct-attached storage.

 

[nvmls]

Some customers require 1 TB of storage. And speed is secondary.

Should they be required to pay for that 1 TB SSD if speed isn't important for their needs?

Or maybe Apple should just automatically include the 1 TB SSD and raise the price accordingly?

"accordingly" as in profit margins should remain obscene or use old technology? got it.