Our friends at OWC have chosen to celebrate the launch of the iMac Pro with a teardown video. Watch as Mike and Matt from OWC teardown one of the fastest Macs ever made and reveal a look into what makes it work and the upgrade possibilities.
In this video, there are some interesting revelations, even though getting inside of the iMac Pro looks as if it isn't for the faint-hearted, as you have to go a long way in before you get to the key components including pulling off the display, unscrewing the speakers, removing the cooling fan unit and pulling the motherboard out.
The base model’s 1TB SSD is actually two 512GB M.2 drives in a RAID configuration, which once inside the iMac Pro are removable via a single screw, meaning users could make replacements, or upgrades on your own if you are prepared to void the Apple warranty on a $5K purchase.
The iMac Pro models would appear to come with four DIMM slots for RAM. The base model comes with 32GB of DDR4 in a 4 x 8GB configuration, which would mean that a 64GB iMac Pro would come with 4 x 16GB and a 128GB model would come with 4 x 32GB modules.
The Intel Xeon processor inside of the iMac Pro may also be replaceable. Although it comes out like any other desktop CPU, it is mounted differently, so it may be possible to replace the CPU the future but this has yet to be confirmed.
It is also interesting is that Apple hasn't used any direct soldering for the key components in the new iMac Pro, so if you buy an iMac Pro and in the future and you are happy to void the warranty, it may be possible to give it some extra power in the future using off the shelf parts.
Maybe this approach gives us an indication of the way Apple will make the new 2018 Modular Mac Pro with the obvious requirement that it will need to be a lot easier to get into the Mac Pro so that the key components are user accessible.
OWC Announce iMac Pro Memory Upgrade Options
It would appear that OWC has sufficient confidence to announce iMac Pro Memory Upgrade Options will be coming soon...
OWC is excited to announce that it has confirmed OWC memory compatibility and that both DIY Kit and Turnkey Upgrade programs for iMac Pro will be forthcoming. Being able to upgrade the iMac Pro with more memory should an existing memory config prove to be inadequate is a great benefit for the longevity of these impressive, powerful new systems.
But what is also interesting is the caveat they also include in this announcement...
That being said, with consideration to the relatively limited trade-in value of the lowest base 32GB option, the current cost of a full 64GB or 128GB kit and the labor involved with the upgrade – we currently recommend purchasing an iMac Pro with the amount of memory you believe will be needed. While it is a huge benefit to have the option in the future, at present the financial benefit is relatively small vs. the factory cost differences to upgrade from that base 32GB. Over time this difference will likely grow and a real benefit will come to be, but for now we do feel the knowledge that an upgrade is possible is of more benefit than choosing to upgrade aftermarket at this time.
What OWC Found As They Took The iMac Pro Apart
Memory featured in our teardown:
32GB DDR4 ECC memory Total Memory / 4 x 8GB Memory Modules. (Note: No “void” stickers for replacing the memory were encountered during our teardown)
SK hynix 8GB 1Rx8 PC4 – 2666V – RD1 – 11
HMA81GR7AFR8N – VK BF AC 1740
Storage featured in our teardown:
1TB SSD – RAID (Dual 512GB SSDs)
Apple Inc. 512GB EMC 3197 Model: 656-0061A, C0275030, 10YHQR019, D33057 ROHSM MSIP-REI-APL-6560061
Void sticker note: The screws securing the SSDs in place featured tamper-resistant “VOID” stickers that require punching through the sticker with the screwdriver head to remove (see images below).
Processor featured in our teardown:
3.2GHz 8-core Intel Xeon W (Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz)
Void sticker note: The screws securing the processor’s heatsink in place featured tamper resistant “VOID” stickers that require punching through the sticker with the screwdriver head to remove (see images below).
GRAPHICS: AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 or AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64, up to 16 GB HBM2 memory