The Apple-designed A8 chip powering HomePod, Apple's $349 Siri-powered wireless speaker launching this December, should come outfitted with one gigabyte of RAM while its built-in LED matrix display at the top should potentially sport a resolution of 272 by 340 pixels.
A major malfunction at one of its manufacturing facilities in Taiwan has caused DRAM chip provider Micron Technology to scrap half of the wafers produced at the plant, trade publication DigiTimes said Thursday. About 60,000 units of twelve-inch wafers have been scrapped.
The problems with nitrogen gas have caused production lines at the fab to stop temporarily, said a report from Taiwan's TechNews, without citing its source.
Research firm TrendForce said that a nitrogen gas dispensing system malfunction had led to the contamination of wafers and equipment in Micron's plant near central Taiwan.
The facility in question is known to have produced LPDDR4 RAM for iPhone devices in the past.
”The temporary shutdown of Fab-2 could have an impact on shipments of the upcoming new iPhone devices as well,” added the research firm.
TrendForce analysts base their reports on channel checks in the supply chain.
“Regarding recent rumors about Micron's fabrication facility in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Micron hereby clarifies that there was no nitrogen leaking incident nor evacuating of personnel,” Micron said in a statement to Reuters.
“There was indeed a minor facility event but operations are recovering speedily without material impact to the business.”
According to DRAMeXchange in June, the average selling price of these chips will rise five percent sequentially in the third quarter of this year as supply remains tight. The rise in DRAM prices could also be seasonal due to the expected ramp up in iPhone production during the summer ahead of new models coming in the fall.
DRAMeXchange is a division of TrendForce.
It's unclear if the incident at the Micron plant will impact Apple's launch volume targets for the OLED-based iPhone 8 and the iterative LCD-based iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus smartphones.
The Cupertino company typically diversifies its suppliers in order to minimize risk.
For what it's worth, Apple has also experienced a shortage of 3D NAND flash chips for 2017 iPhones due to lower-than-expected yield rates for SK Hynix and Toshiba's 3D NAND technologies, forcing the Cupertino giant to turn to Samsung as a supplier.
iPhone 7 X-ray image courtesy of iFixit
Repair experts at iFixit have announced a DIY $300 upgrade kit for the new 21.5-inch iMac with 4K Retina display after finding user-replaceable RAM via a pair of removable SO-DIMM slots instead of the memory modules being soldered onto the logic board.
The baseline 3.0GHZ Core i5 machine has 8GB of RAM, which can be maxed out to 16GB.
Customers who need more RAM can opt to double the machine's 8GB of RAM to 16GB of RAM for an additional $200 via Apple's build-to-order options. However, only the $200 pricier system with Intel's 3.4GHz Core i5 chip allows you to boost the RAM all the way up to 32GB but the build-to-order option adds a whopping $600 on top of the price of that system.
Therefore, it makes a lot of sense from a financial standpoint to invest into a third-party DIY kit if all you need is more RAM, up to 32GB, on the baseline model.
The iMac Intel 21.5" Mid 2017 Max RAM Upgrade Kit includes the following:
Two 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-PC2400 2400MHz RAM modules Replacement Display Adhesive Strips iMac Opening Wheel iMac Service Wedge Plastic Cards Spudger Tweezers Phillips #00, T5, T8 and T10 Bits Driver HandleiFixit's repair guide details the 63 steps required to replace the RAM.
Although the machine features removable RAM sockets, the RAM is not meant to be user-replaceable because getting to the memory modules requires removing the back cover, the display, the logic board and other components.
In other words, the procedure isn't for the faint-hearted.
Opening them machine involves cutting through adhesive that will need to be reapplied after you finish the repair. You'll also need to remove the logic to remove or replace the RAM.
From the iFixit team:
This guide is marked "potentially dangerous" because it requires you to handle a power supply that contains large capacitors. Unplug the iMac and hold the power button down for at least 10 seconds to help discharge the capacitors. Handle the board by the edges and do not touch surface components.
iFixit also noted that the machine's Kaby Lake processor sits in a standard LGA 1151 CPU socket rather than being soldered onto the logic board. “For the first time in years it's possible to replace or upgrade the CPU without a reflow station, and that's a big win,” wrote iFixit.
Considering that the baseline iMac provides options for 8GB or 16GB of RAM, but not 32GB, this is currently the only way to bring the machine up to the higher capacity.
Apple during the Worldwide Developers Conference refreshed the iMac lineup with faster Intel chips and updated internal architecture. Good folks over at iFixit have now taken Apple's new $1,299 21.5-inch iMac model that has a 4K Retina display, discovering something really interesting.
The machine features both removable RAM (via a pair of removable SO-DIMM slots) and Intel's Kaby Lake processor that—surprisingly—sits in a standard LGA 1151 CPU socket rather than being soldered onto the logic board.
