We published a feature last week highlighting 10 tech products that are nearly impossible to repair. Had that article debuted this week, it would have included Apple's new iMac Pro.
The repair experts over at iFixit recently published their iMac Pro teardown. As evident by its three out of 10 repairability score (the lower the number, the harder it is to repair), the all-in-one is quite difficult to fix on your own, even for skilled technicians.
One of the key things to look for when shopping for an AIO is modularity. Apple's new machine is surprisingly modular as the CPU, RAM and dual SSDs can all be swapped out although the latter hardware is custom-made by Apple, complicating replacement.
Unfortunately, many of the key replaceable components are tucked away behind the logic board and require a lot of disassembly to gain access to (Apple ditched the external RAM access hatch that was present on the 27-inch iMac 5K). Plus, you'll have to cut through lots of tape to perform a repair which needs to be replaced once the job is complete.
While some parts can be traded out later, not all of them can. The GPU is BGA-soldered in place so you'll want to choose your graphics configuration wisely at the time of purchase for proper future-proofing.
Apple's refreshed iMac Pro launched in mid-December at a starting price of $4,999. Those seeking a well-equipped machine can expect to pay well over $13,000 (closer to $15K once tax is added in).