Video Suggests Screws in iMac Pro's VESA Mounting Kit Are Prone to Break When Unfastened

[SnazzyQ]

Curious. Are the original screws for the stand better and can they be reused for the VESA mount?

I’ve yet to have one of those break on me. They look to be similar composition; however, there are 9 of them (instead of 5), they’re about half as long, and they are at a less severe angle (so they hold against the two mounting posts which hold nearly all of the weight less tightly. But to answer your question, no. One of those has never broken. Also, no, you wouldn’t be able to use those screws with the VESA kit because they’re too short.

 

[TimTheSheriff]

I just dare one of these guys to take a HP machine in the same condition to an HP store ........ (ohh they can’t) but, even call HP or any other PC manufacture, they will get hung up on instantly.

I recently bought a HP ZBook 14u G5 -- a really nice, pro-level laptop. As soon as I received it, I installed all the Windows updates then restarted. When I restarted, I kept getting error messages saying the discrete graphics driver was not installed. I contacted HP, ran some diagnostics, then sent the results to HP. They got back with me within a few hours and said that they'd send a field tech to replace the motherboard. A couple of days later, a field tech came to my house and performed the repair. I thought that my issue was software related, but the new motherboard fixed the issue.

BTW, the 14u G5 has TB3, lots of ports, aluminum frame, touchscreen, a spill-resistant keyboard, etc. I got it new for $1650 AND it's user upgradable. But....it does run Windows. I really missed the Apple ecosystem (Messages especially). I ended up returning it for a full refund. Again, no hassle.

Bottomline -- HP did me right and fixed my computer with minimal hassle then accepted my return with no complaints.

 

[Glockworkorange]

Lack of quality permeates Apple these days, whether it's cheap screws not QA'd by Apple for some OEM deal for a mount of their top of the line iMac, Xcode, iPhone X display turning off, AW heart rate, phones bending, Apple Music widget half disappearing, home screen animations stuttering, etc.

We're the suckers if we keep paying for it though.

What's up with Apple Watch heart rate?

 

[jonblatho]

Let's see....post to a web form that goes into a black hole vs on the "internet void" that you know, got an executive response within 24 hours of being posted?

Wonder which one is more effective, eh?

He didn’t post it to MacRumors—rather, he posted it to YouTube where he has a decently large following for regularly posting tech videos where the bad press surely got someone at Apple’s attention—but good effort at diverting by attempting to miss the forest for the trees.

Some random guy whining about his MacBook being too thin on MacRumors isn’t going to get close to that kind of attention. If I were an Apple employee, I’d steer well clear of this site (well, especially the forums) due to the way people here talk about people in Cupertino who are just doing their jobs.

 

[Glockworkorange]

I’d like to believe that’s the case; however, the second kit that broke was one the Apple Store ordered in from HQ four months after I bought mine. We’re they from the same batch? Possible, but unlikely. Furthermore the first two screws that broke were in in different screw holes, and the third screw that broke was on an entirely replaced internal spring hinge, so I seriously doubt the problem to be the threading on the iMac itself.


The screws go in great once. But never try to take them off or you’ll likely be visiting the Genius Bar.





I agree that Apple’s customer support for consumer-level products is generally still pretty decent; however, their enterprise support on a “Pro” machine is abominable and any PC manufacturer would have replaced the component or entire computer within mere days—not weeks—and certainly not after they tried to pass off a failed repair as a success to the customer. Dell, HP, and other PC manufacturers have enterprise support leagues beyond Apple.


I have a Dell server that costs almost half as much as my iMac Pro. It had a PCIe controller issue after a few months and when I called, Dell sent one of their technicians to my office the next morning. He backed up all of my data for me and transferred everything I had to a new-in-box server they replaced with my broken one. For free. On a $3,000 machine.

