The older G5 iMac was easy to take apart. The new thinner, more tightly integrated, iMacs are not. I can definitely understand why Apple doesn't recommend users do it themselves. If you buy something like a Mac Pro Apple will give you step by step instructions on how to replace a hard drive. It's designed to be highly user serviceable. Personally I would not buy another iMac until they are redesigned to be more user serviceable.
They're not _that_ bad, really. The glass pops off with a suction cup, and to get at the drives, you just have to take out a bunch of torx screws. It's a good bit easier than the original mac mini. You're not going to cut your fingers on anything like a cheap tower, there's just a bunch of screws.
As opposed to the innards of... I'm drawing a blank here. What computer is significantly more friendly to non-nerds to replace the hard drive? You will still need to know about cables, and what to touch, and how to mount rails on it. Apart from the USB drives, which non-nerds know about and can use easily. Maybe one in a tray where it's just sliding. But then they're still handling a bare drive, and good luck getting one of those in an imac form factor.
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.
Agreed that you definitely need a willingness to get hands dirty and risk destroying the computer. I've had a very smooth time replacing hard drives on a unibody Macbook Pro and Macbook.
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.
The first clue that it's not meant to be done by end users should be "a bunch of torx screws". I don't think Apple's using them just because they are a bit less likely to strip out than a standard or Phillips head.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If Apple was willing to sell replacement parts to the public I would feel better about these types of upgrades. I don't mind doing the work but it's always stressful knowing you don't really have a Plan B if something goes wrong. I tend to only do these upgrades near the end of the machine's life cycle so if I totally bork it up I won't feel too bad about it. If you're lucky you might be able to find the parts on eBay. I've been casually studying the economics behind this. My theory is it's entirely possible to buy a brand new iMac, take it apart, and sell all the individual components on eBay for a pretty decent profit.
