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Is that *duct tape*?!? (upper right hand corner)
(mine's the one with a roll of it in one pocket and a can of WD-40 in the other)
Yes, you can open an iMac. Yesterday, Apple announced a new iMac family, and by this morning the good folks at iFixit had already got their hands on a 20-incher, gutted it, and learned some interesting facts about the all-in-one desktop. For one, although the processor "appears to be socketed," there's a warning printed on …
"Finally, after looking at these and more photos on the IFixIt website, we gotta say that we agree with their conclusion that Apple's white-plastic Mighty Mouse looks mighty cheesy next to the aluminum iMac and Apple Keyboard."
You're worried about the mouse? That keyboard is an absolute joke.
You lot really are boring. Apple are part of a different market. It's a consumer brand, something the likes of Dell would love to be. It's not intended to be a boy-raceresq piece of shit custom built PC. It's a consumer electronics device. Can you upgrade your PVR without voiding the warranty to have more storage space? The idea is that you take it home, take it out of the box, turn it on, and you have a *useful* fully functional desktop computer. Easy. You want more storage? Buy an external hard drive! They cannot be judged using the same yardstick you use for Dells et c., unless your goal in life is to belittle at every stage, eh El Reg?
The aluminium keyboards are really comfortable to type on btw...
I hope this small keyboard thing becomes a common trend. I know some people use them, but most have no use at all for the numeric keypad. All it does it take up space and collect dust. I'm rather surprised that the never-ending desire to cut costs hasn't resulted in the demise of the numeric keypad years ago.
Hm, that makes:
14 magnets needing 2 plumber's mates
2 phillips screws
24 Torx screws (T6, T8, T9, T10)
If time was money you could buy a fucking great external hard disk instead for the sweat produced.
(Paris: plumbing, screwing, fucking, sweat - say no mowore! And wondering "what the hell am I up to now")
Am I alone in yearning for the days of the old G4 tower with its 3 internal HDD bays, upgradeable CPU, replaceable optical (and Zip) drive and my own choice of monitor, keyboard, mouse etc.?
I love OSX but, if I wanted an integral monitor and almost zero upgrade possibilities, I'd buy a laptop.
Having been a PC person for the best part of 20 years, last year I took the plunge and went all Apple.
Initially it was a tad difficult and I am referring to the operating system here, just having to get used to doing things differently.
We have 2 iMacs and I have to say that I have been very impressed. I have no need to upgrade the hard disk or even ram for that matter. It runs all the applications I need without difficulty. So, iWorks and Office 2008, MAME, TextMate, Photoshop and a host of other applications for our business.
The look and feel (including build quality) are excellent, keyboard is superb, screen is superb mouse is shite).
Why did I buy an apple - two reasons - I wanted a solid operating system that works and I wanted a good looking computer that worked out of the box. Cannot fault Apple on that count.
If you want to hot swap drives, upgrade, fiddle about etc. don't buy an apple, simple really.
@AC 08:25 nooo i love my numeric keypad !!! let it never die
@mac phreak: you obviously get alot of stick for liking macs dont you ???
If this was a PC it would be recieving just as much crap off us
Being mac does not exclude it from being shit to use.
saying it was designed to be shit is no excuse either
Just face it Mac produced a crappy product, swallow your pride and ignore this thread
Paris cause nude was mentioned
Here's a clue: the vast majority of people *don't* upgrade their computer's innards. Ever. Unless something goes wrong, in which case you get someone qualified/knowledgeable to fix that bit and carry on. Or buy a new computer if it's getting on a bit. You need more storage, get a USB drive...
The only machine I've ever owned that had bits replaced was an appalling Evesham tower system, my first Windows box after years of happiness with an Atari which was only ever opened up to add RAM (by the shop who sold the RAM, who fitted it). The Evesham thing kept breaking its bits in a depressing parade of failure, and once the 3-year on-site finished I finally dropped it and bought a Vaio laptop - un-firtled-with until its optical drive failed, at which point I bought a MacBook, which I have no intention of mucking about with as it works fine, TYVM.
If you want a Mac whose innards are available for firtling, it's the MacPro you want.
BTW, the rest of us will be happily *using* our computers rather than sitting surrounded by a pile of bits that are doing nothing useful.
I converted to an Apple MacPro a year or so ago and have never looked back. I've both the full size aluminium keyboard and the wireless one (without numeric keypad) for use on my media centre Mac Mini. After years of using Microsoft ergonomic keyboards I can say they are a delight to type on.
Although I should add that I use the numeric keyboard all the time, so on balance I much prefer the full size keyboard version.
A few people need to get a life, or are they happy istting at home looking for things to complain about ? So you don't want an integrated "all in one" box ? Fine, you don't have to buy one - though I can imagine that may come as a surprise to some of the whingers !
@ Sam Radford
You still can have a tower - it's called a Mac Pro and it's just been upgraded too. Xeon, up to 8 cores, room for multiple hard drives you can get at yourself, etc, etc. Takes up "a bit more room" than an iMac though !
And for all those "all Apple stuff is overpriced s**t", all I can say is that on several occasions I've had this discussion with people in the office. A quick session later with Apple and Dell websites side by side and we find that equivalent spec machines are fairly close in cost. And of course, if you still think it's overpriced s**t - just don't buy it. No-one is forcing you to.
And for anyone still reading this rather than having given up and assumed I'm affected by Steve's RDF, no, I don't think the sun shines out of his backside, and there's plenty I don't like about Apple - not least their restrictive (and I believe illegal under EU law) policy on spares availability.
