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The new iMacs will have RAM soldered on. You can count on that

Puevlo said:
There is no doubt in my mind that the new iMac computers will have the RAM soldered onto the logic board. It's the natural evolution of where Apple are heading with their computers. The less upgradeable the computer is the quicker people will need to upgrade thus making more money for Apple.

You will all laugh now but come back to this thread in a month when you're all crying. Then you'll see. It's only a matter of time.
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I think this is very likely next refresh. If apple updates the iMac this year with just a refresh, in 2013 they might redesign and I could see them making the imac useless towards upgradeability. Hopefully they will have the old design with updated internals like they did with the mbp.

Lets just see if they even update their AIO and the Mac Mini.
 
Puevlo said:
There is no doubt in my mind that the new iMac computers will have the RAM soldered onto the logic board. It's the natural evolution of where Apple are heading with their computers. The less upgradeable the computer is the quicker people will need to upgrade thus making more money for Apple.

You will all laugh now but come back to this thread in a month when you're all crying. Then you'll see. It's only a matter of time.
Click to expand...

Tim....is that you?
 
Despite going about it all wrong, I can see where the OP is coming from.

A move like this wouldn't surprise me at all. Apple will start turning the screws, it's inevitable. To this point, the message Apple has been receiving from it's consumer base is - "we're okay with what you are doing".

For me it would be a deal-breaker.
 
It would't surprise me at all either. One thing I do believe is soldering the ram to the logic board will not make any more money for Apple. Also think that will not be a very wise move, but still is possible.
 
Their only reason to solder ram on board is to reduce size. Do you really think apple is desperate to make the iMac thinner?
 
Last edited:
Puevlo said:
There is no doubt in my mind that the new iMac computers will have the RAM soldered onto the logic board. It's the natural evolution of where Apple are heading with their computers. The less upgradeable the computer is the quicker people will need to upgrade thus making more money for Apple.

You will all laugh now but come back to this thread in a month when you're all crying. Then you'll see. It's only a matter of time.
Click to expand...

LOL

At the most Apple MIGHT solder some RAM but they will leave at least 2x slots empty for users to add more RAM later.I would rather by the Mac Pro than be stuck with the RAM my new iMac came with or be forced to add more at time of purchase at the Apple inflated prices!

The update (maybe next week) will not change anything, just look at the MBP (not the retina) as a guide to what and how Apple will update them.

As for 2013 well that's anyone's guess but as I aside before I'll be shocked if they don't allow some user upgrades even if it mean soldering in some of the RAM like they used to do with the iBook and other laptops. For a desktop its just NOT needed at this time.

JMHO
 
senseless said:
Soldering in the ram will improve reliability. Ram connectors are slightly problematic.
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I won't argue theoretically that it would not be more reliable, however I have not had a Ram connector fail since switching to Apple many years ago.

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AppleDApp said:
The RAM in the MBA is soldered to the motherboard.
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mentaluproar said:
Their only reason to solder ram on board is to reduce size. Do you really think apple is desperate to make the iMac thinner?
Click to expand...


I should have qualified my earlier statement.

This thread is about the iMac which is a Desktop computer.

In the Macbook Air, the iPad, iPods, and iPhone .... RAM is soldered on to reduce size.

Of course on could argue the Timex Sinclair was not a 'desktop' but try using one of those without a display on the desktop!
 
Puevlo said:
There is no doubt in my mind that the new iMac computers will have the RAM soldered onto the logic board. It's the natural evolution of where Apple are heading with their computers. The less upgradeable the computer is the quicker people will need to upgrade thus making more money for Apple.

You will all laugh now but come back to this thread in a month when you're all crying. Then you'll see. It's only a matter of time.
Click to expand...

Well if it did happen I guess I wouldn't be overly surprised of Apple, I mean it's in their blood to do things before any other company. Plus the quicker upgrades would be a big plus for them, it would seam that Apple is drifting away from satisfying the customer.
Although it wouldn't bother me for a while seeing as I'm building a PC, I'm definately going to only ever purchase Macbook pros compared to standard laptops and I hope they don't do this for the sake of that.
 
