How to open an Intel iMac "aluminum" MB324LL/A

[nzoomed]

what is it with macs?

They make it like a sealed device and you go to get your screwdriver out of the toolkit, them say to yourself: "where are the screws?" lol

[lockoutpmp]

i was thinking about opening up an imac good thing i didn't Apple doesnt make it easy :/

[Perumexican]

Static city!

[vorkev1]

its 1 resin i dount buy one that and the price it so stupit thay make it so hart and delicate to upgrade. and for the price of a mac you can bilt a hackintosh that will run the mac os faster and better then the reail thing app her them selfs going to intel.the g5 was the most stable cpu ever invented. next to the z80

[blu3sh4dow4u]

another dumbass....

[theangelswithwings]

deos it still work

[w1n78]

@theangelswithwings lol ya it still works as song as i put it back together.

[theangelswithwings]

@w1n78 so its not together ?Lol i have a mac pro atm i dont dare touch to open even do its my job (building repairing pc's)

[w1n78]

@theangelswithwings oops i was typing fast and didn't realize what i typed until now. i meant it's working since i put it put together. working as if i never opened it lol that's what i meant

[richardfallah]

Thanks bro. you saved me about couple of hours of figuring this out. That is surely one thing that wont be shown on i am a mac commercial.

[w1n78]

@iamgrady: i don't think it can be upgraded. i don't remember from opening it whether it is soldered or removable but based on forum posts it isn't upgradeable. someone did mention you can upgrade the gpu but finding one compatible with apple hardware/software is another story

[iamgrady]

Hey would you be able to remove the graphics card or is it soldered into place?

[kronKrew]

wow what a mess, i'd never buy one

[biplav32]

it would probabbly be better to buy a laptop which has better specs than a imac and cost less

[stephenvandyke]

I was going to open mine up and try to clean it out since my fan is squeeling like the bearings are going. Then I saw this video... FUCK EVERYTHING about that, I'm taking mine to the apple store. Still have AppleCare to cover my ass, thank god.

[wendileona]

What replacement drive is best? 2TB SATA compatible? Fastest? I need the fastest HD at the highest TB size! Thanks!

[ashoksethi1]

@wendileona seagate 2 TB sata model no ST32000641as

[wendileona]

@ashoksethi1 - I went with a Hitachi HDS722020ALA330 2TB 7200. Immediate improvement in speed etc. No complaints and its been about 8 months since I asked. I use 'smcFanControl' to control fans for the HD and CPU instead of using the OEM settings, because the last WD HD drive had a major overheating problem, I pushed it burning DVDRs and watching full screen movie files.

Just sharing this so that others can perhaps consider safe guarding their drives since iMacs have such an tight enclosure.

[JohnnyTrotz]

THNX !!!!!!!

[JohnnyTrotz]

Dude, thank you very much, it was hard but without your video i probably would have had not the nutz to finally do this. i had to open my two years old alu i-amc to clean the fans, cuz they were getting louder and louder.

[thePhockwitter]

nice!! Thank you !!!

[sshowani]

what kind of screw driver did u use for the last two screws in the video( the ones that you refer to as being the biggest pain). I have no freaking idea were to even begin looking for what ever the hell it is thanks man your vid rocks! and it was a great help. thank you.

-sean

[w1n78]

i believe it's a phillip screwdriver. don't remember the size but it's fairly small. a good tool to buy is from home depot. here's the sku # 163149

[sshowani]

Once again I just wanted to say thank you. You're video helped me out tremendously. Without your video; I honestly wouldn't even know where to begin opening my iMac. It helped relieve the stress level knowing that I had you're video as a guide. We all know how much we paid for those damn things. Take care.

-Sean

[qmega3737]

@w1n78 It's not Phillips, it's Torx (hexalobular socket). T6 for the small annoying ones, T9 for the others. You can force them with flat heads, if you have the right sizes, but it's really easy to strip them that way.

[Se7enACK]

@sshowani This is everything: (8) Torx 8 screws hold on the case, (8) more Torx 8 around the screen, (2) Torx 6 on the small connector, (1) Phillips head screw for the memory slot cover. That's everything, less the simple connectors.

[TheMacMan24]

Where exactly is the graphics card located on the logic board? I'm currently thinking about upgrading my nvidia 9400m to a ATI Radeon 4850 for gaming. And so now that I know how to open an iMac to access the graphics card I want to be sure where it is in there before buying the card and replacing the nvidia. If anyone could help either reply or PM thanks in advance.

[maximuslt90]

ughhh great video but where is the cpu for upgrading

[nycloslos]

Are cables soldered onto the LCD screen or are they snap in connectors? I just dropped my new imac (ARGH!!) and while the screen is (mostly) fine. The lcd itself got scratched from the glass cover breaking. I've priced replacement 24" imac glass at $100-120 which is easy, but more importantly I'd like to replace the LCD (scratches and 1 dead pixel) but the only ones I've found online say LCD ONLY - NO CABLES. And so my question... :)

(I guess this is a good time to upgrade that HD!)

Thanks!!

[steveminne]

What a freakin nightmare. Thanks for talking me out of it.

[Tbone00095]

holy ballz!

i dont think i have the ballz to take apart my baby

[thebutler89]

I'm going to shit myself when I do this to upgrade my graphics card

[w1n78]

ya it was nerve wracking at first but got through with it. there 2 videos on youtube that helped me out. if you check out my blog link in the info, i mention them. i doubt i ever want to open it again for another HDD upgrade that's why i went with 1TB :)

[MatrixxAndDappa]

Woa!

That's rough,I changed my ram & wanted to upgrade my hard drive.I AM good with these kind of things,but I may have to send this one in to get that done....

[iiTudy]

Damn. It's pretty hard if you don't know what you're doing , and since these things are hella' expensive I think I'll avoid doing that on my own.