Redesigned iMac gets unboxed, torn down just hours after launch [u]
Just hours after Apple launched sales of its newest iMac, an unboxing video and teardown photos hit the web detailing the sleek new all-in-one from its "trapezoidal" packaging down to its Intel i5 CPU.
Update: AppleInsider reader Ben has shared an unboxing video of his new iMac below.
The pictures, from Japanese Apple blog Kodawarisan, are some of first to offer a peek (machine translation) inside the revamped 21.5-inch iMac, which at its thinnest edge is only 5 millimeters thick. Beneath the monolithic black display is a spartan interior that is hardly cramped for space as the logic board and accompanying circuitry are neatly arranged toward the middle of the chassis.
Source: Kodawarisan
All integral silicon is sealed off from the environment with a flexible rubber gasket system, save for a single opening for the FaceTime HD camera's ribbon cable. The iMac shown in the photos is the high-end version with a quad-core Intel Core i5 processor running at 2.9GHz.
A closer look at the logic board itself shows fairly large thermal transfer system that channels heat to a single centralized cooling fan located directly above the hard drive. Heat management looks to be well taken care of with a network of ducts funneling air to all corners of the chassis.
Apple started rolling out the slimmed-down iMac on Friday starting with Australia, and U.S. Apple Stores are expected to open their doors with limited stock of the 21.5-inch model in a few hours.
Update: AppleInsider reader Ben has shared an unboxing video of his new iMac below.
The pictures, from Japanese Apple blog Kodawarisan, are some of first to offer a peek (machine translation) inside the revamped 21.5-inch iMac, which at its thinnest edge is only 5 millimeters thick. Beneath the monolithic black display is a spartan interior that is hardly cramped for space as the logic board and accompanying circuitry are neatly arranged toward the middle of the chassis.
Source: Kodawarisan
All integral silicon is sealed off from the environment with a flexible rubber gasket system, save for a single opening for the FaceTime HD camera's ribbon cable. The iMac shown in the photos is the high-end version with a quad-core Intel Core i5 processor running at 2.9GHz.
A closer look at the logic board itself shows fairly large thermal transfer system that channels heat to a single centralized cooling fan located directly above the hard drive. Heat management looks to be well taken care of with a network of ducts funneling air to all corners of the chassis.
Apple started rolling out the slimmed-down iMac on Friday starting with Australia, and U.S. Apple Stores are expected to open their doors with limited stock of the 21.5-inch model in a few hours.
Comments
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By the time I need a replacement we might finally see an iMac that just is a piece of glass with imbedded circuitry like in the movies.
It does look like it's 2 overlapping 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM sticks but I can't be certain based on the images.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
The CPU isn't soldered to the board? Is this a change for the iMac?
The cpus in these have always been socketed. You didn't hear about people trying to upgrade them because aside from the warranty issues, the standard options basically go up to the best available in that socket. It wouldn't necessarily be practical.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Is what iFixit does really that hard? It must be because no one else even comes close to the quality of work they do. This doesn't even detail if the RAM is user replaceable (assuming one can get into the internals of the system).
The 27" was considered user serviceable in terms of memory last time I checked the Apple site.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
The CPU isn't soldered to the board? Is this a change for the iMac?
I believe the higher end models use sockets to make it easy to build "configure to order" models. Same reason for standard SO-DIMM slots. They can't predict how many people will want to upgrade and it would be foolish to make a whole bunch of boards in different configurations just in case someone wants a different CPU or more RAM. Tim Cook hates having inventory sitting around hoping someone will want it.
I've heard that the lower models that don't offer a choice of CPU have traditionally soldered the part directly to the board.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacTel
It is a beautiful piece of work. I wish I was in the market for one. Unfortunately, mine is just 2 years old.
By the time I need a replacement we might finally see an iMac that just is a piece of glass with imbedded circuitry like in the movies.
Forget being in the market for one, I wish I had money for one. This does look really nice.
Yes, cool design, and nice pricing too, but, unfortunately, they chose to not support pure SSD (except for the 768GB SSD option, which is a joke).
The Mac Mini was almost perfect: Good CPU, good pure SSD (256GB), and good RAM (16GB). But with a bad GPU. So I cannot justify its purchase.
