Apple's new 'Assembled in USA' iMac a bear to upgrade, repair Apple's 21.5-inch iMac, which went on sale in the US last Friday, has revealed two of its secrets: first, that it's a collosal pain to get inside should you want to upgrade its RAM or its hard drives; and second, that at least some of the units currently on store shelves are labeled as being "Assembled in USA". The new iMac – …
OWC / iFixit - completely iMpartial? One could perhaps argue that if you were in the business of selling parts / tools to facilitate the upgrade you want to make sure you get all those juicy links from other web sites and if you are also selling the parts to make it just that bit easier....
Most people would not need to upgrade. The ones that did would probably get Apple or a 3rd party company to do it for them.
If you feel you will need to upgrade but the right model now or something else or wait until you do want to upgrade and get Apple or a professional 3rd party company to do it.
I know plenty of people who have simple to upgrade laptops but would not even open 1 screw on the bottom and remove / install new memory sticks.
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Like a number of people have said, it's just an appliance. The vast majority of people who will buy this have no interest in buying it, they will probably see some reliability benefits from a more solid homogenous design (ala potted electronics). Those people who want to be able to upgrade will buy something else. Sort of a budget halfway house between an iPad and their other desktop offerings.
Sure for 'techies' this is not the machine for you but I'd suspect 95% of people who buy this would not upgrade a computer themselves anyway - even it they could / it was easier - so fairly moot.
I (almost with the vast majority of people) don't feel the need to service my own car - but some people do.
I (almost with the vast majority of people) don't feel the need to service my own car - but some people do.
As much as labor costs you're damn right I feel the need to service my own car. No way am I paying someone an extra $150 to do what I can do myself. Same thing with computers. Why should the consumer who's willing and able to upgrade their own RAM have to pay Apple an arm and a leg (or a kidney) to do it for them?
The mentally challenged haven't figured out yet but you can't have ultra thin and visually appealing and upgrade ability. Everyone is moving this way because most people don't upgrade anything but they like small, light and pretty.
Don't be surprised when more and more hardware companies ignore the fat dude who moans he can't avoid buying hardware by upgrading his memory.
Actually, you could have provided this in this model and with not much effort:
- replace the glue process with recessed screws-from-the-back
- and replace the double-sided tape with a conventional rubber seal
- used the 27" MB layout, and put the ram upgrade slot on the bottom
- remove the hardware checks in the EFI for non-apple approved RAM or Hard drives
I suspect much of the issues are due to Ive's overly-anal focus on form and asthetics, to the point a basic function (upgrading) is forgotten.
I'll not buy another ipad - I have the initial version which is openable by mere mortals - or one of the new iphones/ipods/ i-what-the-fucks. If I cannot change the battery or change the RAM/HD on a computer, then sorry Apple you've lost a customer and I'll go to Android more than likely. My wife uses an imac and loves it but it will be the last one we own if Apple continue with this crap. I have G5 - thank Christ the bastards did not weld the access panels on. Shit .. What am I doing? Giving them ideas ...... AAARRRRGGGHHHH
I'm probably in the minority of glassy eyed fanbois, but dont expect too much more of my hard earned, Apple.
Really, in my 20 years with PCs, I've never met anyone other than a geek (like me) who has ever even opened their PC up, never mind upgraded it. Yes I used to do it all the time, but I realise I am the exception.
They expect someone to do this sort of thing for them, either by a technician at work for work laptops, or by a specialist they take it to.
changing batteries in a remote control is about as complex as most people want to get.
Look at cars: do we see 'how easy is it to change the oil in the new Ford Focus? How easy can the gearbox be changed?' when a new car comes out ? do we buggery - because hardly anyone services their own cars these days.
30 years ago, it was pretty normal for your average joe to do most car servicing tasks (I know I used to), now hardly anyone would consider it :
1. because we have come to expect the service industry to do this sort of stuff, and a higher standard of living means we don't mind spunking out the cash for a wrench monkey.
2. cars became more complex and harder to DIY as a side effect of technological advances, etc.
I don't see how apple's approach differs in any way ?
I had my mate's macbook pro fixed a few weeks back by apple: internal fan buggered, and dvd drive shafted. parts: 80 quid. labour: 30 quid. and turned around in a day. Why would anyone do it themselves ? truth is: apart from a few geeks like you and me - they wouldn't.
You're waffling on something fierce and missing the point.
The point is, once something DOES go, you have little hope of getting it fixed unless it's by Apple (a lot of money) and with Apple specific parts (again, a lot of money).
