Apple’s M1-powered iMac became available on Friday, and iFixit has gotten its hands on one and has done that teardown voodoo that they do so well.
The teardown, which is being conducted at the time of this article, involves a mid-tier purple iMac model with an 8-core CPU, an 8-core GPU, and 8GB RAM.
- Apple M1 chip with 8-core CPU (four performance cores and four efficiency cores) and 16-core Neural Engine
- Apple M1 integrated 8-core GPU
- 8 GB of unified memory
- 23.5-inch (diagonal) True Tone display with 4480 × 2520 resolution and support for one billion colors (P3 color gamut)
- 256 GB of SSD storage
The internals are different from the entry-level 7-core GPU model, as the two machines have different cooling systems. (The entry-level iMac has a single cooling fan and heat sink, while the 8-core GPU models boast two fans and a heat pipe in addition to the heat sinks.)
iFixit did their usual detailed x-ray before opening up the machine, showing two main metal plates inside the machine, as well as an RF passthrough for the antenna hardware in the Apple logo. Almost all of the silicon is concentrated into narrow horizontal strips at the top (the display board) and bottom (main logic board).
iFixit reports that when they did begin their teardown, they found that it was sealed with “classic iMac adhesive,” which is not as hard to work with as products like the company’s iPad.
The front of the iMac is a single piece of glass, some there is no separate front to the chin that blocks access to the computer’s internal like previous models did. The chin houses the iMac’s logic board, with two fans blowing into the device. Heat is drawn away from the M1 by a copper heatpipe and two short heatsinks.
Components on the logic board include:
- Apple APL1102/339S00817 64-bit M1 8-core SoC (system on a chip).
- SK Hynix H9HCNNNCRMMVGR-NEH 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) LPDDR4 memory
- Kioxia KICM225VE4779 128 GB NAND flash storage
- Apple 339S00763 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module
- Apple APL1096/343S00474 power management IC
- Apple APL1097/343S00475 power management IC
- Richtek RT4541GQV Apple CPU PWM controller
- Kioxia KICM225VE4779 128 GB NAND flash storage
- Macronix MX25U6472F 64 MB serial NOR flash memory
- Broadcom BCM57762 Ethernet controller
- Infineon (formerly Cypress Semiconductor) CYPDC1185B2-32LQXQ USB-C cable controller
- Texas Instruments TPS259827ON 15-amp eFuse with load current monitoring and transient fault management
- Cirrus Logic CS42L83A audio codec
- A mysterious button with three LEDs beneath it
iFixit also plans to share details on the new iMac’s Magic Keyboard Touch ID sensor, as well as information on the speakers. It will provide the usual repairability score once the teardown is complete.