The iMac fixes the Mac Mini weakness by adding a good GPU, but unfortunately drops the 256GB SSD option, so I won't buy it either (yes, I know Fusion well, and no thanks, I won't buy it, I want pure SSD -if you can put it in the Mac Mini, you can also put it on the iMac, so there's no excuse for you here Apple).
Now let's wait for the Mac Pro. Chances are that they'll manage to trash the Mac Pro too, just like they did with the Mini and the iMac...
Anyway, no reason to worry, as Apple wants us to use iOS for all computing tasks in the future, so don't worry if there's no useful Mac desktop in the market... we'll be forced to move to iPads at some point anyway.
Saw one at my local shop this morning. It was sweet. The display really is less reflective. As for the fan, there is a vent on the back under the stand where you can really feel air coming out. Couldn't tell how quiet or noisy it was with all of the background noise of the shop.
Had to wait until late afternoon to actually order.
The online store says 2-3 weeks but my reseller said their system said January. Guess Apple is trying to get people to order through their own store. I like my shop and they need the business more than I need the new machine (want is another problem), so I guess I'll have to wait an extra couple of weeks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ecs
Yes, cool design, and nice pricing too, but, unfortunately, they chose to not support pure SSD (except for the 768GB SSD option, which is a joke).
The Mac Mini was almost perfect: Good CPU, good pure SSD (256GB), and good RAM (16GB). But with a bad GPU. So I cannot justify its purchase.
The iMac fixes the Mac Mini weakness by adding a good GPU, but unfortunately drops the 256GB SSD option, so I won't buy it either (yes, I know Fusion well, and no thanks, I won't buy it, I want pure SSD -if you can put it in the Mac Mini, you can also put it on the iMac, so there's no excuse for you here Apple).
Now let's wait for the Mac Pro. Chances are that they'll manage to trash the Mac Pro too, just like they did with the Mini and the iMac...
Anyway, no reason to worry, as Apple wants us to use iOS for all computing tasks in the future, so don't worry if there's no useful Mac desktop in the market... we'll be forced to move to iPads at some point anyway.
You see... Only someone as dumb as a rock would say this. If for some reason all macs do not meet your needs, that's fine, but calling those things trash when they never sold as many, never were so ahead the rest in their respective categories, is something that makes me feel sorry for you.
Like it or not, the iMac is the best possible desktop for 99% of the worlds population. get over it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pedromartins
You see... Only someone as dumb as a rock would say this. If for some reason all macs do not meet your needs, that's fine, but calling those things trash when they never sold as many, never were so ahead the rest in their respective categories, is something that makes me feel sorry for you.
Like it or not, the iMac is the best possible desktop for 99% of the worlds population. get over it.
I agree that he may have gone over the top with calling everything trash. But I do believe he had some valid points. I, too, wanted to have an all SSD option and Apple has clearly priced it WELL out of my price range by only including a $1300 768 SSD option.
But it will certainly not cause me to miss out on this machine. My mouth waters at the thought of it
I wonder if the Fusion drive can be reformatted as separate drives. That would give you a 128 GB SSD and a 1 TB hard disk - which might satisfy some of the people who want pure SSD.
With the previous iMacs (2011 model) having a very difficult to replace HD because of sensors and the likes, I wonder if we can replace the HD on these new iMacs ourselves after all. I'm also not very interested in a Fusion drive (yet), but I would like to have my own SSD in it at a later stage. Does anyone have some insights in this perhaps?</p>
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Also, I can't wait to see wether or not it's possible to install Windows (for the occassional PC game) via a USB stick with these iMacs… the previous iMacs had no such option and required a Superdrive, which is now obviously gone in the current iMacs
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But the thing I'm most curious about is how well the new GT650M GPU will hold up against the previous Ati6770M. They both have the same 512MB in them, but usually iMacs have always come with a GPU that's better than the MacBook Pro's GPU. With these new iMacs the second iMac has the exact sáme GPU as the MacBook Pro. I can't wait to see benchmarks of this new GPU to see wether or not it's actually an improvement over Ati's6770M.</p>
Quote:
Originally Posted by Splash-reverse
I can't believe they let the box tapered like that and not in the proper box shape!!! OCD me... That's going to be hard to stack!!!
How many are you planning to buy such that stacking the boxes is a big concern? (Actually it's not a concern...turn every other box around and they all fit together perfectly!)