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News & Opinion
No Memory Upgrades for New 21.5" iMac: Is Apple
Crazy?
Computerworld's Jonny Evans suggests that Apple is crazy to have
made it near impossible to upgrade the RAM inside its new 21.5" iMacs, and allows that in
all his years reporting on new Macs, this is perhaps Apple's most
ludicrous decision yet. He says it doesn't matter how good it is in
every other regard - that one decision makes this a computer to avoid,
and opting for a 27" model, which you can upgrade, or another system
altogether a no-brainer.
Pubisher's note: In its teardown of the 21.5" iMac, iFixit (below) found that although it is possible upgrade RAM ,
it is very difficult to do so. dk
Link: No RAM Upgrades for
New iMacs? Is Apple Crazy?
But Upgrading RAM on the New 27" iMac Is Easy
Cult of Mac's Buster Heine says the new iMacs are lovely, but the
smaller model is hard as hell to get into if you want to make some
upgrades of your own, noting that the recent iFixit teardown of the
21.5" iMac (below) revealed that you'll have to
unglue your display if you want to swap out your hard drive or add more
RAM.
However, he reports that Apple added a new feature for the larger
27" iMacs that makes swapping out RAM ultra-easy through a memory
access port in the back, and he explains how to do it.
Link: Upgrading RAM on
the New 27-inch iMac Is Easy, Here's How
Bare Feats Buying Advice Regarding the Late 2012
iMac
Bare Feats rob-ART Morgan notes that Apple will start taking orders
today, November 30th, for the latest iMac revision, so he decided to
offer some insights to help you decide if the iMac is the way to go,
using three questions received from readers as his outline.
- Should I replace my old Mac
Pro with the 2012 iMac or wait for the rumored 2013 Mac Pro?
- If I already own a compatible display, why shouldn't I get the
2012 Mac mini Quad-Core i7
instead of the 2012 iMac Quad-Core i5 or i7?
- Will the 2012 iMac be twice as fast as my 2010 iMac?
Link: Buying Advice: The 'Late 2012'
iMac
Is iWork for Mac on Life Support?
ZDNet's Jason D. O'Grady takes that the limited nature of Apple's
iWork 9.3 for OS X update (below) as indication
that the company has all but abandoned development of the original Mac
variant of its office productivity software suite (composed of the
Pages word processor,
Numbers spreadsheet, and
Keynote presentation app, each selling for $19.99), which he says
appears to have become a life support system for the iOS iWork
apps.
O'Grady notes that aside from a few changes that add support for
iCloud, Apple's desktop iWork suite has received little attention since
2009. By contrast, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for iOS, which sell for
$9.99 each on the App Store, all got significant version 1.7 updates
this week, while iWork Update 9.3 for Mac merely adds support for the
iWork 1.7 iOS apps - and little else.
Link: Is iWork for Mac on
Life Support?
All Flights
Landing at San Diego Airport in One Day Compressed into 30 Seconds
This Vimeo video has nothing to do with IT, but it's muy
cool.
Link: Landings at
San Diego Int Airport Nov 23, 2012
Rumor Roundup
ARM-Based Macs? Seeking Alpha Says 'You Bet'
A Seeking Alpha blog comments on recent rumors that Apple is
planning to switch it's Macs CPUs (yet again*) from the Intel
processors it's used since 2006 to the family of CPUs by ARM Holdings
that it uses in its mobile devices. The author asks rhetorically
whether this rumor is simply an Apple tactic to exert leverage in
pricing negotiations with Intel or a real possibility; he concludes
that it's both.
The article notes that there would be substantial efficiencies and
synergies realized by using just one family of processors across
Apple's entire hardware lineup, including a rationalization of software
development productivity around a single platform (hello, iOS/OS X
convergence). However, the author deduces that what Apple really wants
is lower processor prices, and a switch to ARM would open the door to
multiple CPU suppliers, and he argues that for technical reasons
switching from Intel to ARM should be much simpler than the transition
from PowerPC to Intel.
