Apple Bumps iMac Pro to 10-Core Processor on Base Configuration

[JoelTheSuperior]

Eh, like many Apple products, the base model often provides the best bang-for-the-buck. Spec’ing out like for like, maybe there’s a $1K premium that the base iMac Pro has over a BTO 2020 iMac. If you’re going to render for hours at a time, maybe the premium is worth it.

To be fair with their Macs lately it's the opposite. Consider the Mac Pro - the base model is quite frankly terrible value for money, but the BTO options are well, I wouldn't say they're competitive, especially not in a world where AMD exists, but they're not *bad*.

 

[deconstruct60]

Not really anything else they could do with it.

Not really.
Even without a major upgrade.
1. Update the Thunderbolt v3 controller to latest model. ( and support 6K display).
2. Nano Texture option.

A perhaps a bit more work.
3. an AMD 5700 option added.


iMac Pro uses the same screens as the iMac so the nano texture "drop in" shouldn't be a problem at all. ( presuming the screen depth is the same. Probably is; just "nano" etched glass. ). The newer TBv3 controllers are exactly same size so it is really just firmware updates and perhaps some DisplayPort trace work between TB controller and GPU.

Yes, still would get folks complaining about the bezels. But what Apple is doing is absolute minimal work. Intel had cheaper Xeon Ws out 3-5 months ago. Apple sat on that component price reduction for as long as they could. That is hardly "all they could do".

 

[whwang]

Apple spent quite some effort re-designing the interior of iMac (mostly heat dissipation) to create iMacPro. It will be a shame if they don’t take advantage of this platform and put some serious CPU inside.

Unless the upgraded iMac inherit the internal design of iMacPro....

 

[BeatCrazy]

To be fair with their Macs lately it's the opposite. Consider the Mac Pro - the base model is quite frankly terrible value for money, but the BTO options are well, I wouldn't say they're competitive, especially not in a world where AMD exists, but they're not *bad*.

True. But Mac Pro might be the exception, maybe the Air as well. But best value for the cheaper Macs and the iPhones, iPads, Apple TV and Apple Watch is usually the base model

 

[Moonjumper]

Does the nano-texture cut down the glare similarly to matte displays?

Apparently it does it without the haze you get from a matte display.

 

[chucker23n1]

not just the bezels....

how about all machines having just 8GB of ram ..... on a 2grand plus machine for the higher config

And then they want another £188 /$200 to add another 8GB! Ridiculous.

Sir, this is a Wendy's.

(This is the iMac Pro thread.)

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Does the nano-texture cut down the glare similarly to matte displays?

Essentially the same as matte displays, but take the texture variance of the screen down to a VERY small level. The result being that the cooler altering haze that matte screens are knows for isn’t as much of a problem. BUT, you need a special cloth to keep from destroying the nano-texture.

 

[deconstruct60]

I thought the Intel Xeon W 2xxx Cascade Lake CPUs were just drop in replacements for the existing Xeon W 1xxx Skylake CPUs in the existing iMac Pros needing just an EFI update on the chipset?

No. It is the W2200 is the drop in for the W2100 . The W1000 series is something substantively different ( Used to be Xeon E3 products ) . Likewise the W3000 is a different, higher performance range ( in the Mac Pro).

For the Xeon W line up the first digit is a "performance level". The second digit is the version/generation number.

Kind of lazy of Apple not to do a basic CPU refresh. GPU updates would require hardware changes though and I guess they felt if wasn't worth it if they refreshed the CPUs but not the GPUs.

Looking at Apple's Tech specs they didn't even do that. The base clock numbers of the processors looks to be the same as before. The updated Xeon W2200 came with some boosts in base clock ( and also uptick in pragmatic TDP ). Apple didn't move to something new since have thermal constraints. So just taking a price cut for the same old stuff. Intel did do a substantive price cut.

Compare Products

Compare Products

ark.intel.com

old 10 core model $1440 versus $778 ( a -660 price cut).

 

[lambertjohn]

Five grand! I'd rather buy a new car...

 

[pldelisle]

Is it still the old Xeon and not Cascade-Lake ???!!!

 

[Azeroth1]

It’s neither here now there, but I’ve had this machine for around 3 years now. It was an 8 core base model that was open box so after all was said and done about the same price as an iMac with comparable upgrades.

It’s been a fantastic machine. Dead silent. Runs great. Not sure why such hate.

 

[Elwe]

I thought the Intel Xeon W 2xxx Cascade Lake CPUs were just drop in replacements for the existing Xeon W 1xxx Skylake CPUs in the existing iMac Pros needing just an EFI update on the chipset? Kind of lazy of Apple not to do a basic CPU refresh. GPU updates would require hardware changes though and I guess they felt if wasn't worth it if they refreshed the CPUs but not the GPUs.

