The new 21.5-inch iMacs hit stores last Friday, so you can just imagine how the folks at iFixit spent their weekend -- but in addition to a disappointing repairability score, the latest iMac also comes with a curious secret.

iFixit is back with a teardown of the new 21.5-inch iMac, fresh off the assembly lines and ready to expose its deepest, darkest secrets for the world to see. And indeed, this particular model does come with at least one curious item etched on the outside.

"Interestingly, this iMac claims to have been assembled in the USA," iFixit notes at the conclusion of Step 3 of their teardown. The news sent the Apple blogosphere into a tizzy over the weekend, wondering if Cupertino has some kind of secret assembly plant here in the United States.

As AppleInsider noted Sunday, this isn't the first time Apple products have arrived with the words "Assembled in USA" etched on their back -- an Apple support forum thread dates back to 2006, which most recently shows a standard iMac SKU purchased from New York-based B&H Photo & Video also emblazoned with this designation.

While that debate rages, the gang at iFixit was dismayed to discover the new iMac features a display held in place by adhesive rather than the magnets used on the previous generation, which required breaking out the heat gun and guitar picks to get the unit cracked open.

Because of this, the latest 21.5-inch iMac only mustered a three out of 10 on the iFixit Repairability Score. "Most replaceable components (like the RAM) are buried behind the logic board, meaning you'll have to take apart most of the iMac just to gain access to them," the conclusion of the teardown noted.

That doesn't bode well for the 27-inch model arriving later this month, but perhaps the larger screen size will help facilitate easier disassembly…?

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