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Agreed. I don't think Apple really loses that much money to people who want to do DIY upgrades. This change really only inconveniences the uber-geeks among us.

by montagg 15y ago

Agreed. I don't think Apple really loses that much money to people who want to do DIY upgrades. This change really only inconveniences the uber-geeks among us. However, on that note, the iMac has always been the hardest computer to upgrade. I believe it's harder to upgrade than the older Macbook Pros; I once opened up my 2006 Macbook Pro to switch out the hard drive, and I will never, ever do that again. I think it's fair to say that if you buy an iMac, you should be comfortable with buying a hermetically sealed black box that you're never going to mess with.

18pfsmt 15y ago
Does anyone know if this is device specific or model specific? It would be nice if ifixit, or anyone, added the part number for WD Caviar Blue drive as they vary in price from $33-80 on Newegg.
brudgers 15y ago
>"I don't think Apple really loses that much money to people who want to do DIY upgrades. This change really only inconveniences the uber-geeks among us." It's not just DIY'ers. It's the secondary service and repair market. Now they have to buy Apple disks. I'll suggest that it is a fundamental business strategy for Apple to seek to extract a transaction cost from any exchange involving their products. iTunes was the pivot point for their revenue model. The iPhone transferred it to hardware and scaled it for content, e.g. batteries and the AppStore. The past year has seen it rolled out widely for the Mac platform. One gets the sense that they look at the profit which companies like Macsales.com earn from upgrades as money that has been left on the table - certainly it is consistent with their recent policies regarding sales from within apps.
- ryannielsen 15y ago
  Considering that 1) Apple's likely concerned only with Apple Authorized Service Providers and those ASPs already had to source parts from Apple (and possibly pay for training and/or license fees, but I'm less certain on that) 2) The secondary service and repair market is a vanishingly small market compared to other potential revenue streams I doubt further monetizing the repair market ever entered the conversation when deciding whether to use non-standard HDDs in the new iMacs.
dvdhsu 15y ago
Ever since the unibody revamp, the MacBook Pro hard drives have become incredibly easy to upgrade. For those with a removal battery, the whole process takes no more than fifteen minutes. For those with an integrated battery, it should a little longer, around thirty minutes.
- wlesieutre 15y ago
  I've got the last revision before unibody, and god is it a pain to get to. You pretty much have to take apart the entire computer.
nupark2 15y ago
However, on that note, the iMac has always been the hardest computer to upgrade. Interestingly, the G5 iMac was an exception to this -- Apple seemed to be experimenting with DIY repair. When the motherboard failed (and in the G5 iMac, this was 'when', not 'if'), Apple would actually send you a new motherboard, a full instruction manual, and the requisite tools to open up the case and replace it. The entire back of the computer simply levered off, granting access to components arranged for easy access. When the Intel iMacs replaced the G5 (using an identical form factor), Apple didn't continue the DIY approach, and the machines were incredibly difficult to service at home. A bit more info: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1811?viewlocale=en_US http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1811?viewlocale=en_US
- cubicle67 15y ago
  I've replaced the drive in one of those early Intel iMacs (still our main computer 6 years later), and yeah, it was a bit of a pain.

by montagg 15y ago

18pfsmt 15y ago

Does anyone know if this is device specific or model specific? It would be nice if ifixit, or anyone, added the part number for WD Caviar Blue drive as they vary in price from $33-80 on Newegg.

brudgers 15y ago

>"I don't think Apple really loses that much money to people who want to do DIY upgrades. This change really only inconveniences the uber-geeks among us." It's not just DIY'ers. It's the secondary service and repair market. Now they have to buy Apple disks. I'll suggest that it is a fundamental business strategy for Apple to seek to extract a transaction cost from any exchange involving their products. iTunes was the pivot point for their revenue model. The iPhone transferred it to hardware and scaled it for content, e.g. batteries and the AppStore. The past year has seen it rolled out widely for the Mac platform. One gets the sense that they look at the profit which companies like Macsales.com earn from upgrades as money that has been left on the table - certainly it is consistent with their recent policies regarding sales from within apps.

ryannielsen 15y ago
Considering that 1) Apple's likely concerned only with Apple Authorized Service Providers and those ASPs already had to source parts from Apple (and possibly pay for training and/or license fees, but I'm less certain on that) 2) The secondary service and repair market is a vanishingly small market compared to other potential revenue streams I doubt further monetizing the repair market ever entered the conversation when deciding whether to use non-standard HDDs in the new iMacs.

dvdhsu 15y ago

Ever since the unibody revamp, the MacBook Pro hard drives have become incredibly easy to upgrade. For those with a removal battery, the whole process takes no more than fifteen minutes. For those with an integrated battery, it should a little longer, around thirty minutes.

wlesieutre 15y ago
I've got the last revision before unibody, and god is it a pain to get to. You pretty much have to take apart the entire computer.

nupark2 15y ago

However, on that note, the iMac has always been the hardest computer to upgrade. Interestingly, the G5 iMac was an exception to this -- Apple seemed to be experimenting with DIY repair. When the motherboard failed (and in the G5 iMac, this was 'when', not 'if'), Apple would actually send you a new motherboard, a full instruction manual, and the requisite tools to open up the case and replace it. The entire back of the computer simply levered off, granting access to components arranged for easy access. When the Intel iMacs replaced the G5 (using an identical form factor), Apple didn't continue the DIY approach, and the machines were incredibly difficult to service at home. A bit more info: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1811?viewlocale=en_US http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1811?viewlocale=en_US

cubicle67 15y ago
I've replaced the drive in one of those early Intel iMacs (still our main computer 6 years later), and yeah, it was a bit of a pain.