Puevlo said:
There is no doubt in my mind that the new iMac computers will have the RAM soldered onto the logic board. It's the natural evolution of where Apple are heading with their computers. The less upgradeable the computer is the quicker people will need to upgrade thus making more money for Apple.

You will all laugh now but come back to this thread in a month when you're all crying. Then you'll see. It's only a matter of time.
Click to expand...

I totally disagree, the iMac is built for pros and soldering the RAM to the motherboard would be in effect killing the iMac.

Apple is probably less worried about the size and weight of the iMac since it is not a portable device and soldering the RAM would be a lot of trouble to make a little bit of extra space.

If the new iMac is sans-ODD and has soldered RAM, I will be getting a refurb 2011.
 
Lancer said:
At the most Apple MIGHT solder some RAM but they will leave at least 2x slots empty for users to add more RAM later.I would rather by the Mac Pro than be stuck with the RAM my new iMac came with or be forced to add more at time of purchase at the Apple inflated prices!
Click to expand...

I'm sure Apple won't cry if more users buy more expensive computers than the iMac.
 
If they did a soldered 4-8gb then had 2-3 slots for you to add to, that would be fine. That's how the old MSi Wind u100 was. And it was great because instead of having to remove the 1gb stick, pay for a 2gb stick, then having 1gb left over, you just add another smaller amount to get a lot of ram.

I have 2 1gb sticks from my MacBook sitting on a shelf rotting.
 
Orange furball said:
If they did a soldered 4-8gb then had 2-3 slots for you to add to, that would be fine. That's how the old MSi Wind u100 was. And it was great because instead of having to remove the 1gb stick, pay for a 2gb stick, then having 1gb left over, you just add another smaller amount to get a lot of ram.

I have 2 1gb sticks from my MacBook sitting on a shelf rotting.
Click to expand...

Do you lose the dual channel benefits though with this kind of setup? Nice idea though.
 
lannisters4life said:
Do you lose the dual channel benefits though with this kind of setup? Nice idea though.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't think so. Not if they soldered 16gb as two 8gb sticks and left two slots open

Or even doing 8gb soldered as a single stick and having one slot filled with 8gb leaving two more open... that helps the extra ram after upgrading issue by cutting down the waste...
 
Every day that goes by without a refresh is further proof of soldered RAM in iMacs.
 
I don't see the value in updating your Mac once you had it for 3 to 4 years it's best to get a new one, that said the only thing i don't like with all components built in the logic board if something goes your ship is sunk.
 
Puevlo said:
There is no doubt in my mind that the new iMac computers will have the RAM soldered onto the logic board. It's the natural evolution of where Apple are heading with their computers. The less upgradeable the computer is the quicker people will need to upgrade thus making more money for Apple.

You will all laugh now but come back to this thread in a month when you're all crying. Then you'll see. It's only a matter of time.
Click to expand...

This is a big mistake for apple , I will not ever buy a new mac laptop again because they glue everything down now and make it so that you cannot make simple upgrades . I will be getting a mac mini though as long as they don't do that to the next model that will come out , if they do glue the next mini down I will buy the model before that used or new from elsewhere . When I eventually will have to upgrade that mini I will get a new mac pro if they still make them or get a used one if they choose to glue the new ones down . This is not a good idea for apple . In my opinion though they do not carer about computers anymore and by 2015 they will only be making IOS devices or computers running IOS if that happens I will move to linux because there will still be a linux distro using a classic desktop and that is what I want not a tablet interface . I can not use IOS , I like a mouse and keyboard not a toy computer that seems to be taking over these days .
 
Please bring back the downvote button. Previously, we could just get his approval rating into the deep negatives. Now, we are forced to actually respond to, and thus acknowledge his crappy post just to show our disagreement. :(
 
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