Who has taken the glass off the new 27 inch iMac?

[chp5592]

I am thinking of buying the base 27 inch iMac and upgrading the hard drive myself. I read few threads here of people doing it but I am concerned about breaking the glass while lifting it off.

I am somewhat handy having replaced the hard drive several times on my white iMac which is no picnic.

Any thoughts on this from people who have taken off the glass on the new mac or even the older 24 inch display glass?

Thx.

 

[alphaod]

Just use suction cups; it's no biggie. The only thing to watch out for is dust; one it gets in, it's almost impossible to get out.

 

[aar2697]

It should be fine, but be VERY careful. First off, use a large suction cup, not a knife. I gashed my 20" display with a knife on accident. And be careful of the screen behind the glass, its very sensitive and should never be touched.

 

[rgarjr]

yeah the glass doesn't look hard to take off, just use suction cups and pull up both at the same time.

 

[Rapmastac1]

I would do this procedure on a bed. I wash my covers regularly so once they are clean and dust free, I would do it then. Set the iMac down so the screen is facing up. Get a long line of packing tape (clear) and put a strip along the top and another strip along the bottom. Then just use one suction cup in the middle and pull it a little bit while pulling the packing tape. Set the glass down on the bed and leave the tape/suction cup on the glass.

Do not touch the lcd panel! Make sure to have a microfiber cloth and a dust blower on hand just in case. I'm not sure what the removal procedure is with the new iMacs so I can't help there.

When putting the screen back on, be careful to be centered. While slowly lowering it, spray the dust blower and fully put the glass in place. Take the suction cups and tape off and turn on the iMac. Get a plain white wallpaper and a plain black wallpaper and put them in full screen to check for dust. All you need to do is carefully lift the glass in one corner just a little bit and spray the dust blower to get the dust out. It's impossible to get it all out but you can get the more annoying bits out.

Good luck!

 

[KopThat]

Well first off you will be voiding your warranty, and is 1TB not big enough,
it would probably be better just to get an external drive.

 

[NATO]

Well first off you will be voiding your warranty, and is 1TB not big enough,
it would probably be better just to get an external drive.

The whole 'voiding warranty' thing is a grey area... Apple don't seem to specifically state they'll void the warranty for opening the machine (although they won't cover something which you might have caused yourself). Besides, there's no real way of them knowing that you've opened the machine in the first place.

With regard to the 24" iMac, you can attach a suction cup in any corner and lift up, but make sure to only attach the suction cup to the TOP corners of the 27" iMac as there are metal tabs which lock into the 'chin' of the iMac.

I wouldn't be to worried about breakage - it's a thick sheet of glass and it's got a metal rim attached behind it which adds further strength. The main thing (as mentioned above) is dust - I recommend you don't set the glass down on something which is likely to end up coating the inside of it with dust as it's a real pain to get off properly. A can of compressed air is great for clearing the internal display of dust before reattaching the glass.

 

[300D]

Well first off you will be voiding your warranty

That is false information.
The only ways of voiding the warranty are if he/she damages something in the process or a "void if removed" sticker is tampered with.

 

[chp5592]

Thanks everyone for the advice. The packing tape seems like a great idea.

I guess I could use an external FW drive (and I do have one for back up) but I like having all my "stuff" on one hard drive at this point. I have tons of HD home videos of my kids and they take up a lot of space!!