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Pretty much every internal screw on a mac is torx. The ones they don't want you to open are the pentalobe ones. The ones that they designate you to use are norm

Pretty much every internal screw on a mac is torx. The ones they don't want you to open are the pentalobe ones. The ones that they designate you to use are normally phillips, but they're never structural. 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.

tomkarlo 15y ago
I'm not saying they were designed to _prevent_ access. They just weren't chosen with a priority on home users being able to open them, because Apple doesn't expect home users to open their devices. And that's true for like 95% of users. 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.
tomkarlo 15y ago
I'm not saying they were designed to _prevent_ access. They just weren't chosen with a priority on home users being able to open them, because Apple doesn't expect home users to open their devices. And that's true for like 95% of users. It's not some huge conspiracy against hackers. 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.
- wiredfool 15y ago
  If if Ikea sold me a desk and used torx screws (and didn't provide a driver), I'd jump up and and down in delight, because it meant that they didn't use 4.5mm allen heads that are really damn soft, have no leverage, and still manage to strip out 3/4 the way through the project.

tomkarlo 15y ago

I'm not saying they were designed to _prevent_ access. They just weren't chosen with a priority on home users being able to open them, because Apple doesn't expect home users to open their devices. And that's true for like 95% of users. 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.

tomkarlo 15y ago

I'm not saying they were designed to _prevent_ access. They just weren't chosen with a priority on home users being able to open them, because Apple doesn't expect home users to open their devices. And that's true for like 95% of users. It's not some huge conspiracy against hackers. 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.

wiredfool 15y ago
If if Ikea sold me a desk and used torx screws (and didn't provide a driver), I'd jump up and and down in delight, because it meant that they didn't use 4.5mm allen heads that are really damn soft, have no leverage, and still manage to strip out 3/4 the way through the project.