Even if YOU never open your machine, there's a very clear and present advantage in the long run to having easier access and standard parts. There's no need for this tomfoolery in a DESKTOP. Laptops, yes, it's a necessity of the form factor.
and one of my points was that: the parts are actually very reasonably priced. and that apple labour charge can only be described as extremely cheap.
all-on-ones have always been more 'laptop' than desktop in terms of parts - that's always been the case. clue is in the name.
Actually, the parts are generally NOT reasonably priced (hundred dollar laptop hinges, over £100 for an iMac PSU etc) . In addition, they can be exceptionally hard to actually buy (only a "genius" can tell if it's broken, and can be trusted to replace it if so), and Apple have claimed not to have a standard price list for parts. They also refuse to quote a fixed price for a well-defined job which would be completely identical on every machine, and in fact charge all sorts of different prices for the same job, depending on where you happen to be in the country or who you speak to.
Not everyone lives within easy reach of an "Apple Store" (particularly not a proper one that actually repairs such devices rather than just flogging them) and even supposing they were Apple are in my multiple experiences such an awful company to deal with they wouldn't be blamed for not wanting to visit one. I will continue to encourage customers to spend their money with companies who produce serviceable hardware from readily available components and leave the shiny but half-rotten fruity stuff well alone...
yes - there are parts that are expensive - bespoke PSUs will be expensive whoever makes them.
And I am not arguing that parts are as cheap as you can get on ebay - but sony repair vs apple repair vs dell repair vs HP repair : all overcharge - apple no more than others.
I have had around 5 macs repaired now - all were:
1. fully investigated and tested free of charge by apple
2. a detailed guaranteed quote of the work with breakdown in parts and labour given to me.
3. the work completed exactly as promised.
In all cases, in less than 2 days to repair (less than they promised).
And in one case (my 2007 iMac - in 2011 - 3 years out of warranty), a complete new LCD screen was fitted free of charge as they said it was a known problem.
I'm sorry you have had bad experiences dealing with Apple, but this has certainly not been my experience - along with Amazon, they have provided me with above and beyond levels of customer service over the last few years to the extend that I now find all other companies, previously considered adequate, levels of service disappointing.
When asked what PC to buy I will continue to recommend they buy a mac.
Too expensive ? Buy a 2nd hand mac.
A Mac *is* a PC these days, just a brandname for one company's computer.
I've had no trouble repairing PCs or PC parts from various companies, though to be honest this is an extremely rare thing when buying complete systems.
The "repair things for free" seems either a myth, or very much a matter of luck. I've experienced the case where they refuse to repair something, despite us paying for the insurance (I guess it doesn't cover everything, after all, despite what some claim).
How about this then?
I am glad you've had good experiences with Apple. That's not the norm, though, and since there's no functional advantage to be gained from making the bastard thing so difficult to open, there's no gain to the consumer (and no "oh look it's lovely and skinny" isn't a functional gain, it's at best an aesthetic gain).
Now, if I buy a Dell Dimension or whatever and for some reason have an attack of the Galloping Dumbass and forget everything I know about hardware and tinkering, I can either go to Dell or anyone else I like and get replacement parts for upgrades. I can get anyone I like to do the installation, on the understanding that if they fumble it I may void my warranty - but then installing stuff in most desktop chassis these days isn't all that hard.
If I buy one of these iMacs and want to upgrade anything, it's "pay Apple" or "no warranty". Which is bollocks. You can claim that Apple's prices are reasonable all you like, but it's documented by analysts that they have a profit margin of at least 25% on everything they sell, and even on the educational discount the prices they charge for SSDs are at least 200% (more like 350% for higher capacity) of any other vendor on the market. When insurance companies issuing replacement machines acknowledge that Apple charge ludicrous amounts for component upgrades like RAM, you know it's bad.
So I'm afraid I can't agree that your anecdotal evidence somehow trumps a documented and established trend of Apple, as a company, making sure that they charge as much as they possibly can for every step along the way.
I'm wary of recommending one brand for all - people's usage requirements vary faaaaar too much for that to be a good idea.
'That's not the norm, though'
says who ? apple have among the highest customer satisfaction rating* in the business. you mention my 'anecdotal' evidence (sure, it's my personal experience), but you appear to be doing the same thing (or is it just something you'd heard ?