Of course that would have to be weighed against kissing good-bye the
Mac's current status as the only PC that can natively run OS X,
Windows, and Linux.
The author summarizes with a guess that Apple will offer a MacBook
with an ARM processor by the end of 2014 or early 2015, but he thinks
that Apple's best strategy is to continue playing Intel against ARM and
keeping them both guessing, and that can't be done on rumor alone.
* Publisher's note: The original Apple, Apple II, and Apple III
models were all built around the 6502 CPU, and
the original plan was for the Macintosh to be based on the more
powerful 6809
processor, but when it became evident that the planned computer needed
more power, engineers chose to built the original Mac - as well as
the 1983 Apple Lisa -
around a 68000 CPU (a chip IBM
had once considered for its entry into the personal computing market
before choosing the Intel 8088). Where the 6502, 6809, and 8086/88
handled memory in 64 KB chunks, the 68000 had a linear address space
and could address 16 MB of memory, making it a far more flexible
architecture that the Mac would use for a decade.
The Mac's first architectural switch was from the Motorola 680x0
processor family to PowerPC, an architecture
Apple helped
develop in conjunction with IBM and Motorola. The first Power Macintosh computers were
introduced in 1994, and the last PowerPC models were introduced in late
2005, just months before Apple introduced its first Intel-based Macs,
in large part due to unfulfilled promises by IBM to deliver a 3.0 GHz
G5 CPU within one year of the introduction of the first Power Mac G5, which
topped out at 2.0 GHz. Another issue was heat, which is why there was
never a G5 PowerBook.
Apple switched to Intel x86 architecture in 2006, gaining a more
energy efficient processor and the ability to run Microsoft Windows - a
huge plus for potential switchers. A future switch to ARM architecture
is not an impossibility, although it's not going to be very soon. At
present, the most powerful ARM processors are about equal in power to
Intel's low-end, low-cost ATOM chips, most commonly found in cheap
netbooks. Dual- and quad-core ARM chips are already in use at speeds up
to approximately 1.5 GHz, and the first 64-bit ARM chips shipped this
year (most Macs introduced since Sept. 2006 support 64-bit operation,
and OS X 10.7 Lion is a
fully 64-bit operating system, so 32-bit ARM-based Macs would be a step
backward).
I'm sure Apple is experimenting with ARM-based Macs, but it's
unlikely we'll see production models before late 2013, with 2014 more
likely. Even then, they will be low-end models with maybe half the
power of Intel Core i5-based Macs. That said, Apple has a long history
with ARM (in addition to the 2007 iPhone, Apple's Newton was
also ARM-based), and iOS in many respects is Mac OS X stripped of
features not necessary in a mobile device and ported to ARM, so if/when
ARM Macs arrive, expect everything to be extremely polished. ARM models
would lose the ability to run Windows natively but could run iOS apps
in addition to Mac software. A plus for Apple is that it could close
the new platform to developers who do not use the Mac App Store,
further enhancing its bottom line.
Most likely first generation candidates for ARM OS X are the MacBook
Air, Mac mini, and Apple TV - and perhaps an entry-level iMac as well.
Time will tell, and we're talking one or two years before this is
likely to become a reality. dk
Link: An ARM-Based Mac?
You Bet
Reviews
iFixit: 21.5" Late 2012 iMac 'an
Exercise in Disappointment'
iFixit's Chief Information Architect Miroslav Djuric notes that
Apple's Late 2012 iMac has been slimmed down to a wafer-thin 5mm at its
edges, making by far the slimmest of its kin, adding, "We are very
curious what sort of diet could cause such a drastic change, so we
opened it up to find out."
Unfortunately, the iFixit team were not happy with what they
found.
PR: The late 2012 iMac 21.5" - code-named EMC 2544
- is an exercise in disappointment for us. We were quite worried when
we saw that super-thin bezel during Apple's keynote, and unfortunately
we were correct: the glass and LCD are now glued to the iMac's frame
with incredibly strong adhesive. Gone are the lovely magnets that held
the glass in place in iMacs of yesteryear.
