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iFixit Tears Apart Apple's Shiny New Retina iMac

Posted by timothy on from the good-work-if-you-can-get-it dept.

iFixit gives the new Retina iMac a score of 5 (out of 10) for repairability, and says that the new all-in-one is very little changed internally from the system (non-Retina) it succeeds. A few discoveries along the way: The new model "retains the familiar, easily accessible RAM upgrade slot from iMacs of yore"; the display panel (the one iin the machine disassmbled by iFixit at least) was manufactured by LG Display; except for that new display, "the hardware inside the iMac Intel 27" Retina 5K Display looks much the same as last year's 27" iMac." In typical iFixit style, the teardown is documented with high-resolution pictures and more technical details.

7 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Broken link by Georules · · Score: 5, Funny

    slashdot, news for nerds, written by people who can't even html.

  2. Re:Broken link by craigm4980 · · Score: 5, Informative

    a real link

  3. Set the record straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sure, these imacs MAY use screens from LG, but when those screens are combined with Magic Apple hardware, the result is so much better than the competition. You have to use macs for graphic design because their LG screens are much more accurate than everybody else's LG screens. There's whole colors you're not even seeing unless you go mac, like blurple, the exact spot between blue and purple.

    1. Re:Set the record straight by MikeMo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I shouldn't feed the troll, but you have to know that not every screen made by LG is the same as every other one they make. In addition, the rest of the layers in he assembly have a lot to do with the visual results, and those might be different from other screens you will see in the future (there are no other 5K screens shipping at the moment). And then there's the control circuitry (an Apple proprietary chip is involved in that) and the software that drives it. So yes, the results may be much better than the competition even if LG makes those screens, too.

    2. Re:Set the record straight by gnasher719 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Also, Dell announced a 5k monitor before the iMac was announced, which probably uses the same panel. We should be able to compare the two soon. In the past Apple displays have proven to be exactly the same as other displays with the same panel and similar glass, so I wouldn't expect any surprises.

      Dell announced earlier, Apple deliverd earlier.

      Both monitors cost the same (comparing Apple's real price and Dell's announced price), but Apple's monitor contains a nice computer :-)

  4. Re:how do SSD's compare to HD's? by kosmosik · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > The a good thing to do with an iMac would be a decent SSD... as well
    > as an external drive appliance with RAID 1, or a volume with software
    > RAID that is similar.

    To have backups is the good thing to do whatever OS or hardware you run.

  5. Mac Mini sidenote by jones_supa · · Score: 4, Informative

    BTW the new Mac Mini comes with fixed onboard RAM. I wish I could see a more detailed teardown soon, would like to see how hard it is to replace the HDD.