iMac 21.5" Refresh Teardown

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This 1080p model may be just enough to whet your appetite before the Retina 4K teardown, but we’re hoping the refresh is more than just a new EMC number. Grab a pumpkin spice latte and join in on the teardown fun! Inside the familiar slim chassis we found only minor modifications to better secure the antenna cables, and of course some new chips. Unfortunately, the hardware is pretty much unchanged and suffers a 1 out of 10 on the repairability scale. iMac 21.5" teardown highlights: The lack of upgradeable RAM and CPU is a major bummer; we fear the day of the soldered desktop hard drive. The base model now ships with a built-in 1.6 GHz processor, and 1 TB hard drive, but the Fusion Drive-enabling socket of yore is gone for good, it seems. iMac 21.5" cheeps and things:

• Intel SR26C Core i5-5250U Processor with Intel HD Graphics 6000
• Samsung K4E6E304EE-EGCF 16 Gb LPDDR3 1867 MHz SDRAM (4 chips for a total of 8 GB)
• Broadcom BCM5776 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
• Texas Instruments LM4FS1EH SMC Controller
• Adesto AT45DB021E 2 Mb SPI Serial Flash Memory
• Intel DSL5520 Thunderbolt 2 Controller
• Cirrus Logic 4208-CRZ Audio Controller
• Macronix MX25L6473E 64 Mb Serial Multi I/O Flash Memory
• Vimicro VC0359 Camera Processor
• Texas Instruments BUF16821 Programmable Gamma-Voltage Generator
• Richtek RT8250 Synchronous Step-Down Converter
• ST Microelectronics 404RP K516
• Winbond W25X20CL 2 Mb Serial NOR Flash Memory
• Parade DP627HDE DisplayPort LCD timing controller
• Texas Instruments TPS54231 Step-Down Converter
• Texas Instruments TPS65161 Bias Power Supply for TFT LCD Panels

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