The modular CPU design suggests owners of the all-in-one desktop might be able to replace or upgrade the CPU in the future without a reflow station. The last time the 21.5-inch iMac had user-replaceable RAM was back in 2013. 2012 models of the 21.5-inch iMac also came with a modular CPU.
The stock configuration they tore apart had Intel's SR32W Core i5-7400 Kaby Lake chip, 8GB of 2400MHz DDR4 memory, a Radeon Pro 555 graphics card with 2GB of VRAM and a 1TB 5400-RPM hard drive.
According to iFixit:
Our teardown confirms that the new 21.5-inch iMac with 4K display has both removable RAM and a modular CPU. Of course, Apple would say neither is user-replaceable. Accessing and replacing these components isn't exactly easy, but we’re saying it’s possible. Maybe even probable.
A tinker-happy user (armed with the right tools and guide) could at least double the base 8 GB of memory, turning their new iMac with Retina Display into an iMac Semi-Pro.
Here's the machine's socketed CPU.
Other teardown highlights:
A warranty void sticker on the heat sink discourages users from removing the modular CPU underneath. The Retina display is manufactured by LG Display. There's a single microphone below the display vs. dual microphones on previous models CMOS battery is replaceable A built-in 3.5-inch SATA hard drive is upgradeable There's no SSD connector on the boardAnd here's the user-replaceable RAM module.
Despite the upgradable RAM and CPU, iFixit gave the machine a 3/10 for repairability.
That's because the computer is difficult to open as everything is buried under “a finicky glass panel,” in iFixit's own words. A speciality pizza-cutter-like tool is required to breach the adhesive before any repair.
And because the cover glass and the Retina display itself are fused together, the cost of a display replacement will be high.
At any rate, this is still good news for anyone in the market for a new iMac. Upgradability is paramount with all-in-one designs like iMac's. And with replaceable RAM and CPU, customers will be able to get more use and more years out of their computer.
If you've been experiencing strange behaviour from your computer, or have recently upgraded or replaced your RAM, it might be a good idea to test its integrity. This ensures that it is installed correctly, that no part of it has failed, and that it has no intermittent problems.
Following up on a comment from Apple's Phil Schiller regarding upcoming iMacs with pro-grade features, Pike's Universum today shared a few specifics on what said upgrades might entail. Citing a “pretty accurate” source, the blog claims next-gen iMacs will feature Intel's more powerful Xeon E3 chips with up to sixty-four gigabytes of Error-Correcting Code (ECC) RAM, faster flash storage with capacities up to two terabytes, Thunderbolt 3, USB-C and more.
Apple's first OLED-based iPhone will have three gigabytes of RAM like the current iPhone 7 Plus models and come in two storage capacities—64GB and 256GB—eliminating the current 32GB SKU as an entry-level option when it comes to storage size. It won't feature a curved display due to production and drop test issues with 3D glass, as per Chinese research firm TrendForce.
Software developer Ben Slaney asked Apple via email to give a more detailed clarification as to why the new MacBook Pro does not provide a 32-gigabyte build-to-order option for power users looking to max out the RAM. He allegedly received a response from Phil Schiller, who is boss of worldwide marketing at Apple and the steward of the firm's developer relations.
Schiller's response reveals that doubling the RAM from 16 to 32 gigabytes would have required a different logic board design versus the notebook's mustache-shaped logic board, one that would have reduced space for batteries.
Much has been said about the limits of the new MacBook Pro and the fact that its memory is capped at 16GB, presumably to preserve battery. Some users see this as a terrible limitation that could slow them down when performing memory-intensive tasks. But does the new MacBook Pro really need 32GB of RAM? Robin Harris, writing for ZDNet doesn't believe so:
As you know, Apple's limited the new MacBook Pro to a maximum of sixteen gigabytes of RAM. Truth be told, no Mac notebook thus far has permitted customers to double the system RAM to a whopping thirty-two gigabytes though many MacBook Pro fans seem to have expected just that as an option.
As we told you, Apple on its part did acknowledge that it'd decided against giving the new Pro 32GB RAM because doing so would have decreased the notebook's battery life.
The statement is true, but lacks detail.
The Loop's Dave Mark points us to a more technical explanation for why you cannot outfit your brand spanking new MacBook Pro with 32GB RAM.
I was recently asked about the difference between active, inactive, and wired memory on computers. Many memory measure tools use these terms to describe your memory usage and doesn't really go into much depth about what they mean.
In this piece, I hope to shed some light on this confusion and explain the differences between these memory states the best I can.
I've had a blast configuring the new MacBook Pro in Apple's online store and a lack of 32GB RAM upgrade option immediately jumped out at me. Thirteen-inch Pros include 8GB RAM while the faster and pricier fifteen-inch machines double that to to sixteen gigabytes.
According to Apple, the new MacBook Pro cannot be configured with 32 gigabytes of RAM because doubling the memory would have a negative impact on battery life.