There isn't a consumer electronics company out there that doesn't invalidate warranties unless they are repaired by a qualified repairer (and there are approved 3rd party apple repair shops). desktop PCs have always been the strange and singular exception to this consumer electronics rule because of their componentized/standard based construction and a historical accident caused by IBM in the 80s.
I would personally argue that that has given us one very good plus and one very bad minus:
+ cheap PCs
- tie in to archaic standards like BIOS, IDE, PCI that should have died years ago.
Have a look at Sony's equivalent all in one (SVL2412Z1E) and tell me how apple is really any different in support and upgradeability ?
*top of ACSI, top of JD Power, etc.
I would personally argue that that has given us one very good plus and one very bad minus:
+ cheap PCs
- tie in to archaic standards like BIOS, IDE, PCI that should have died years ago.
BIOS, IDE, PCI?
You looked at a PC recently? They got standards called EFI and SATA these days...
I understand what you're saying about all-in-ones - they're all shit whether it's a Sony, Apple, HP or Lenovo. Only a moron would buy one.
@stu 4
apple have among the highest customer satisfaction rating* in the business.
It's funny you should mention "business", I judge support services provided by tech companies against the standards expected by business customers, not consumers. And, since Apple insist they're a high-end consumer tech company, that means Apple fare rather badly. You tell me why Apple are the only company retailing 13- and 15-inch high-end laptops who can't offer an upgrade to Next Day On-site Service and will, at best, give you either "whatever they can do in your nearest Apple Store" or "1-2 weeks CAR via one of our approved Service Centres". And that's before you bear in mind that one of Apple's approved 3rd party service centres has on more than one occasion lied to me about getting my approval for a hard drive swap leading to wasted hours to re-install the then-current version of OS X (machines shipped with Tiger, upgraded to Snow Leopard via employer, but after replacing a hard drive they claimed they could only reinstall the OS version supplied with the machine....)
Never mind Sony and their bollockery, their support crappiness means that they are, for example, verboten via Higher Education supply chains. On the other hand, if you were to consider Toshiba or Dell's business class offerings, you'd find machines that may not look as sexy as Apple's but which can be opened up easily for support, which can be purchased with at least a 3 year NBD onsite warranty (in Dell's case up to 5 years) and in certain cases where specific theft/accidental damage cover can be bought for very cheap with the machine (saving you having to claim on either business or home insurance and taking the subsequent kick in the premium come renewal time). I've opened up old EOL Macs before and they used to be reasonable, if not necessarily easy, machines to open up. Since the launch of the Retina models, they're going on a decidedly anti-consumer pro-appliance move which is entirely antithetical to either their function and Moore's law re: memory (storage and operating) but which they hope will shore up their bottom line.
And, you know, all of this is before we even mention things like the environmental impact of making unrepairable machines. A £1500+ machine that can be rendered useless and in need of replacement if a DIMM fails, where in any other machine that would be a replacement £30 component? Wonderful.
I suspect I'm not going to get past the flavour of the Kool-aid here, but I'm damned if I'll let utter nonsense like what you've posted above pass unchallenged.
they refused to replace broken hinge on my macbook air 2009 - in 2012, while it was also a known problem. Screw them.
I know that when I worked for Compaq at the end of the last milennium "Assembled in UK" meant sticking RAM and a keyboard on a container-load of otherwise finished laptops from Taiwan.
The 1U Proliants of the time were the same - adding disks and RAM was the only assembly done here.
Can't see other manufacturers being much different.
A cynic might say Apple are trying this "Assembled in the USA" approach on foot of the recent reports from China about mistreatment of subcontractors. Flame away.
"Assembled in USA" or not, Apple's latest all-in-one-desktop is certainly not designed to be disassembled in USA – or anywhere else, for that matter – except by one of Apple's own repair techs."
In my experience, even they don't repair 'em— just give you a refurb (and who does that, and where?)
Look at the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN2HFvUfl2g
You need: One guitar pick and a bit of double-sided tape. That's it! Five minutes max!
To replace the hard drive there's four screws - no need to remove the logic board.
To replace the RAM there's a little door on the back! You don't need to open it up at all.
You lot are a bunch of whining opinionated idiots!
I watched the video, there is no door at the back that I can see, in that video, or in any pictures I can see on apples website.
Being you have to buy new tape after install, remove a hard disk, fan, power supply, several fragile cables and the logic board just to get to the ram, I can somewhat understand people being a bit miffed.
I am more miffed about how cheap the components seem to be getting and at how high their price point is climbing. Next year I expect to find a dead hamster welded into the cpu slot.
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