Ondrej Holzman Apple unveiled its new line of iMac computers on Tuesday, and iFixit immediately took on the task of examining them in detail. Inside, neither iMac has changed much, but the 21,5-inch version is now even more difficult to disassemble or repair than ever before...
In the so-called "reparable score" he received 21,5-inch iMac in the iFixit test only two points out of ten 27-inch iMac he did a little better when he received five points. But neither model is the easiest to disassemble. Along with nimble fingers, you also need some special tools, so this is not an activity for the beginner.
The biggest change to the 21,5-inch iMac in terms of disassembly and component replacement is the position of the processor, which is now soldered to the motherboard and cannot be removed. All iMacs now also have a rigidly connected glass and LCD panel, so these two parts can hardly be replaced separately. In last year's model, the glass and LCD panel were held together by magnets.
Another disadvantage of the 21,5-inch iMac compared to the larger version is the location of the RAM. In the case of replacing the operating memory, the entire computer must be disassembled almost completely, because the smaller iMac does not offer easy access to the memory.
On the contrary, the positive news for users is that, whether they buy an iMac with Fusion Drive or not, they can now connect another SSD later, because Apple has soldered a PCIe connector to the motherboard. This was not possible in last year's model.
