Apple Makes the New iMac Upgradeable with Removable CPU, RAM, and HDD



Apple refreshed the iMac with new hardware earlier this week at WWDC, and a teardown made by iFixtIt today reveals a few details that Cupertino most likely forgot to announce on purpose: both the CPU and the RAM inside the new all-in-one PC can be upgraded. 

The skilled engineers over at iFixIt disassembled the $1,299 iMac that Apple announced with much fanfare at WWDC and which comes with the 3.0 GHz CPU, 8GB RAM, Radeon Pro 555 graphics, and 1TB hard drive. And although reaching all components is a pretty difficult thing to do for the average Joe, it turns out that the new iMac is hiding a few surprises.

iFixIt explains that the RAM can be accessed by removing the 4K display, the power supply, the hard drive, and the fan, and although a lot of work is involved, it all pays off in the end because the memory can be upgraded. There are two SO-DIMM slots, so if needed, more RAM can be added, though the maximum amount hasn’t been determined.

Then, removing some other parts, including the heatsink, lets you access the Intel SR32W Core i5-7400 Kaby Lake processor, which according to iFixIt, uses nothing more than a standard LGA 1151 CPU socket. This means that the processor is modular, so you can replace it should an upgrade be needed.

HDD also upgradeable, no SSD supported 

“This isn’t the most accessible thing in the world—it’s flipped onto the backside of the logic board, trapped behind a lot of other components, and buried under a glued-down pane of glass—but for the first time in years it’s possible to replace or upgrade the CPU without a reflow station, and that’s a big win,” iFixIt says.

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Although you can do it, upgrading is not at all an easy job, and this is the reason iFixIt rated the new iMac 3 out of 10 for repairability, with 1 being the hardest to repair. This means that it’s super-difficult to upgrade or to repair the iMac, so unless you’re an expert, you better stay away from it.

On the other hand, having an iMac that can be upgraded is quite a surprise from Apple, especially because the company previously suggested that all iMacs would be locked down completely. The most recent 21.5-inch iMac that supported upgradeable memory was launched in 2013, while the last to include a modular processor unveiled in 2012.

The new model also comes with a fully upgrade 3.5″ SATA hard drive, though you can’t use an SSD, while the glass and the Retina display are fused together, which means that you can’t replace one without the other. And the worst thing is that most parts are placed under the logic board, so disassembling nearly the whole iMac is needed to reach them.

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