It's great they hooked you up, but you're right---the average Joe would be SOL.
[doublepost=1527560828][/doublepost]

I’d like to believe that’s the case; however, the second kit that broke was one the Apple Store ordered in from HQ four months after I bought mine. We’re they from the same batch? Possible, but unlikely. Furthermore the first two screws that broke were in in different screw holes, and the third screw that broke was on an entirely replaced internal spring hinge, so I seriously doubt the problem to be the threading on the iMac itself.


The screws go in great once. But never try to take them off or you’ll likely be visiting the Genius Bar.





I agree that Apple’s customer support for consumer-level products is generally still pretty decent; however, their enterprise support on a “Pro” machine is abominable and any PC manufacturer would have replaced the component or entire computer within mere days—not weeks—and certainly not after they tried to pass off a failed repair as a success to the customer. Dell, HP, and other PC manufacturers have enterprise support leagues beyond Apple.


I have a Dell server that costs almost half as much as my iMac Pro. It had a PCIe controller issue after a few months and when I called, Dell sent one of their technicians to my office the next morning. He backed up all of my data for me and transferred everything I had to a new-in-box server they replaced with my broken one. For free. On a $3,000 machine.

Also, I seem to remember if they need to keep the machine from you for a certain number of days, don't they need to replace it? Like two weeks?

 

[macsrcool1234]

He didn’t post it to MacRumors—rather, he posted it to YouTube where he has a decently large following for regularly posting tech videos where the bad press surely got someone at Apple’s attention—but good effort at diverting by attempting to miss the forest for the trees.

Some random guy whining about his MacBook being too thin on MacRumors isn’t going to get close to that kind of attention. If I were an Apple employee, I’d steer well clear of this site (well, especially the forums) due to the way people here talk about people in Cupertino who are just doing their jobs.

I'm sure that was the answer to some question, but not mine.

That was easy. Who's next?

 

[jonblatho]

I'm sure that was the answer to some question, but not mine.

That was easy. Who's next?

Wow! Sick burn, bro! I might just never recover.

I did answer your question by saying that whining here does literally nothing because just as the feedback form might be a “black hole” (it’s not), forum posts here are even more hysterically useless. Posting a video to a YouTube channel known for Apple videos with hundreds of thousands of subscribers? Try and tell me that has the same level of impact as any post ever made on this forum.

I get the sense that you’re the “intentionally dense” type of MR user intent on sowing discord by repeatedly missing the point, so I’m not spelling this out any more clearly than I already have. Have a good night.

 

[Queen6]

What was so special about this guy that he got a call from the Apple Exec Team? I have 2 Laptops both with battery issues and the 12" Mscbook that the keyboard literally melted and had no support at all from Apple...

Great that he managed to get help... but whats so special? given the recent quality issues after almost 12 years as a dedicated Apple fan I am losing faith...

He's a YouTuber with a huge following, his video is very much negative press for Apple and that's all Apple cares about. Average customer Apple just wants the $$$$ and wash it's hands of you...

Q-6

 

[jwhittaker]

It’s oxidation most likely... certain metals oxidize faster than others. Some similar metals oxidize quicker without some sort of a preventive oxidation lubricant. Another option is if the screws or receiving threads were made of a to soft of material they could fatigue and bond together.

 

[LDN]

Apple used to pride itself on quality, today they pride themselves on how slim and flimsy they can make products even if it sacrifices quality as $ matters not the product.

I remember the days when the product mattered and $ came second, no more then days are long gone or that is how people are viewing Apple today, it is a cancer that Apple needs to eradicate before it’s too late.

Today’s MacBooks just feel cheep, they are light and weight is an indicator of quality, if they used steel to reinforce strength as in the hinges it would increase weight and more high quality metal over plastic or lighter softer metals like aluminium would also add weight but increases quality but Apple doesn’t seem to care and seems to think lighter is better, it’s not I like to feel I payed £££ for something than this feels so light and cheep why did I pay so much for something that feels so less

Weight is not an indicator of quality. Reductions in weight are indicators of superior engineering and materials science. You don't know what you're talking about and I doubt you've ever seen the inside of a MacBook. The latest MacBook lines all have Metal Injection Molded hinge assemblies. MIM components are usually made of some variety of Stainless Steel's powder. The end result is a very precise part which is very strong. I assure you, the hinge mechanism which you don't seem familiar with in the first place is probably the strongest part of the newer MacBook line. Please don't spread misinformation out of ignorance. If you feel that lighter anything, even portable machine means cheaper then that's your opinion. Besides, MacBooks are still the most dense and heavy feeling laptops I've known. The current 15" MBP feels more solid than my ThinkPad W530 because its denser.

