why no VESA mount!? grrrr....

The original iMac G5 required opening the computer and dismantling the foot / stand mechanism and installing an adapter.

I did it to mine, and it was an interesting experiment. The bolts had siezed and some of the holes were not lined-up right on mine. But, being an old hardware guy, I made it work.

Anyway, the new iMac systems are not designed to be opened at all by the end-user for any reason. So, you cannot perform this modification.

The only way they could keep the machine both "closed," and provide for this adaptation, would have been to provide an external point of detaching the foot.

I don't like the new closed design. That's a major sticking point to me. I want to be able to open them up and clean out the dust every year.

But, as for an external detaching spot, I can see why they would have found that to be a risk (if it wasn't done right, it could be weak).


But, to answer your question about how to submit feedback for future products, here's the link:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/


Hope this helps.

I agree; it's pretty stupid. We wanted to use the iMac as an exhibition display computer (so that the screen could be mounted on a wall and the CPU didn't have to be hidden behind some wall somewhere and we didn't have to drill through the wall to snake cords). Then we discovered that only the first generation of iMac G5's would do the VESA mount. Fortunately we had one, but we're limited to that iMac for all future exhibition purposes.

It's dumb.

Hello Caitlin,

Just for the sake of clarification:

All models of the first 2 versions of the iMac G5 had the ability to be wall-mounted.

The only models that cannot be wall-mounted are those with the iSight camera built-in.


But, I did have another thought as to why they might have elected to leave this option off of the recent machines.

I know from personal experience that the iMac G5 would get very, very hot.

And, it was obvious that this led to a lot of their repair costs.

So, with the redesign that included the iSight camera, they did change the entire interior design to attempt to make it run cooler.

Now, it's possible that they wanted to assure that these machines had adequate ventilation behind them. By having the foot installed, it can only be placed a certain distance from the wall. You cannot place it any closer than the base of the foot will allow.

But, with a wall-mount, you could place it flat against the wall, or 1 inch from the wall, or 5 inches from the wall, or even a foot from the wall.

Not knowing what kind of wall-mount adapter you might choose, it is probably safer to prevent you from doing so.

I know when I was shopping for wall-mount adapters for my system, that I was only able to find one within 100 miles of me that would support the heavy weight of the monitor and allow it to sit more than 1 inch from the wall.

Most of the adapters designed for heavy weight are designed flat to hold the weight securely.

Arms that extend out away from the wall have some instability. The arm I used was designed for the weight. But, even that one needed some custom re-inforcement to keep the screen pointed at me and not the ground (and it was a horizontal arm if that gives you any idea).

The arm was only about 5 inches long, and made of solid steel. But, because of the weight of the machine pulling against the brackets sole source of support (the plate at the end of the bracket), the machine would tilt down.

I beefed-it up. And, it worked. But, it was definitely not ideal. And, it was my only option if I didn't want to place the computer too close to the wall.

I did some experimenting, and found that even at a distance of 2 or 3 inches, the ventilation space behind the computer was still inadequate for cool operation.

So, you really need about 4 or 5 inches of space. Every inch makes a huge difference in how cool the air around the computer is. And, the cooler the air around the computer, the better the computer can cool itself.

I would suspect that these factors probably were major considerations in the idea to get rid of the wall-mount adapter.

I agree it was nice. But, since you cannot count on the user to insure proper air-space, they probably chose to go the safer route.


Hope this helps.

You can select iMac G5 or or "iMac" from the options in the PowerMac box.

They do the same thing for portables. You go into the PowerBook option to leave feedback for iBooks, PowerBooks, MacBooks, and MacBook Pros.

I don't know why they have such a weird system. But, that's the way to do it.


Hope this helps.

The iMac G5 VESA adapter will in fact work with the iMac Intel systems.

The mount point inside the iMac Intel is the same as in the iMac G5. In order to get to it, you must disassemble the entire iMac Intel including the removal of the logic board, HD, LCD screen, etc.

It took me about an hour to install the adapter on a 17" iMac Intel but it's not for the faint of heart. One option may be to have an authorized Apple service provider do the install to avoid any damage issues and preserve the warranty.

Hello Tostada,

That's good to know. Thank you for that information 🙂

Glad I could help...

My 17" Intel iMac is now living at the end of a LCD arm!

What's sad is apple said they wanted 3rd parties to do it. Like it wasn't really out of reach of doing, but they just didnt want to be responsible. Ok, that's fine, but where are the 3rd party vendors? This has been an issue for many many many months and the only solution I've ever seen is the last poster who went to some serious length to rig his in.

I was all on a hunt to combine my imac & my 2005FPW monitor on a stick and I just can't get it done easily. What a PITA!

Anything worth doing should be done well. Anything less will damage your iMac. The proper solution happens to be in front of you. If you've given it any thought, you should understand that it's the only solution. The only third party vendor needed is the one you hire to perform the explained installation. If you hire out the work you will find that you can get it done quite easily. Best of luck with your project.

P.S. You do not have a 2006 G5.

The only possible third-party solution that wouldn't involve opening the iMac as I did for the Apple VESA kit, would be something that leaves the current stand in-place and simply clamps to it... Not a good solution.

Apple doesn't support their VESA kit because the iMac must be disassembled. Any third-party kit would require the same, so why produce something new when there is already a solution?

We've sent in requests to our Apple reps, asking that Apple add a build-to-order option of getting the iMac with the VESA adapter already installed. Don't know if it will happen, but there are a lot of high-volume customers that want it.





All Mac OS X (10.4.7)

So what google search do I do to find a local shop that can do this decasing kungfu?

Or post a walkthrough and I'll follow that too.

Somehow I doubt the Genius Bar or CompUSA is going to do this mod.