Hi,

I am in the market for a 24" iMac. My plan is to custom order a 2.4 GHz model upgraded to a 2.8, but keeping all the other options at the baseline of 1GB RAM / 350 GB HDD. Then I will upgrade the RAM and HDD myself to 4GB/1TB.

I was able to find upgrade instruction for the RAM quite easily from Apple's website, but hard disk replacement is another matter. Even http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/ does not have instructions for this model.

Anybody can direct me to such information? Any other suggestions/recommendations/experiences, will greatly be appreciated!

Personally I have replaced HDD and installed PCI cards in my old Quicksilver Mac, as well as installing Airport cards and RAM in Powerbook and MacBook Pro--if that matters.

TIA!
Alwin

The new "black face" imacs do NOT have a user replaceable hard drive. There's enough complications (including risk of injury) that they are probably not even going to suggest how to do it for fear of liability.

Here's the skinny:

- first off the front glass comes off. NO SCREWS. magnets, all around it. Requires large suction cups. Very thin large piece of thin non-tempered glass, could fillet you like a fish if you slip. Heaven forbid you drop it. Handle with gloves.

- front bezel not hard to remove but quite a few screws

- LCD panel. more screws. unplug stuff while removing it, usually need two people to do it efficiently.

when reassembling, the face of the LCD panel, as well as the inside surface of the glass, must be completely cleaned to remove any dust, fingerprints, and LINT. Very easy to get it all put back together only to notice a 1/4" bit if white lint or a hair or fleck of dandruff or anything between the two. Very noticeable.

Mind the black release pulls for the memory when you are replacing the bezel, easy to forget about them and leave them hanging out the back case like Stimpy's tongue.

Apple must be doing something right with these, I've only had to take apart maybe 10 of them in all this time, and for a new model, that's really surprising. Usually the new models have some kind of flaw that a lot of them need a specific repair in the first 2 months.

Hey, Virtual1, thanks for your quick and exhaustive response.

Reading how you described it, I don't think I am capable--both skill-wise and equipment-wise--of changing the hard disk myself. Guess I'll just have to custom order one with a 1TB HDD, then. Appreciate your help anyways.

Alwin

Rather than paying apple some what, $600 or so for a 1tb internal, you could just get an external firewire OR usb drive for 1/4 the cost and none of the hassel. Use the internal as a backup drive or for additional space.

There is a detailed photo guide on upgrading the iMac hard drive outlined at this web site:

Upgrade iMac - models 2007 and 2008 to 1 TB hard drive

Let me toss in my 2c worth on those instructions:

- have a clean place to set the display, the bezel, and the glass on. You will need a lot of room to take this apart.
- lay a CLEAN sheet down where you are going to place the display and the glass. Immediately after placing them on the sheet, fold the sheet over on top of them. This will help prevent gathering dust etc while you work. Lay down the LCD panel front side up, lay the glass down with the INSIDE surface up.
- DO NOT touch the naked front of the LCD panel itself, for any reason. NO CLEANERS. So be on your guard once the glass comes off. If something gets on the screen, canned air is probably your best option. Actually, canned air would be a really good idea to use later to blow any dust off the LCD panel and inside of the glass as you are reassembling, since you won't have apple's "dust removal system" tools to use, so get some of that before you start.
- make sure the LCD temp cable and LVDS cable are both unplugged and wires clear before trying to remove the LCD panel
- you will have to unplug the backlight from the computer in one of several ways depending on model. It helps to have a friend to hold the panel while you unplug the cables, to prevent from having to yank on wires.
- removing any screws on the PS is unnecessary
- it's infinitely easier to remove the top two screws on the black plastic handle to release the hard drive, than to try to force the handle to release the HD. Just attach it back on the new HD and ponder why it's so easy to snap back into place when it was so hard to remove. (answer: imacs were made to be assembled, not DISassembled)
- hit the LCD panel with some canned air and same for the inside of the glass just before replacing it. Careful not to hit a fan, that will likely send up a cloud of dust.

- if you are doing a 24", the backlight power cable is a single cable and is hard to unplug from either end. You can unplug it from UNDER the power supply at a very tricky angle to plug it back in later, or you can peel the black plastic sheet off the display to reveal the other end. Having a friend hold the panel while you work on it is a good thing. Use caution when unplugging the cable, it can have an extremely good grip and ripping wires out the connector would be a Bad Thing™.
- if other than that, you have several HV connectors above the right fan which are easy to unplug. When reassembling, the ends need to be stuffed into the gap below the optical drive just as the display is lowered into place, or it will block the panel from setting flat into the case.

- I test things before assembling whenever possible. I recommend powering it up for a test immediately after reinstalling the LCD panel, so if there's a problem, you don't have to do the whole takitapart thing again. If the fans race but it runs fine, did you reconnect the LCD and HD temp sensors?

Is there some reason this new thread has 4,400 hits?