Apple laptop malfunction rate also seems to be general improving too since 2014, even with the keyboard issues included.

 

[doctor-don]

It’s oxidation most likely... certain metals oxidize faster than others. Some similar metals oxidize quicker without some sort of a preventive oxidation lubricant. Another option is if the screws or receiving threads were made of a to soft of material they could fatigue and bond together.

Actually, DISSIMILAR metals cause a galvanic reaction that produces corrosion. (Feel free to research.)

 

[Haswell]

I wonder if Linus will now have better luck with getting his iMac Pro repaired.

 

[alphaod]

It wasn't designed to be taken on-and-off redundantly repeatedly, either, either.

I have an old iMac with the VESA mount adapter and it isn't this quality. It doesn't matter if it was designed to be removed repeatedly or not. Still should have used higher quality screws!

 

[Markoth]

Lack of quality permeates Apple these days, whether it's cheap screws not QA'd by Apple for some OEM deal for a mount of their top of the line iMac, Xcode, iPhone X display turning off, AW heart rate, phones bending, Apple Music widget half disappearing, home screen animations stuttering, etc.

We're the suckers if we keep paying for it though.

No joke. If Apple doesn't deliver some sort of major design overhaul to fix the MacBook Pro's countless issues, I'm jumping ship to the PC (running a Linux distro, maybe Fedora). It'll be a difficult transition, but the freedom to choose vendors and not have to settle for Apple's half-assed attempts at making computers will make it worth it in the long-run. Definitely crossing my fingers for WWDC.

 

[gkarris]

Rich Youtuber gets his 5K computer scratched - first world problems...

 

[Greymacuser]

Apple (under Kook) has become, at best, a joke or at worst, a complete scam. They can't get trained personnel in their shops in half a year. They break what you ask then to fix. All on top of charging you up the you-know-where for a product that should cost a third of what they ask for. What a disgrace.

 

[Abazigal]

I wonder if Linus will now have better luck with getting his iMac Pro repaired.

Somehow I doubt it.

With Linus, the situation was clear. The damage to the iMac was clearly self-inflicted when they took it apart to access the internals. I think that in this scenario, there is a very strong argument to be made not to have anything to do with it.

In this second case, the problem was clearly a botched repair job by Apple’s own repair team. The onus is really on Apple to make things right and either see to it that the iMac is restored to its original mint condition or failing which, replace it outright.

Quite different circumstances governing each of these two scenarios.

 

[vmistery]

If this is genuine then it makes you wonder who made the decision. Replacing one unit is probably equal to the cost of buying the better quality screws for all of the mounting kits in the first place.

 

[Apache1]

Quinn Nelson, host of the popular YouTube channel Snazzy Labs, has shared a new video that appears to suggest the iMac Pro's user-installable VESA mounting kit uses cheap screws that are prone to break when unfastened.

For background, the kit enables users to replace an iMac Pro's stand with a VESA mount adapter, allowing the computer to be affixed to any VESA-compatible wall mount, desk mount, or articulating arm. Jason Snell of Six Colors provides a good overview of the installation process in the video below.

Nelson installed the adapter without issue, but ran into difficulties when he went to remove it a few months later:Nelson acknowledges that the adapter is probably not designed to be taken on-and-off repeatedly, but Apple never warns against doing so, and switching back to the traditional stand at least once seems reasonable.

Unable to remove the adapter, Nelson said he contacted Apple by phone, explained the situation, and was told that Apple could not provide support because the adapter is manufactured by a licensed OEM, despite being sold by Apple with Apple-branded packaging and documentation.

