Apple Further Restricts Upgrade Options on New iMacs

alowe23

alowe23

alowe23

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Apparently Apple have since confirmed that this isn't a restrictive measure. I'm sorry I can't remember the source of this info, but from what I read the changes were to fix issues e.g. heat in previous iMacs. The Hard Drives in the new iMacs are custom made but apparently third-party HDDs of this type will gradually start hitting the market over the coming months...

Will try and dig out the source of this info.
 

Noxia

Noxia

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I don't think it's an issue. Not sure how many people wan't to invalidate the warranty and feel brave enough taking the screen off their £1000+ purchase.
 

Combat squirrel

Combat squirrel

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To be fair, thats pathetic, its no use to anyone who normally keeps there apple for say 5 years, well beyond there warrenty time, apple, stufu.

And those that say its not a problem, your talking rubbish, computer hardware componants just cause everyone headaches, just stick to industry standard even if its a closed system. Main reason being that apple will charge more now to cover the costs of converting things to the above tech, even though it offers zero speed or realiability increase over standard sata.
 

theheyes

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In my opinion it's either bad design or cynical design. Soldered CPUs and non-upgradeable graphics - fair enough. But to make it nigh on impossible to replace the component that is most likely to die is just ridiculous.
 

alowe23

alowe23

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I can't help but gloat... I just can't!

Back on topic though, I just dropped over £2k on the new machine and I'm happy that the hard drive setup is custom-designed for it, especially if it means it's more stable/optimised.

At the end of the day this is an all-in-one - you should look at any possible aftermarket upgrade as a bonus, not an expectation... I understand that it's a lot of money to dish out, hard drives are more likely to fail, what to do after warranty runs out, etc. etc. etc., but honestly it won't be long before a solution to this "problem" is found.
 

Jolteh

Jolteh

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Yea, it's not a smart move for Apple really.

From a design sense, it might make it easier for Apple to support, but it's a real kick in the balls for Apple users like me.
 

FreeStream

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People yet again miss the point.

We are here as a bunch of hardware enthusiasts who want to push our hardware to the limits as well as having the cutting edge in terms of performance.

The large majority of people who buy iMacs are neither of these things and don't give two ****s that pin 9 on the standard SATA connector is used for temperature readings not for the HD access I/O LED.

It's a sealed AIO unit, it's not designed to be upgradable beyond perhaps, memory.

The engineers behind the iMac have clearly got a reason for doing this and really if you want to blame anyone it's the HD manufacturers for having non-standard connectors for their sensors (you know all those pins at the back where sometimes you put jumpers? well WD have 8, Hitachi have 4, etc).

Clearly Apple were having issues with hot or too hot for comfort HD drives and have done this as a preventative measure instead of using SMART data which apparently interferes with HD IO whenever being accessed.

Besides, there is already a 'fix', you short pins 1 and 9, which is what they do when BTO iMacs are using SSDs only.

Personally the thought of pulling apart a £2k machine to replace a HD is beyond me!
 

Rameses

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sbi5ar said:
You want a user upgradable machine...

Get a Mac Pro

/sorted
Click to expand...

to be honest I agree, I've got a mac mini and even though I've done a HDD upgrade it isn't really practical, and you're constantly worried you'll **** something up. Taking a screen out to do a hdd upgrade in an all in one is mind boggling! :eek:

The only gripe I have with Apple with this though is the SSD options are just stupidly priced, and don't get anywhere near the performance of regular SSDs. The HDD are just the same, 72000rpm drives but wanting that extra performance you'll have to hand over like 400 notes for a subpar SSD.
 
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