After yesterday's Japanese teardown, the folks at iFixit have taken apart the new 2012 iMac. Unfortunately, this thing is not as repair friendly as originally thought. It appears that the LCD is indeed glued onto the chassis, instead of using magnets like older models. This makes it quite difficult to get inside, and requires the use of a heat gun. You'll also need double sided tape to reseal the whole thing when you're done. It's a better design than the retina Macbooks but still poor overall.

On the bright side, iFixit has confirmed that the CPU is user replaceable. However, they gave it a 3 out of 10 on the repairability scale, due to the glued display and buried components. This seems to be a huge price to pay for having a super slim computer, in an environment where it doesn't need to be super slim.

All-in-ones don't make ideal desktops in general due to the amount of compromises you need to make. Apple lately has chosen to put form over function. While it hasn't hurt the reliability of their computers, it does turn them into yet another disposable consumer good if anything should fail. I think we need to add a fourth "R" to that old environmental mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle, and repair. If Apple wants to make their systems impossible to fix and upgrade, then the price has to come down. Otherwise they're just not worth it.

If you're looking for an alternative to the iMac, Dell's XPS One series is something to look at. Specs are similar to the iMac, though the system is considerably cheaper. It also features a touch screen and is easy to repair. Some reviews state that it's noisy though. Once again, there's always drawbacks with all-in-ones. The old tower design is still king if you're a non-compromises type of person.

Source: iFixit