Steeley Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Does anybody know of what brand of hardware components make up a Mac? In particular an iMac or a Mac Pro? I know they use intel CPUs and nVidia/ATI graphics, but what about things like motherboard, RAM and hard drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Gil Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Apart from the motherboard they're just regular components you can find on other brand laptops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subject Delta Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 They are just generic parts that Apple have made for them in bulk by third party manufacturers. Apart from EFI support (in their desktops) they differ little from other ordinary PC motherboards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdmcmahon Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 To quote the great Mikey Tuetel, they are made of twisted steel and sex appeal.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miuku. Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 To quote the great Mikey Tuetel, they are made of twisted steel and sex appeal.... Sounds like missus to me. Luckily I can cuddle the Mac when necessary :shiftyninja: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdmcmahon Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Sounds like missus to me. Luckily I can cuddle the Mac when necessary :shiftyninja: Yeah, sorry, only into chicks here, I have no desire to cuddle Mikey.... However, I do remember having quite the fondness for my new Mac Mini when I first got it, there is something about the smell of brand new electronics when they start to heat up. It's almost better than Christmas morning, birthday cake corner slices and a bit BLT all rolled into one.... You can easily cuddle a Mac Mini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+John. Subscriber¹ Posted July 7, 2009 Subscriber¹ Share Posted July 7, 2009 Love, Sex Appeal and Special AppleSauce? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeley Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 Haha! Despite getting off-track my question was answered so thanks guys. I had a feeling the mobo might just be a mass produced custom order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vice Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 From what I understand looking at past hardware they have their Motherboards produced by Foxconn and apparently ASUS makes the Plastic MacBook for Apple (Based on Apples designs obviously) they won this contract a number of years ago but most people only found out about it after some Macbooks were overheating due to a clear plastic wrapper that remained covering a heating vent after shipment which users didn't see/remove before use. They seem to pick whichever is the cheapest memory IC's they can get that are up-to spec (1066MHz DDR3 @ 1.5v at the moment) As for Hard Drives they use Hitatchi and Seagate but have been known to use other brands in the past and for Solid State I don't know which drives they use but don't expect to get a fast one. As for screens they have been known to ship Samsung, LG-Philips and Wintek display panels among others. Mostly 6-bit displays on the Notebook side however the current 15" and 17" MacBook Pros ship with 8-Bit displays some from Wintek some from Samsung. And of course all systems ship with Intel CPUs and a mix of ATi/NVIDIA GPU's and Intel Chipsets and NVIDIA Chipsets they often use Matshita optical drives (basically Panasonic) in their Notebooks I'm not aware of which drives they use in the iMac or Mac Pro but I bet probably the same. Of note is their Optical Drives used on the MacBook / MacBook Pro are all connected through SATA. The older models (Classic design before the Unibody switch) used IDE for the Optical drive. They use Broadcom WiFi modules in all current Macs I do not know what Bluetooth chipset they use but in the new Unibody models the Bluetooth module itself is integrated in to the display panels bezel with the iSight camera so it may be a custom designed PCB with a Broadcom IC but I don't know. As for the Trackpads on their Notebooks they use a capacitive touch panel made by Fingerworks which Apple acquired in 2005 it uses the same integrated circuit as the iPhone and iPod Touch it is capable of multi-touch and made of Glass. I do not know how many inputs can be applied at once but at-least 4, meaning 4 finger gestures are possible. The Infrared receivers present on most of Apples equipment (except the Mac Pro) is just a generic 'consumer' infrared receiver it is not capable of transmissions or data-transfers. They currently use Intel's EFI instead of a BIOS on the Motherboard. They used to use Open Firmware on the PowerPC Macs before the Intel switch. So to sum it up what is inside a Mac is pretty much identical to what you get in other computers. The main difference is the Software both at the low-level hardware level (EFI) and high-level hardware level (Operating System, OS X). But EFI is available on non-Apple hardware ASUS for example has shown off some motherboards with EFI as have MSI. OS X as many people are aware can be hacked to run on non-Apple hardware as-well. By saying Non-Apple Hardware I am really just talking of a Computer not produced/branded by Apple as we have already concluded 90% of Apples computers are made up of the same components as other systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeley Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 Amazing post! Thanks for taking that much time mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PNWDweller Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 The part about the hard drives, the one in my iMac is a Western Digital. And the replacement one they put in is the same as well. So might add that to your list. