This is a bit of a pain but super simple to solve, I made this ible to show you how to put your ports exactly where you need them, on the front of your iMac. Just see what a difference a bit of sugru can make :)
WHAT YOU NEED:
sugru
Headphone extension cable
USB extension cable (male to female) (these are easy to find online or in a local store - I bought 25cm (10") cables - they are the perfect length for this project)
Scissors
Tissue
Masking tape
Why sugru is good for this:
1: bonds to Aluminium brilliantly :)
2: bonds to most other materials
3: you can remove sugru from most non porous surfaces without leaving any marks - take a look at this ible to see how
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Signing UpStep 1: TRUST IN THE TAPE
The success of this instructable depends a lot on the use of tape.
To ensure that the inputs stay straight and do not move while the sugru is curing, it is important to tape the wire in place on the back of the computer.
Also, once the inputs are sugru'd in place, it is important to tape them in place, as the wires often offers resistance and try to pull the inputs out of place. Use tape to help hold the hack in place while it cures.
We found a strong masking tape worked best. It may not be as strong as duct tape but it wont leave marks on your beautiful iMac.










































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Ram shouldn't be affected by a static magnetic field, but the speakers might.
The magnetic hard drive is high up towards the middle in those things, and SSDs wouldn't be affected either.
Possibly stick a bit of felt or cork to the underside of the magnet to stop scratching.
Did I miss anything?
*though a USB hub works too* :)
Just wish apple would get on the stupid USB 3 bandwagon by now. Feeling the need for speed here. Though on my 6 year old mac its not going to make much of a difference...
And exactly how useful is thunderbolt when there are only a handful of drives that have it?
My point of accessibility is that you shouldn't have to get used to it... Although hubs do work well, if I spend that much on a computer, I expect it to have a well thought out design, be faster than any computer that costs less, and be able to do anything I throw at it. Mac fails all of those. I spent $400 on a new laptop for my niece, $50 on more RAM, and I spent 2 hours getting it fine tuned for her. It now runs faster than all of her friend's MacBook pros. Just sayin... ;)
My top 5 reasons to not like apple products:
1. Price- really, apple could be doing much better on this part, as nowhere but apple does it cost $200 to upgrade RAM.
2. Expandability. Apple products are designed to look nice, but not really user expandable.
3. Lockdown- really, get on the open source vibe apple.... grr.
4. Late getting standards- blu ray and USB 3 are becoming the norm on computers- apple thinks thunderbolt will do but it just cant..
5. Not supported half as much as PC's. Self explanatory.
What I would consider a nice apple product (I really want a laptop so this is all gonna be for it)- Low-ish price, some nice post i7 processor, support for an unhealthy amount of RAM (I would max out 16gb), and a good video card.
And I dont even play hardcore 3d games. More like angry birds. Oh and X-plane 10.
Why would you want to put a working mac in DFU? :O the horrors...
I'd just use something like a restore disc and disk utility.
your second is they aren't "expandable"? hmm. i have plenty of devices plugged into my USB and Thunderbolt ports.
third, "Lockdown- really, get on the open source vibe apple" perhaps you aren't aware of OS X's open-source roots, apple's contributions to BSD or many other projects. try http://www.apple.com/opensource/
standards like blu ray? really? when everyone else is moving to digital delivery. usb3 hardly has much traction, and apple isn't the only one behind thunderbolt, intel is pushing it hard too. PS. you can plug an external blu-ray drive into your mac and it will work just fine. mine is plugged into my "non-expandable" USB2 port.
"no supported half as much as pcs" really? what does this statement even mean. supported, by who?
Not just for ram- why do you think apple has $60 BILLION in revenue? Because they charge so much. An 8gb ram upgrade is $200 on apple and less than $50 from crucial. As for hardware, why should it cost $2500 for a laptop with the EXACT SAME SPECS as a $500 one? Surely, apple is not using some space age polymer for their products that costs the world to produce.
Expandability as in 3rd party upgrades. Upgrading a hard drive on a mac is harder than you think. As for any other parts, they are only produced BY APPLE, so good luck finding a replacement...
Heard of iOS? Its in major lockdown. I would also be in heaven if apple decided users might actually want to change settings...
