Apple's trying to build the best integrated product, and they're willing to give up some standard parts and interfaces to get there. If you want to be able to swap out components, an iMac may not be the best choice for you.
The hard drives and RAM are by far the most overpriced components in Macs, and I see this as nothing more than Apple trying to squeeze out some extra money.
Doesn't sound like it was meant to be touched by non-nerds.
The glass front is held on by magnets, and comes off with a little help. It's an elegant solution to attaching a glass panel flush to the front of a computer. It's easily removed and easily replaced.
Or there's a HD Caddy that I can swap out for my CD Drive by flcking a little switch.
Thanks for the clarification about the glass panel. I was thinking it was sealed a la iPad. Definitely sounds more elegant than me trying to take apart my old Fujitsu laptop.
Torx is nice. Seriously. I've given up on phillips for woodworking stuff whenever I can, even when the torx screws are 2-3x the price, because I can drive them hard and the don't strip, ever.
Yeah, the hard drive on an imac isn't specified as a user replaceable part. Yes, it's stuck behind the display. But, it's really not that hard to replace, I've done it in about 15 minutes, working slowly, and with an extra pair of hands to hold the display when I actually had to get behind it.
They may not be designed for non-geeks to open them, but they were designed, they're pretty elegant, and they weren't designed to prevent geeks from opening them.
Now this sensor thing, _that's_ designed to keep geeks from opening it.
By comparison, if Ikea sold you a desk and used torx screws (and didn't provide a driver) that would be pretty obnoxious, so they're either going to use standard heads or provide a driver.
By comparison, if Ikea sold you a desk and used torx screws (and didn't provide a driver) that would be pretty obnoxious, so they're either going to use standard heads or provide a driver.
Currently they are. Usually they are. But it's not always the case: When I bought my MacBook a year ago the DDR-3 prices at newegg were within $10 of Apple's upgrade price. That was the first time I'd ever opted for the Apple memory.
The hard drives and RAM are by far the most overpriced
components in Macs, and I see this as nothing more than
Apple trying to squeeze out some extra money.
What if in five years your harddrive crashes and they've already switched to yet another proprietary temperature monitoring standard and no longer sell drives equipped with the old system?
I've been using the same iMac for 5 years now (and upgraded the disk to an SSD about 6 months ago). Not being able to do that with a new one is a deal breaker.
Then their policy on hard drive replacement capability is fairly inconsistent. Why do you forbid hdd replacement for imacs and let do it on macbook pro?
On another note, this is perhaps the first time ever that a DYI advocate is complaining about needing to buy a new tool. At this point, if you're a remotely serious electronics hobbyist, you should have one anyway.
EDIT: Grammar fail.
Phillips type screws are designed to do exactly the opposite and are terrible when used in automated assembly. Phillips was invented when it was expensive to make clutch assemblies for screw guns. Instead of the screw gun slipping the screw just made the bit slip out of it.
In fact, I'm going to coin the term "Physical Rights Management", or PRM :)
As for applecare, they seem to be pretty lenient with those policies as well. My iMac was replaced in under a year but I've also replaced an iPod after the standard 1 year by paying just for the price of applecare (after the year had already passed). In any case, I feel pretty good about not having to worry about my Apple products. I'm ok with paying for an $8 driver once in a while if I really need it to swap parts.
Torx is an accepted standard (just not one commonly found in homes.)
Lots of manufacturers use torx screws in locations where there is very little chance a home user will ever see them. They do it because it makes for a better product initially and easier repair by a professional later on.
That said, I'm still not agreeing with all this carping. You buy a product that's not advertised as having user-serviceable parts inside, then complain it's hard to service. I don't see folks complaining that the inside of their Android phone or Dyson vacuum are hard to hack, and that's what the iMac is equivalent to - it's an appliance. You trade away the flexibility of a desktop form factor for the coolness of the all-in-one.
This is how I imagine the story playing out: Someone at Apple thought it would be a good idea to have fewer of those cases where someone cracked open his laptop for fun and ruined it and then was bitterly disappointed when Apple wouldn't fix it on warranty. That's a lot less likely to happen when nobody has the correct screwdriver just in the basement and has to order it from somewhere.
Whether that's the right or a useful thing to do I don't know but it's also no big deal.