The genius at iFixit have done it again – purchased Apple latest and greatest just to tear it to shreds. They have posted their teardown of the new 2011 21.5″ iMac, and they’ve uncovered some really interesting facts.
The new iMac got a decent repairability score (7/10), and looks like it didn’t present too much difficulty. Here are a few of the intriguing things that iFixit discovered:
- The display is the very same model used in the last generation.
- The Thunderbolt IC is similar (but not the same) to the circuitry found in the 15-inch MacBook Pros.
- The exact Thunderbolt chipset used is in fact an unreleased Z68 chipset, which could allow faster solid-state drive caching performance in the future.
- The CPU and GPU are not soldered to the logic board, making them swappable – this could be significant for those that get their iMac repaired out of warranty, as a CPU failure don’t entail a logic board replacement.
- The Bluetooth module is the same one from the original MacBook Air.
- Thunderbolt: Both PCI Express and DisplayPort receive their own 10 Gbps data channel. Display won’t have to compete with other components.
What’s most notable, I feel, are that unreleased Thunderbolt controller, as well as the removable CPU and GPU – these are also the things that will, in the end, make the most practical difference for consumers.
If you’re interested in reading through the entire teardown, or you just want to ogle at some hi-priced iMac porn, head on over to iFixit!
