The first Teardown pics are here!

[dearlaserworks]

I opened up a base 21.5 last night and it came apart with very little effort. The adhesive transfer tape needs to be replaced but it peels away from both surfaces without leaving any residue.

I'd expect Apple techs will have a kit with a custom cut adhesive tape so they can remove the old and drop in a fresh one all the way around. We should see same from OWC and/or others before long. I can't believe with all the effort Apple put into this redesign that they didn't put ease of service and repair atop their goals.

 

[plucky duck]

Does the new iMac only take mSATA SSD or can we install any notebook sized 2.5" 7mm/9mm SSD? To access the ram on the 21.5" will require removal of the logic board?

 

[jsolares]

Does the new iMac only take mSATA SSD or can we install any notebook sized 2.5" 7mm/9mm SSD? To access the ram on the 21.5" will require removal of the logic board?

the base 21.5" doesn't have an extra port, the HD is a regular 2.5" so you could put an SSD in place of it. just not an extra drive.

Someone made the upgrade to ram without removing the logic board, but removing it does make it easier to put the ram (not sure whats worse though)

now the upgraded 21.5" should have the SSD port, but apple doesn't use mSATA, so we would need confirmation from OWC that their replacement blade for the rMBP works or not.

 

[tubbymac]

I opened up a base 21.5 last night and it came apart with very little effort. The adhesive transfer tape needs to be replaced but it peels away from both surfaces without leaving any residue. I was able to replace the ram with two 8gb sticks i had laying around without removing the logic board but i had to remove the fan. Here are some pics i took during the process.

You sir are a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks for sharing the information! As I suspected the RAM can be replaced without taking out the logic board, which makes it less of a pain.

Without the adhesive how stable is the screen when you're using your iMac? Any danger of it falling off? How are you standing your machine upright at the moment without the adhesive?

 

[R.OG]

You sir are a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks for sharing the information! As I suspected the RAM can be replaced without taking out the logic board, which makes it less of a pain.

Without the adhesive how stable is the screen when you're using your iMac? Any danger of it falling off? How are you standing your machine upright at the moment without the adhesive?

Without the adhesive the screen will definitely fall out damaging the LVDS connector.
The imac belongs to a friend who decided to open it up with no intent of upgrading any components. He thought the screen was held in place by magnets and when suction cups failed to work he resulted to using a kitchen knife. The only success he had was scraping the black coating off the back of the glass, thats when he asked me to open it up so we could paint the damaged glass. He refused to let me take out the logic board to test the 16GB of memory so i had to install the RAM with everything connected but the fan. He went scavenging for the adhesive tape yesterday and found a couple, he will be coming over to my place in the evening so we can seal it back up. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[pubjoe]

I look forward to the update.

damaged glass

Can you just clarify, was it easily possible to remove the adhesive tape without damaging anything once you had a go with it? The damage was entirely from his earlier poking around with a kitchen knife.

 

[R.OG]

I look forward to the update.


Can you just clarify, was it easily possible to remove the adhesive tape without damaging anything once you had a go with it? The damage was entirely from his earlier poking around with a kitchen knife.

The adhesive peels off without damaging the glass. He scratched the paint on the glass by using a knife to pry open the housing instead of using a plastic pic.

 

[R.OG]

I just replaced the 1tb with a samsung 830 ssd and i'm not seeing any problems with the system fan. Its been running for over an hours and the fans have not revved up like previous models.

 

[tubbymac]

I just replaced the 1tb with a samsung 830 ssd and i'm not seeing any problems with the system fan. Its been running for over an hours and the fans have not revved up like previous models.

This... is... AWESOME! Thanks for testing that. That's the same thing I was looking to do (Samsung 830 or 840 Pro SSD replacement) so it's great that it works without any fan hacks!

 

[hfg]

I wonder if they still monitor the temperature at multiple points within the chassis since there is now only a single fan to control.

It made sense in previous models to control the "hard disk fan" with a "hard disk temperature sensor" since the heat, and the method to deal with it were localized to a single point in the chassis. It seems with the 2012 layout, the heat producing elements have been moved more centralized and very near the cooling fan.

 

[pubjoe]

That is fantastic news indeed. Thanks for the updates.

 

[R.OG]

Looks like i spoke too soon, it fails AHT but the fan still functions as it should.

