It can be done, but I’m not sure which SKUs it applies to, or that it’s particularly advisable.
Both the 2.9 GHz and the 3.1 GHz 21.5″ iMacs have space for a second drive bay, and there’s an iFixit tutorial explaining how to install a second drive. (iFixit usually tear down new hardware within a day or so of release, and have a lot of tutorials for things like hardware upgrades and repairs).
Currently their page for the 27″ model doesn’t have such a tutorial. However, there’s a page on their forums where people are discussing associated teardowns and the possibility of such an upgrade. The poster ifixit611 writes:
The 27″ iMac holds one 3.5″ drive (unlike the 21″, which uses a 2.5″ drive), and one “blade” SSD like the new MacBook Pros use. Unlike the new 21″ iMac, you can upgrade the RAM on the 27″ w/o cutting the machine open (there’s an access hatch on the back).
Replacing the disk requires cutting open the display and removing the left speaker. You’ll need a proper mounting bracket (e.g., an Icy Dock) to mount a 2.5″ SSD in place of the 3.5″ drive. Adding/replacing the blade SSD requires pulling out the main logic board.
They conclude that they won’t be performing the upgrade before iFixit or OWC provide a proper “kit”.
So it sounds like, in theory, you could perform this upgrade on a 27″ iMac, and the instructions from iFixit for upgrading the 21″ would probably be helpful in this regard. That said, hardware is not my area of expertise and I generally get twitchy about opening up iMacs. Do at your own risk, etc.
This question is a year old but I am going to answer it incase someone else runs into this same issue.
I just bought a mid 2011 27" refurb iMac from IBM and they scrubbed the HD completely. This eliminated pretty much every option there was for installing an OS on the Mac.
The problem is that when these models shipped they had either Lion (10.7) or at the earliest Snow Leopard 10.6.6. They are not backwards compatible with the Snow Leopard retail DVDs Apple offers, which is OS X 10.6.3. These iMacs originally shipped with installion DVDs but Apple would not send them to me.
Here's what I had to do:
Download/or otherwise obtain an OS X 10.6.7.iso file from wherever you might find something like that. It will be an disk image for a DVD not intended for this model of iMac, and it will not work.
I bought the retail DVDs (10.6.3) from Apple, and they did not work. I got a RAM Error message (three tones) at boot.
If you have both you can splice the installer package files from the retail DVDs (which work with any Mac) with the installer package files from the 10.6.7 disk image and create a "universal" OS X 10.6.7 installer disk image. This is not fancy it's a simple matter of copy and paste. Detailed instructions for this process can be found here.
After I had the modified .iso file I converted it into a .dmg using this terminal code. Again, very simple. Nothing to be afraid of.
From there I used "Carbon Copy Cloner" and Cloned the .dmg file I created through this process unto a thumb drive (needs to be at least 8gb). Worked like a charm. Just pup it in a usb port and turn on the iMac.
You can also (possibly) use Disk Utility which is a built in utility and "restore" the image to your thumb drive, but I wasn't having any luck with my Disk Utility boot disks and so I decided to try another utility. My feeling is that it likely would have worked this way if i had used DU.
Make sure your thumb is formatted for GUID. Just a word of caution. I intend to upgrade to Yosemite. The install of Snow Leopard works, but I don't fully trust it and my Airport card is non functional. Certain things went wrong in the installation process obviously, but it's good enough to boot, and then upgrade, or maybe try to install a fresh unaltered version of Snow Leopard if that's your desire.
I hope this helps someone out. I've tried dozens of different ways to just get this iMac to boot an OS and this is finally the one that worked. Apple Support was zero help. Good luck!
- I've since updated Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and airport is now working. Everything is very smooth and functional. No problems.
Best Answer
The new iMac does not have an infrared receiver. You will not be able to use your Apple Remote. For controlling iTunes, I recommend Remote from the App Store. For Plex, I recommend Plex from the App Store.
Whereas in the past Apple promoted the idea of using your Mac as a media hub (hence the inclusion of the Front Row app), I think Apple is now promoting the idea of using an Apple TV instead. It seems like every new hardware refresh is having the infrared capabilities removed.