We don't want to be sad Eeyores through this entire teardown report,
but unfortunately the bad news doesn't stop there. Once inside, folks
can still replace the RAM, hard drive, and CPU, but they'll have to
remove the entire logic board before doing so - everything is located
on the back of the board, hooked right into the iMac's slim frame.
Consequently, this year's unit received a super-sad 3 out of 10
repairability score, down from a healthy 7 on last year's unit.
Hackers, tinkerers, and repairers be forewarned: get last year's
model if you'd like to alter your machine in any way.
Highlights (if you can call them that):
To our dismay, we must break out our trusty heat gun and
guitar picks to get past the adhesive holding down the glass and
LCD.- We were fairly surprised to see that the new iMac's LCD sports the
same model number as last year - LM215WF3 from LG - even though the LCD
is 5 mm thinner.
- By switching from a traditional 3.5" desktop hard drive to a 2.5"
laptop drive, AppleDesigners were able to free up lot of real estate
inside the iMac. Apple turned to HGST - formerly Hitachi, now a Western
Digital company - to manage the iMac's spinning storage.
- A rubbery housing is lightly adhered to the edges of the hard drive
beneath the upper and lower hard plastic bezels. This design is far
different from what we've seen before. Since the internal components
are more tightly packed than before, small vibrations may carry through
more components. The rubber housing dampens the vibrations from the
spinning hard drive so they are not perpetuated throughout the
device.
- A new fan layout! Apple is changing things up quite a bit and has
moved from multiple small fans to a single centralized fan. "1" may be
the loneliest number, but removing 2/3 of the fans goes a long way
towards saving space. Judging by the orientation of the fan, we gather
that it draws cool air from the bottom vents, then blows hot air out of
the grating in the back of the iMac.
- The webcams in iMacs of yesteryear have always been connected to
the logic board with long snaking cables that were relatively fragile;
that is no longer the case. A ribbon cable we can only describe as
"beefy" keeps the FaceTime HD camera in touch with the logic
board.
- The newest iMac features not one, but two microphones. Dual
microphone technology has been utilized in mobile devices for years to
cut out background noise during phone calls. Now, the same idea is
being applied here to improve sound quality during intimate FaceTime
chats with your mother.
- The speakers may look simple, but removing them is nerve-wracking.
For seemingly no reason other than to push our buttons, Apple has added
a notch to the bottom of the speaker assemblies that makes them
harder-than-necessary to remove.
- Good news: You can upgrade the iMac's RAM. Bad news: You have to
unglue your screen and remove the logic board in order to do so. This
is just barely less-terrible than having soldered RAM that's completely
non-removable.
- After a short hiatus, Broadcom is back to bring WLAN capabilities
to the iMac. A Broadcom BCM4331 single-chip WLAN solution dominates the
tiny AirPort card.
Off comes
the honkin' heat sink! And along with it - the CPU??? The new iMac uses
a spring-loaded, FCLGA1155 socket to make all those little electrical
signals go into, and out of, the CPU: http://bit.ly/QUCPG6
Chips on the logic board include:
- Intel Core i5-3330S, clocked at 2.7 GHz
- Nvidia GeForce GT 640M GPU
- Intel E213B384 platform controller hub
- Texas Instruments Stellaris LM4FS1AH5bb microcontroller
- 2x Hynix H5GQ2H24AFR GDDR5 SGRAM
- Broadcom BCM57765A1KMLG
- Intel DSL3510L Thunderbolt controller
- Analog Devices SSM3302 audio amplifier
- Vimicro VC0359 webcam processor
- Intersil ISL6364 multiphase pulse width modulation (PWM)
controller
- Cirrus Logic 4206BCNZ audio controller
- National Semiconductor VM22AC
- Logic board traces (red) and hole (orange) make us think Apple's
proprietary SSD should reside in this spot: http://bit.ly/VeAeEs
Placing the SSD from the 13" MacBook Pro Retina Display confirms
this notion: http://bit.ly/YhEmJu
We purchased the "bargain-basement" version of the iMac. We're
assuming that the more-expensive version - one that has the
built-to-order Fusion drive option - has this connector soldered onto
the board, and a 128 GB SSD is placed into said connector.