The support representative then declined to provide the name of the OEM or their contact information, according to Nelson, who gave up on the phone call and decided to visit the Genius Bar at his local Apple Store.

Unfortunately, the Genius Bar was not very helpful, as apparently only the Head Genius at that store was trained to service the iMac Pro. Nearly two weeks and one failed repair later, the iMac Pro was finally fixed and ready for pickup, with a new VESA mount adapter installed and the saga seemingly over.

Upon leaving the store, however, Nelson discovered that his iMac Pro's stand had been significantly dented and scratched. The damage prompted him to carefully remove the VESA mount adapter yet again, to see if the iMac Pro itself was damaged, and he encountered similar scuffs on the chassis of the machine.

Moreover, while attempting to unscrew the Apple-installed replacement adapter, another screw broke off, suggesting that Nelson's experience wasn't a one-off situation, and that the screws are in fact prone to break.

All in all, there are two separate issues here: the fragile screws and the un-pro-like customer service that was provided by Apple. And, unlike his fellow YouTube creator Linus Sebastian, Nelson did not disassemble the iMac Pro or perform any other action that would appear to violate Apple's warranty.

Importantly, after the video, Nelson says the Apple Store has since offered to replace the entire iMac Pro free of charge. He was also contacted by Apple's Executive Relations team, which wanted to ensure everything was okay and requested that he send the VESA mounting kit to Apple for its engineers to examine.

​

While this doesn't appear to be a widespread problem, and might not ever be given the steps to reproduce it require mounting and demounting a minimum $5,000 computer, the simple solution could be stronger screws.

MacRumors has reached out to Apple for comment on the matter. We'll update this article if and when we hear anything back.

Article Link: Video Shows iMac Pro's Mounting Kit Screws Appear to Break Easily When Unfastened

I have seen quite a few posts here about other MFG like Dell and HP providing good service but what I found is their quality and reliability is so bad you need to get their on site warranty because you will need it for every purchase. Dell is better but HP has been worthless to me over 20 years

 

[macuser1000]

I'm guessing not being able to see everything that the screws are not bearing any load but just hold a bracket in place and people tend to naturally think that a required torque should be needed to secure the bracket if its going to hold all that weight. The screws look like their diameter is very small but is surprising that they are snapping off.

Apple in the short term should include a torque driver for all new purchases. These can be made very cheaply and ensure there is no over tightening.

All that said, we like the fantastic design of iMac that lasts more than 10 years but we need the Mechanical engineers to come back and critique the visionary design engineers a little more.

I agree about having more mechanical engineers. The stand and bracket with 9 screws looks somewhat odd to me. In the video where the original stand is being removed, I see what looks like some scrapping in the stand screw holes edges. Even though the two notched knobs on the stand holder bear some of the load, it does seem dubious to have the system hang below (under) where the stand attaches thereby putting some of the bearing load on those screws along with lateral stresses on those screws when the iMac Pro is moved around.

 

[bladerunner2000]

Remember when Apple used to make good 'Pro' computers? It's been a long time.

 

[Lone Deranger]

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/03/09/apple-ends-off-site-genius-training/

That is all.

More of Tim Cook's "brilliant" cost-cutting/profit-raising strategies no doubt.

 

[shaunp]

[QUOTE="We're the suckers if we keep paying for it though."[/QUOTE]

Not any more. Apple need to swallow a bit of humble pie, recognised how flawed their Mac lineup is and actaully make some good computers. Something they haven't done since around 2011.

 

[the-msa]

I've always had very good service from Apple.

the best service is the one you dont need. especially not for stupid things like this.

 

[Abazigal]

Remember when Apple used to make good 'Pro' computers? It's been a long time.

To be fair, the apparent difficult of servicing the iMac Pro has little correlation with its performance.

So far, all reviews point to it being a very capable workstation. Just leave it on your table and don't try to modify it in any way because if anything happens, you are evidently out of luck when it comes to trying to repair it.