When I started using this stuff in the RAF back in the 60s it was black and was called Bodge Tape.
Why? Well you could bodge anything with it. I saw a Ford GT40 at Le Mans with half its bodywork held together in the 1967 race.)
Next time I heard it called differently it was Gaffer tape, and tended to be silver/gray. This was in the 80s when I was working in radio/TV. (I preferred the black stuff as its adhesive was not as aggressive. you could de-rig without pulling bits of the wall off.)
I never heard or saw it called Duck/duct 'till the americans started sticking it all over the internet.
In Home base they sell is as a brand "Duck".
I think I need to order a few iMacs, because an IT department with the tools to pop a dent out of a users car has got to be a popular IT department!
I agree the keyboard is the most comfortable keyboard I have ever used, it's a shame they insist on using the American keyboard layout.
The mouse however is dire, the ball instead of the wheel is nice, but I could never get the hang of the squeeze button.
As for the challenges presented by an upgrade, if you don't relish a little bit difficulty in performing an upgrade you probably don't have the experience necessary to do it on your own anyway.
People commenting to tell others to get a life for commenting/complaining when it isn't needed - please tell me you see the hypocracy in the statement... it's a bit rich to post a comment that is basically complaining about people who complain in their comments... grow up
Personally, I wouldn't mind owning one of these... I've been using my Macbook pro for a while now, and not had a single problem except having too little ram in the first instance.
In this case I will make the same decision I did with my macbook purchase - look at amount Apple charge for extra RAM/HDD size... look at difficulty of adding my own, decide if I need new tools/degree to do it.... and spec my machine accord to whether extra extortionate price of extra stuff outways whether I can be ars*d... but if price was the real concern I'd probably be buying a generic PC and putting osX86 on it...
So, if you want a machine that's upgradable/hotswappable then buy another product.... if you want something that looks pretty and sits on your desk doing mac-like things, then buy the mac.... ffs... it's not like they are MAKING you buy the thing... as much as they wish they could, you have control over your own purchasing decisions.
</rant>
I used to upgrade my PC every few years. Changing mobos, installing new processors etc etc.
Now I just sell my iMac every couple of years on ebay (they go for shi*tloads second hand) and just buy the latest iMac for a couple of hundred quid.
Nice and easy.
Wouldn't work with a depreciation disaster PC though. They're worth jackshi* after a few months.
>I love OSX but, if I wanted an integral monitor and almost zero upgrade possibilities,
>I'd buy a laptop.
That's Apple's point - the majority of new home machines sold are laptops, the majority of laptops never travel.
Real people (ie not readers of el'reg) don't want a machine on a desk covered in wires and mouldy coffee cups. They want the electronic equivalent of a coffee table book. These things are going in the living room instead/next to the TV.
On the "left side of the pond" Duck and Duct tape are the same thing ('round here it's duct tape). Gaffer tape is something different. Looks like Duck/Duct but the adhesive is different so the tape comes off clean without leaving a residue.
Mine's the one with sticky stuff in the pocket.
The origin of duck/duct tape is unclear and will never be settled conclusively: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duct_tape#Etymology . While it isn't well-suited for use in heating ducts, that was only discovered several decades after it became widely used. Gaffer tape is quite different, having an actual cloth backing, not plastic, and doesn't leave any residue when removed. It is also usually black so that it doesn't stand out when used to secure cables on a stage and such.
I don't know who you are referring to, but a "desktop" with a cut-down netbook keyboard is probably the worst idea. Ever*. Some of us actually *use* computer, you know. If just looking at it and thinking "Woaw it's gorgeous" satisfies your needs, good for you. The rest of us will go buy a real computer instead (or just a new keyboard, for the mactards).
* The "let's cram a laptop in a monitor and call that desktop" one was already quite crappy, if you ask. Apple got away with it because most people just do a bit of wordprocessing, emailing and web browsing, you could sell them an old casio calculator hooked to a shiny monitor and tell them it's a supercomputer, they'd believe you. But this keyboard thing is bound to annoy someone.
Martin says, "These things are going in the living room instead/next to the TV."
Right on!
I don't see people upgrading the motherboards in their televisions.
I do see a lot of iMac's in bedrooms INSTEAD OF televisions...
I am seeing more MacBooks in bedrooms lately, though... replacing older iMac's.
It seems iMac's are showing up on the desktops of a lot of businesses, now a days. They seem to make a good computer for a receptionist in small businesses, since they run MS Office and require next to no software maintenance.
No keypad on the keyboard? ABOUT FUCKING TIME! I have not used the keypad on a keyboard in over 20 years, yet I'm still stuck having the fucking useless thing stick out, without a choice. I'd rather have the mouse that much close to my hands, and not having to waste so much keyboard tray real-estate. Finally something done right.
"Mac's are crap and expensive" Ah the failed mating call of the soon to be extinct lesser-green-eyed-vista-troll.
The keyboard is full size, with full size buttons and everything! It only looks small because the monitor is some what larger then the ones you are used to seeing in your cube farm.
"I have not used the keypad on a keyboard in over 20 years, yet I'm still stuck having the fucking useless thing stick out, without a choice."
I'd reckon you're not an accountant, or have a job that doesn't require extensive number entering. Because I use it very frequently, and most of my colleagues use it as well.
Most people don't need it. But they are faster for numerical entry. You can buy a USB one for laptops or desktops though.........................................
I have to say that the criticism of the lack of one seems needlessly bellicose. I had thought that the era of the mainframe style "BattleShip" keyboard had passed.