 

[pubjoe]

Regarding the fan speed. Did you check the rpm before and after or just go by your judgement. I'm just wondering if there is still a problem with the temperature sensor but due to the new single large fan system, it's not as noticeable.

 

[tubbymac]

Looks like i spoke too soon, it fails AHT but the fan still functions as it should.

That's actually not that bad. It's still better than the 2011 model. I replaced the 1TB hard drive in a 27 inch 3.4ghz 2011 iMac with a 2TB drive and the AHT failed in addition to the fans ramping up to full speed. So the AHT failing is "normal" if we go by last year's model.

 

[R.OG]

Regarding the fan speed. Did you check the rpm before and after or just go by your judgement. I'm just wondering if there is still a problem with the temperature sensor but due to the new single large fan system, it's not as noticeable.

The fan speeds stayed the same.

 

[Fatboy71]

I have not sealed it up yet. Apple used adhesive transfer tape with foam in the middle to act as a gasket, i know i have some 3m VHB transfer tape with foam in the middle but i can't find it. Once i find it and put it back together i will let you know.

----------



I cut a credit card into a small circle.

Did you use a heatgun like what iFixit did, or did you just use the credit card cut into a circle?

 

[Fatboy71]

I'm really curious to see what people find is the best adhesive tape/adhesive foam tape to use to re-adhere the screen to the body.

I'm not planning on opening mine when I get it has I'm getting Apple Care cover, but once the 3 years is up I will be wanting to do repairs/part replacements, rather than paying out a fortune to Apple or other repair companies.

But I expect by then that they will be adhesive kits available or perhaps some adhesive magnetic strips which would then allow easy access from then on.

 

[iMcLovin]

Wow I'm awed how people dare to cram open this thing just to save a few bucks of upgrade. You break it and you lost a whole machine
Anyway it's fun reading. I would NEVER do this

 

[DIMEZ]

Wow I'm awed how people dare to cram open this thing just to save a few bucks of upgrade. You break it and you lost a whole machine
Anyway it's fun reading. I would NEVER do this

To add an ssd the only option is to pay apple premium...$1300?? I rather install it myself and buy a ssd off ebay for $500 and still have my 1tb option.

I really cant wait to see a teardown of the 27inch so I can purchase.

 

[WilliamG]

Looks like i spoke too soon, it fails AHT but the fan still functions as it should.

Image

So aside from the failed AHT, no detrimental effect by running the Samsung 830? What size 830 is it, and can you run a benchmark with it in there - curious as to how it compared to my testing via Thunderbolt (256GB 830).

Thanks for posting this info!

PS Did you get the screen back on, and if so what adhesive strip did you use?

 

[Alekto]

So aside from the failed AHT, no detrimental effect by running the Samsung 830? What size 830 is it, and can you run a benchmark with it in there - curious as to how it compared to my testing via Thunderbolt (256GB 830).

I'd also like to know about this, if you'd be so kind.

 

[R.OG]

So aside from the failed AHT, no detrimental effect by running the Samsung 830? What size 830 is it, and can you run a benchmark with it in there - curious as to how it compared to my testing via Thunderbolt (256GB 830).

Thanks for posting this info!

PS Did you get the screen back on, and if so what adhesive strip did you use?

We decided to leave it open a little longer to test the ssd. Here is a benchmark for the 128GB Samsung 830.

 

[seble]

We decided to leave it open a little longer to test the ssd. Here is a benchmark for the 128GB Samsung 830.

You sir are a legend! Sorry to add to your list of questions, but was it difficult to access the RAM how tight is it, the ram looks as if it goes in backwards or something, from your picture! Does it have those pop out clip like things?

 

[hfg]

Just for comparison, here is a test of my DIY 1TB LaCie Thunderbolt external SSD RAID-0 (on a MacBook Pro host ... no iMac yet) and a similar test of a 2012 MacBook Air 13" internal 512GB SSD blade, hopefully similar in speed to the new iMac "blade" SSD in the Fusion and SSD models.

That internal SSD on the iMac looks pretty good...


-howard

left: LaCie external 1TB SSD RAID-0 ThunderBolt
right: internal 2012 MacBook Air 512GB SSD

 

[WilliamG]

We decided to leave it open a little longer to test the ssd. Here is a benchmark for the 128GB Samsung 830.

Awesome. Thank you.