Have you replaced the CPU in your Intel iMac?

[apinomus]

I'm looking at buying one of the current-gen Intel Core2Duo iMacs pretty soon. I'm thinking of getting a very low-end CPU in it and just manually upgrading it myself.

Has anyone replaced the CPU in their current-gen iMac? How easy was it to get to the CPU socket? I've build PCs for 8 years so I'm no newbie to poking around inside machines.

Does anyone know the max C2D CPU the motherboard will accept? Would a Quad-core Intel be out of the question?

Thanks!

 

[taltamir]

last laptop I tried to upgrade the CPU on had it soldered in. It wasn't in a socket, it had the CPU pins going through the motherboard and the a bit of solder on each one...

Anyone have an imac they can open and see if thats the case there?

 

[AMDZen]

You can't upgrade iMacs I don't think - unless something has changed. Apple is notorious for not letting you upgrade the CPU

 

[apinomus]

Well, my friend who is Apple Desktop Certified confirmed the CPU is soldered on.

 

[taltamir]

wow apple actually solders on their DESKTOP cpus? thats even worse then I thought!
apple sucks more then I realized before.

A similarly configured (hardware-wise) PC costs 1/2 (low end) to 1/4th (high end) of an identical hardware mac.

Making MacOSX the most expensive operating system ever made... you think vista 200$ price tag is bad? macosX can cost you thosands of dollars, with the price increasing exponentially with the cost of the hardware.

This is exactly why hackers have cracked the DRM on MacOSX so that it can be installed on any computer you want. the intel macosx version is fully x86 complient and thus will work on ANY desktop computer (amd, intel, whatever) that is x86 compatible once the copy protection is remove (which is chip based, so a little bit MORE intrusive then the much complained about vista DRM called WGA).

 

[nerp]

I'd never expect to be able to upgrade a mac beyond a memory or hard drive replacement, perhaps. You get all the cool Apple appleness when you go Apple, but I'd hope people understand that you lose a lot of tweakability.