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeley Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 The part about the hard drives, the one in my iMac is a Western Digital. And the replacement one they put in is the same as well. So might add that to your list. ;) Thanks, mate. I went with a Western Digital 1TB drive. It's a green drive too so double bonus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaZoR Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Hype and extortionate prices make up a Mac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomad_ Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Please, try not to have sex with It. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miuku. Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Hype and extortionate prices make up a Mac. Sorry you're poor - I feel for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanctified Veteran Posted July 23, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 23, 2009 Sorry you're poor - I feel for you. Meditate about your answer and how that make all Mac users look. I agree that his post was immature but in this case you dont fire with fire. These kind of fights hardly worth the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miuku. Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I agree that his post was immature but in this case you dont fire with fire. These kind of fights hardly worth the time. Unfortunately El Trollos have a free reign here so you can do one of two things, tell them to take a hike which gets my warning level +20 or ignore them in which case they'll just keep going on. A win-win situation, don't you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanctified Veteran Posted July 23, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 23, 2009 Unfortunately El Trollos have a free reign here so you can do one of two things, tell them to take a hike which gets my warning level +20 or ignore them in which case they'll just keep going on. A win-win situation, don't you think. Just let them keep going. Wasted time for them (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomad_ Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Unfortunately El Trollos have a free reign here so you can do one of two things, tell them to take a hike which gets my warning level +20 or ignore them in which case they'll just keep going on. A win-win situation, don't you think. Oh cry me a river, you poor "persecuted" Apple fanboys are having a temper tantrum because people are posting their opinion about Apple (based on facts) that you don't agree with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wctaiwan Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Sure, Apple prices stuff at an un-****ing-believable extortionate level. I just said that. But see? That's like saying Starbucks is extorting its customers. When a brand successfully sets itself apart (in the case of Apple, with aesthetics, integration and marketing), it can do whatever it wants. And Apple has set itself apart, you have to give that to Steve Jobs, at least. For ingenious / stupid reasons? Due to the ignorance of the general public? Whatever. At least it has set itself apart. At least some people would think Macs are better. You know, I've been a tech enthusiast for years and a Mac user for three years, and I don't regret it at all. I know my stuff. I know what I'm buying into. I know I'm paying for Steve Jobs' stash of extorted cash and clever marketing. But I don't mind. I like the OS. I like how my Mac generally works (no, it doesn't just work, but it works as well as anything else, for me anyway). You can really stop feeling sorry for us Mac users who can't see the light. Thank you for your concern. wctaiwan EDIT: Well, uh, yeah, this doesn't relate to the OP's post at all. Sorry 'bout that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomad_ Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 You can really stop feeling sorry for us Mac users who can't see the light. Thank you for your concern. I don't feel sorry for Mac users, but I do think that Apple fanboys are Nuts. But that's just my opinion. :) Cult of Apple http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F9gdx_LIAc :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdood Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Much of the Mac hardware is designed using Windows. He ho ha he, the irony!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeley Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 Boys! Do you want me to call your mothers!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Charming Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 To actually contribute to the thread, as I understand, Foxconn produce the motherboards for Apple, as they do most of their 'custom' hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vice Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Oh cry me a river, you poor "persecuted" Apple fanboys are having a temper tantrum because people are posting their opinion about Apple (based on facts) that you don't agree with. I don't feel sorry for Mac users, but I do think that Apple fanboys are Nuts. But that's just my opinion. :) Cult of Apple http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F9gdx_LIAc :D As a Windows user all I have to say is, Pathetic. All you do is fuel the blaze and everyone gets even more angry. I'm surprised the Mods have not sanctioned you from posting in the Mac area to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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