Link: iMac Intel 21.5"
EMC 2544 Teardown
Primate Labs Posts 21.5" Late 2012 iMac
Benchmarks
Primate Labs' John Poole says:
"While Apple introduced the new iMac last month, Apple only started
shipping the new 21.5" iMac today (and won't start shipping the new 27"
iMac until next month). The new iMacs, along with a redesigned body,
feature Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors. How do these new processors
perform compared to the Sandy Bridge processors found in the
previous-generation iMac? How does the new iMac perform compared to
Apple's other desktop computers?
"To answer these questions I've charted Geekbench results gathered
from the Geekbench Browser for the following Macs: iMac (Late 2012),
iMac (Mid 2011), Mac mini (Late 2012), Mac Pro (Mid 2012), and Mac Pro
(Mid 2010)."
Link: iMac (21.5-inch
Late 2012) Benchmarks
Apple Updates
Apple Releases iWork 9.3 Update for
OS X
iWork Update 9.3 adds support for iWork for iOS 1.7 apps, with Pages
4.3, Numbers 2.3, and Keynote 5.3 are updated to support the iOS 1.7
updates.
This update is recommended for users of iWork 9.0 and later.
For detailed information on this update and individual application
changes, visit https://support.apple.com/kb/HT5534
System Requirements
- OS X Lion 10.7.4
- OS X Mountain Lion 10.8
Link: iWork 9.3
Tech Trends
A Mac User's Month with the Samsung Chromebook
9 to 5 Google's Seth Weintraub says the latest Samsung Chromebook is
the first that fulfills the ChromeOS mission: good quality, excellent
(MacBook Air-like) design, low cost and functional, and easy to use.
Weintraub observes that it won't replace a mid-to-high end machine, but
for people with basic needs or who want an inexpensive second computer,
it's a no brainer at $249.
Weintraub got a Samsung Chromebook a month ago and has used it and
shared it ever since. He notes that it has an uncanny resemblance to a
MacBook Air, but the silver case is plastic, which isn't necessarily a
bad thing (until you drop it), because it allows the machine to stay at
about the same weight as the MacBook Air with cheaper parts. He affirms
that it has a very solid, firm feel, and a really strong and firm
screen hinge.
With its 1.7 GHz Exynos 5 dual-core ARM processor, the ChromeBook
has longer battery life than the Air, and surprisingly, considering the
bad reputation of many PC laptop input, Weintraub reports that the
keyboard and trackpad (and the software to go along with then) are
topnotch - indeed as good as a MacBook in his estimation, adding that
you'll hardly notice the difference within a few hours of practice.
The Chromebook also beats the MacBook Air on ports and port
location, with an HDMI Video out port, USB 2.0 port, USB 3 port,
and power port on the back, with the headphone mic port on the side.
The webcam is mediocre, and the Chromebook has built-in 3G available as
an option.
Link: Review: A Month
with the Samsung Chromebook
Windows 8: The Last Gasp
of the Horse & Buggy Era of Personal Computing?
The Mac Observer's John Martellaro notes that the saga of Windows 8
continued last week with a gloomy outlook for traditional PCs, with
more cuts in analyst forecasts for Microsoft's growth in 2013.
Martellaro maintains that PCs are in trouble, with customers bolting to
svelte, light, pure tablets, while Microsoft has just announced how
power hungry and expensive its forthcoming Surface Pro tablet will
be.
Martellaro recaps how Microsoft ignored what happened to Apple when
it tried to push some iOSification agenda down the throats of its
users, observing that Windows 8 is fully ossified with the result
that Windows 8 is euphemistically "off to an awkward start".
After shipping its Surface RT Windows 8 tablet with a detachable
keyboard that doesn't run x86 Windows software, Microsoft has announced
that the Surface Pro, which does run legacy Windows software, will be
more expensive than many full-featured PC laptops - and even the
cheapest MacBooks, while offering half the battery life of the
"consumer" Surface RT. With 128 GB of storage and a keyboard,
prospective Surface Pro buyers are looking at over US$1,100, and even
more more if you want MS Office.
