Apple’s post-event with hardware launches means time for further disassembly of iFixit! It’s the first teardown this time it was done in the new 21.5 ″ Retina 4K iMac.
Fortunately, we started on the right foot. It seems that Apple has heard some prayers and is using some standard components within this new 21.5 ″ iMac, although none of them are easily accessible to the user.
Just to remove the screen and access the interior is already a certain delivery, and then depending on what you want to change it is necessary to proceed further in the disassembly. But the two excellent new features of this model – which still carry the A1418 code, just like the previous one – is that RAM is a traditional SO-DIMM with two slots, and the CPU (in the model they opened, an Intel Core i5 “Kaby Lake” 3.5GHz) is modular.
So yes, anyone who wants to can upgrade the RAM of this iMac in the future and even change their processor. But, if you want to do that, you will have to be very careful in the process or let some technical specialist take care of the cucumber.
Not least, iFixit rated it 3/10 in “repairability” for this iMac – still somewhat low due to the difficulty of accessing the components, but much better than the 1/10 achieved by the previous model. In fact, Apple had adopted memory soldered to the logic board for 21.5 ″ iMacs for years… good progress.
Up to 64GB of RAM in the 27 ″ entry model
IFixit has not yet opened the new iMac with Retina 5K 27 ″ screen, but Other World Computing has already confirmed that even its entry model will support up to 64GB of RAM – while Apple only allows it to be configured with up to 32GB.
Not only is the novelty good, but doing this upgrade “from the outside” is obviously sooo much more affordable. Apple charges $ 600 to upgrade the RAM of this iMac from 8GB to 32GB; at OWC, the 64GB kit costs $ 580 – 4 combs of 16GB each.
via ZDNet, Apple World Today