Everyone else is moving to digital delivery? Yeah, in like 5 years when the rest of us have the bandwidth for it and everyone is connected. That idea sucks when you go outside. Sure, apple can get rid of the drive- most people dont use em anymore. They should at least be SUPPORTING standards with external products. Thunderbolt, while being pushed by intel, I havn't really seen it on any PCs lately0
Not supported half as much as PCs? Try and find software. I can find LOADs of FREE great working software for a PC, but try it on a mac and youre gonna end up with nothing or $50 out of pocket.
I really dont want to start this war about apple and macs. I do know my stuff when it comes to mac pricing, and theirs sucks. Many times, for a consumer, the decision comes to spending $2000 for $400 for a nice windows laptop. Most people are not going to spend $2000 on something they see is equivalent to a PC
everyone knows apple doesn't use "space age polymer". they use fairy dust.
do you walk into a BMW dealership and tell them you can buy a chevy for 1/2 the price and demand they price match? after all they both sell cars with 4 wheels and use gasoline! the "EXACT SAME SPECS"!
erm, i've upgraded hard drives on macs since the early 80's. if you're competent with a screw driver you won't have much trouble. yes, i pulled the glass off my 24" imac to upgrade the 500G drive to a 1TB. wasn't that hard. certainly not for most of the people who probably hang out on instructables. ;) as for spare mac parts, there are plenty of 3rd party suppliers. try ifixit, ebay, owc, etc.
iOS. lockdown. maybe you didn't know you could download xcode for free from apple and write your own apps. and then there's this little thing called jailbreaking. there's also a settings app that lets you change plenty of settings. ohhh, wait, do you mean obnoxious themes? yeah. jailbreak and you can do those too.
sorry you won't have decent bandwidth for 5 more years. still on your dial-up aol account? and this is apple's fault how? maybe you can move to somewhere that you can get broadband. what isn't apple supporting with external products? i already mentioned that you can hook up a blu-ray drive via usb. speaking of, you didn't see it on too many PC's when the iMac was first released, it took PC's a while to catch up to Apple on that one. along with the 3.5" floppy. heck, even the mouse. Macs had been using mice since 1984, took PC's more than a few years to catch up, all that DOS ya'knkow.
oh yes. the billions of apps argument. well, we know how many of those LOADs of apps are quality software. there's a reason people pay a few hundred dollars for MS Office vs. using Notepad.
"you get what you pay for"
well, you've already admitted you don't want to pay for hardware, no surprise you won't pay for software either. but again, how is this apple's problem and not your own? infact most of your arguments seem to be centered around the fact that you won't pay for apple products, but as you opened with, apple has $60billion in revenue. so apparently there are quite a few people who believe that their products are worth the price paid. whatever Apple is doing wrong, they're taking it all the way to the bank!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njos57IJf-0
haha
1. You can easily upgrade ram from newegg, $45 for 8gig.
2. Their looks are not the only thing they excel in, apple computers are the standard for video editing, sound recording and image alteration.
3. Windows is just as locked if not more.
4. Apple is known for having standards before PCs, USB, SATA, DVI, Displayport, and now Thunderbolt. Intel is pushing Thunderbolt. PCs are slow at adapting to new standards because of legacy components many companies use for manufacturing and old mission critical software.
5. All file standards are compatible with apple products. If you need to run PC only software all macs are more that capable of running a virtual machine and sandbox windows7.
Not that OSX isnt impenetrable..
response to 4.
Apple usually creates a new standard- I believe the thunderbolt connector was a direct collaboration with intel. And as for connections- mini displayport is apple only. Yes, adapters are available, but just slap and HDMI on the thing- much more compatible and good until 4k comes to consumers. With all the design aspects of apple using an adapters is just... ugly :(
To me, I am on both sides- I prefer macs for computing, as they are reliable and good for design (which I like to do). Pc's are great for other stuff, but given a choice I would do mac.
As for smartphones, I have an android phone and an ipod touch. I use the touch more because I had it for years before the droid and built an app library for it. Android though, has a much better browser, bigger screen, and is a lot more universal (plus it has a micro hdmi!)
So really, inside I'm a mac lover but I am definitely not a hardcore mac preacher.
Thunderbolt is proprietary. As its not anywhere close to universal, usb 3 is the best its gonna get. Just because its fast doesnt mean its functional
And really, how many of us NEED 12 core processing??
Anyways, I havnt seen anything short of a huge budget graphics department use that much RAM.