{"id":3615,"date":"2013-09-25T20:49:41","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T00:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=3615"},"modified":"2013-09-25T20:49:41","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T00:49:41","slug":"2013-imac-teardowns-reveal-ssd-slots-soldered-in-cpu-in-the-21-5-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/09\/25\/2013-imac-teardowns-reveal-ssd-slots-soldered-in-cpu-in-the-21-5-model\/","title":{"rendered":"2013 iMac teardowns reveal SSD slots, soldered-in CPU in the 21.5\u201d model"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just one day after Apple quietly refreshed its iMac lineup with Intel’s new Haswell processors, the teardown artists at iFixit have pulled both the 21.5-inch and 27-inch models apart to see what makes them tick.
\nOne of our chief complaints about last year’s 21.5-inch iMac was how difficult it was to upgrade, and that remains true of this year’s model. You can still access the computer’s two RAM slots if you’re brave enough to attempt the teardown process (which includes tearing apart and replacing some foam padding), and Apple has included an empty PCIe slot on the base model where last year’s model only had an empty spot on the system board. However, the low-end iMac’s use of Intel’s Iris Pro 5200 integrated GPUs means that it uses one of Intel’s R-series CPUs, and those CPUs only come in a soldered-on ball-grid array (BGA) package.
\nThe 27-inch model proves a bit easier to upgrade: it still has four user-accessible RAM slots, still leaves people who opt out of the Fusion Drive or SSD upgrades an empty PCIe slot to use, and still uses a socketed Intel CPU for those of you who want to take the trouble to upgrade that component yourselves after the fact. Both the 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs were also confirmed to be using triple-antenna (3×3:3) 802.11ac configurations, meaning the iMacs will be capable of the standard’s maximum theoretical transfer speed of 1.3Gbps where the 2013 MacBook Airs used a two-antenna setup capable of 867Mbps speeds.
\nNeither iMac got a very good “repairability score” from iFixit this time around; the more-upgradeable 27-inch model got a five out of ten, while the 21.5-inch model got a two out of ten. The difficult teardown process was cited as one reason for the low scores, as was the fact that the front glass and the LCD are fused together into one monolithic piece.
\nvia 2013 iMac teardowns reveal SSD slots, soldered-in CPU in the 21.5\u201d model | Ars Technica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just one day after Apple quietly refreshed its iMac lineup with Intel’s new Haswell processors, the teardown artists at iFixit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[518,1136],"class_list":["post-3615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple","category-hardware","tag-imac","tag-upgrades"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-Wj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9816,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2024\/11\/11\/hw-news-battlemage-lives-9800x3d-flipped-cache-valves-deck-2-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":3615,"position":0},"title":"HW News – Battlemage Lives, 9800X3D Flipped Cache, & Valve’s Deck 2 Thoughts","author":"NCCT","date":"November 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YIEJJWnXEC0 In HW News this week, Intel's Battlemage makes an appearance, its 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs are on fire sale, the 9800X3D is rumored to have flipped cache, and Valve has thoughts on not iterating Steam Decks annually. 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