Link: Microsoft
Introduces . . . The Horse & Buggy Era
Thurrott: Microsoft's Mobile Strategy Is
Correct
WinSuperSite's Paul Thurrott disagrees that Microsoft is behind the
times and on the wrong track. He acknowledges that Windows 8 is off to
an allegedly awkward start, but he still thinks Microsoft's overall
strategy is sound, and notwithstanding John Martellaro's horse and
buggy analogy (see above item), that Windows
8's double duty tasking as a desktop and mobile OS in order to preserve
both the Windows legacy and MS Office makes sense with a legacy
combined user base of well over a billion people. He maintains that
being able to bring those people forward and create a new mobile
platform in the same OS is arguably one of Microsoft's technical
greatest achievements, and he says that when Microsoft moves from Metro
+ desktop to just Metro in the future, it should be remembered that the
reason that could even happen is that Microsoft marketing focused on
USB ports and x86 desktop applications first, stuff customers actually
care about.
Thurrott admits there is a lot of hand-wringing going on these days
in the Microsoft camp but contends that most of it is unnecessary and
that none of the problems are unfixable.
Link:
Microsoft's Mobile Strategy Is Correct
NPD Group: Windows 8 Off to a Slow
Start
PR: The consumer Windows PC and tablet market1
didn't get the boost it needed from the launch of Microsoft's Windows 8
in the US. Since the Windows 8 launch on October 26, Windows
device sales have fallen 21% versus the same period last
year2, according to market research firm The NPD Group's
Weekly Tracking Service3. Notebooks, which have been weak
throughout most of 2012, saw that trend continue as they fell 24%.
Desktop sales have fared better this year, dropping just 9%.
"After just four weeks on the market, it's still early to place
blame on Windows 8 for the ongoing weakness in the PC market," says
Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. "We still
have the whole holiday selling season ahead of us, but clearly
Windows 8 did not prove to be the impetus for a sales turnaround
some had hoped for."
Since its launch, Windows 8 has captured just over half (58%) of
Windows computing device unit sales, compared to the 83% Windows 7
accounted for four weeks after that launch. Windows 8 tablet sales
have been almost nonexistent, with unit sales representing less than 1%
of all Windows 8 device sales to date.
"The bad Back-to-School period left a lot of inventory in the
channel, which had a real impact on the initial sell-through rates for
Windows 8," said Baker. "The strong performance of Windows 8
notebooks with touchscreens, where Windows 8 truly shines, offers
some reason for optimism. These products accounted for 6% of
Windows 8 notebook sales at an average price of $867 helping to
reestablish a premium segment to the Windows consumer notebook
market."
Average selling prices of Windows computing devices have jumped
significantly this year. Last year, overall ASP was $433 while this
year's ASP over the past four weeks has risen to $477. Windows 8
notebooks have seen a nearly $80 rise in selling prices versus the
prior year, propelled by the aforementioned strong performance of
touchscreen devices and a solid uptick in the pricing on mainstream
notebooks. Windows 8 desktop ASPs were also strong with selling prices
up nearly 10%, driven by the same factors as notebook sales.
- Excludes sales of Microsoft Surface
- Windows 8 initial four week launch sales include the time period of
October 21 - November 17, 2012.
- NPD's weekly POS information is derived from a subset panel of
retailers that also contribute to NPD's projected monthly POS
panel.
Link: Windows 8 Gets Off
to a Slow Start, According to The NPD Group
Black Friday Windows Notebook Sales Down 10%, MacBooks Stay
Flat
AppleInsider's Neil Hughes reports that while retail sales of Apple
notebooks on Black Friday were flat year over year in an environment
where overall consumer electronics sales declined nearly 6%, sales of
Windows-based notebooks plummeted 10% despite the launch of
Windows 8.
Link: Black Friday
Sales of Windows Notebooks Down 10%, Apple's MacBooks Stay Flat
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