Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Is CPU soldered on the motherbord?

I am looking forward to knowing too, we will find out when it is torn down i assume
 
I don't think they would be, though I would be interested in seeing how hard they would be to take out, which I am guessing based on the screws seen so far it's not going to be an easy to do at all, though when has switching a processor on a Mac Pro ever been an easy upgrade.

Either that or they could use a custom bracket to make sure that you don't use off the shelf processors, that way if you want a more powerful Mac Pro, you will have to upgrade when you buy it, or buy a whole new one, causing them to make more money off of the consumer.
 
OpNora said:
...that way if you want a more powerful Mac Pro, you will have to upgrade when you buy it, or buy a whole new one, causing them to make more money off of the consumer.
Click to expand...

Frankly I think other considerations are taken in making replacements difficult than the condemnable $$$ one.

Is it not obvious to people that Apple products are NOT designed for end-user maintenance.?

Only down-to-earth basic replacements are possible, not to mention CPU changes ...

Sort of surprised this is still a discussion matter.

That said I can understand people wanting to be adventurous and doing their own maintenance.
 
aicul said:
Frankly I think other considerations are taken in making replacements difficult than the condemnable $$$ one.

Is it not obvious to people that Apple products are NOT designed for end-user maintenance.?

Only down-to-earth basic replacements are possible, not to mention CPU changes ...

Sort of surprised this is still a discussion matter.

That said I can understand people wanting to be adventurous and doing their own maintenance.
Click to expand...

It comes down to the skill level of the user. People who are used to building their own PCs are not going to struggle replacing a CPU. There will be a teardown guide once they ship.

If you look at the OWC site you will see they have various upgrade kits for Apple products, for the adventurous users, there is an upgrade path.

----------

I suspect you will be able to upgrade the CPU.
 
MH01 said:
It comes down to the skill level of the user ... for the adventurous users, there is an upgrade path.
Click to expand...

I hear you loud and clear. But Apple never made a point of making home-maintenance a key factor of their products. Actually the contrary is true.

I've seen this all the way to what Apple Store employees can do. I once had a dead hard disk and was refused a change for anything different than the same size disk originally installed (I was was asking and ready to pay for a larger disk).

But again, I do not think $$$ is behind why Apple has this strategy.
 
I seriously doubt it though I thought that when I stripped a 2010 i5 MBP to find the bloody cpu soldered in, if Apple had a swear box that day...!

I would get someone who knows what they are doing thermal paste wise or wait for decent tutorials which you can follow to the letter before even considering attempting it.
 
If the CPU is User upgradable I might take the plunge and do the CPU myself ...

meaning it's at least not Soldered in. I did my own 2009 Mac Pro and its hard to imagine that it could be more annoying then that (no bracket over the cpu)
 
KBS756 said:
If the CPU is User upgradable I might take the plunge and do the CPU myself ...

meaning it's at least not Soldered in. I did my own 2009 Mac Pro and its hard to imagine that it could be more annoying then that (no bracket over the cpu)
Click to expand...

If I was buying one I'd get the quad, go d700 and hunt for a hex or octo on the grey/oem market. Keeping the quad for AppleCare. I've been removing CPUs since 8086 and 68000, before the ZIF socket era!
 
Gav Mack said:
I seriously doubt it though I thought that when I stripped a 2010 i5 MBP to find the bloody cpu soldered in, if Apple had a swear box that day...!

I would get someone who knows what they are doing thermal paste wise or wait for decent tutorials which you can follow to the letter before even considering attempting it.
Click to expand...

It's not uncommon for laptops, both PCs and Macs, to be soldered.

The socket takes extra thickness that manufacturers usually don't want these days.
 
ZnU said:
but this machine is clearly not supposed to be the locked box that their consumer machines are these days.
Click to expand...

dunno.. i keep trying to say that but oh well.
notice on all the unboxing videos, 'unboxing' means opening up the computer :)

that's something you never (ever) see with other mac unboxings
 
We won't know for sure without a teardown, but I don't think the CPU replacement will be that difficult for anyone with computer building experience. It looks like each of the three main chips are on their own discrete board, so if you remove that, the CPU and socket should be on the other side (provided it can be removed at all). It looks potentially a lot easier than taking apart a MacBook. Just make sure to have your original CPU and be ready to swap it back for warranty purposes.
 
from the manual:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1668/en_US/mac_pro_late-2013_ipig.pdf

read it as you see fit..


Do Not Make Repairs Yourself
Don’t open your Mac Pro except to install memory and solid state drives (SSD), and don’t attempt to repair your Mac Pro by yourself. Your Mac Pro doesn’t have any user-serviceable parts, except for memory and SSDs. Please follow instructions provided by Apple in memory and SSD kits. If your Mac Pro needs service, contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple for service.

If you open your Mac Pro or install items other than memory and SSDs, you risk damaging your equipment. Such damage isn’t covered by the limited warranty on your Mac Pro. You can find more information about getting service at apple.com/support/macpro/service/faq
 
Lots of things are listed as not user-servicable by Apple (e.g. everything but the RAM in the Mini). But somehow I put a second drive into said Mini.

Wait and see.
 
flat five said:
i'm pretty sure you can swap cpus and keep your applecare (without the need to swap back in the event of an unrelated warranty situation)
Click to expand...

I've found AppleCare in the uk to be far more stringent if you've swapped processors in Mac Pro's out. A few notable late night requests to get to Central London first thing in the morning before taking it to the repair agent!
 
flat five said:
i'm pretty sure you can swap cpus and keep your applecare (without the need to swap back in the event of an unrelated warranty situation)
Click to expand...

Yes but if Apple decides to swap out your entire box, they will give you back what you ordered sans your upgraded CPU.....
 
HurryKayne said:
Your Mac Pro doesn’t have any user-serviceable
parts, except for memory and SSDs

So No Swappable Gpus then ( this if you find something else than the ones Apples put in ) .
Click to expand...

here's what the 2013 rmbp manual says:

"Your MacBook Pro does not have any user-serviceable parts. If you need service, contact Apple or take your MacBook Pro to an Apple Authorized Service Provider."

here's what owc sells:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Air-Retina/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Retina-2012-Drive-Internal-Flash

...and it's important to realize the ssds are proprietary.. meaning, OWC isn't selling those things without apple's permission (& apple tax)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back