Why would they, if they decided this was a one-off product . . . just to tide a sub-sub-audience over until a) the redesigned Mac Pro could be released; and b) until Intel released its updated consumer product . . . which took far longer to get out than Intel told the entire world? The deltas seem to be:

i) The color. Still valid.
ii) ECC memory. This matters to smaller and smaller portion, and the majority of those can probably justify the extra cost of a Mac Pro setup
iii) The higher number of cpu cores. Again, Mac Pro is the answer now, though also 10 higher performing cores is now possible in the regular model.
iv) Webcam. Now in the regular model.
v) Four TB3 ports. Still valid.
vi) Better cooling setup. Unclear, but since a Fusion Drive is still possible, they probably did not change too much internally. So probably still valid.
vii) Lots more memory. Still valid, but no as much with 128GB now possible in the regular model.
viii) T2 processor. Now in the regular model.
ix) 10Gb ethernet. Now in the regular model.
x) Bigger SSD. Now reversed (4TB in the Pro vs 8TB in the regular)
xi) Graphics can vary a great deal based on compute unit numbers, architectures, and memory. But for many tasks, the regular model will now be faster.


So . . . . the color, ECC memory, double the TB3 ports, and better cooling (possibly). Very few people should choose the older platform at this point. Apply looses very little by simply end-of-life-ing the base cpu, and I would guess few worksites would really need an update to it. I'm sure those same worksites would want a cheaper well-provisioned Mac Pro, but that is a different point.

Tangential point . . I hope they have not removed the memory door in the regular model. Easy adding your own memory is a great thing in this product, I think.

 

[BigBagaroo]

I got the basic Model and use it for development. Fantastic machine with a lovely display and, as mentioned above, it is completely silent.

 

[jlocker]

People don't understand how long it is going to take Apple to reach the same level of a Xeon workstation/server processor with 18 cores on a chip with an AISC processor. Will Apple be able to do it? Yes but it it going to take 3 to 4 years to reach the same level of longevity, 24x7 processor loads, processor memory, ECC memory and the like. So if you are in a market for a iMac Pro it is a good time to buy. Then in 4 years you compare what you have now and what is out with the ASIC. It is not going to happen over night.

 

[PassiveSmoking]

Why does the lower-specced entry-level Mac Pro cost more than this? And that machine doesn't come with a display

 

[alexandr]

Eh, like many Apple products, the base model often provides the best bang-for-the-buck. Spec’ing out like for like, maybe there’s a $1K premium that the base iMac Pro has over a BTO 2020 iMac. If you’re going to render for hours at a time, maybe the premium is worth it.

sure, i guess for me and i mac pro is a bit of an oxymoron.

 

[Nugget]

Why does the lower-specced entry-level Mac Pro cost more than this? And that machine doesn't come with a display

Because the Mac Pro isn't actually lower-specced.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Why does the lower-specced entry-level Mac Pro cost more than this? And that machine doesn't come with a display

Because even at the entry level, it’s got seven upgrade slots; supports 1.5 Terabytes of memory and a 28 core processor; has a ton of memory bandwidth and I/O, a 1.4 kW power supply, and a custom video accelerator slot that allows for 6 streams of 8K or 20+ streams of 4K ($2,000 upgrade). And it’s cool and quiet.

 

[Sarpent]

I really don't think this should qualify as an update, or even a speed bump. They simply dropped the low-end model. The fact that the nano-texture glass isn’t being offered strongly implies that this update only happened on paper in the product ledger. There were no actual changes to any manufacturing assembly lines. The only change that seems to have happened occurred in the Apple Store database.

I don't know what this portends for future iMac Pros -- whether this means that they'll be none or that they'll eventually be ARM-based. I suppose it's possible that there are no iMac Pro assembly lines running at all at this point, and that this is just clearing out an existing warehouse, but I do hope that the MacRumors Buyer's Guide doesn't list this as an update, resetting the 964-days-since-release clock.

 

[CWallace]

MCK said that the iMac Pro was going to get a 27" MiniLED display and RDNA 2.0 GPUs are supposed to be shipping towards the end of this year, so the iMac Pro may yet see a Late 2020 / Early 2021 refresh. Intel already has upgrade CPUs out (W-2200 Xeon) and the TB3 controller could use an upgrade.

Then again, the 27" MiniLED display could be going into an Apple Silicon iMac, so...

 

[PickUrPoison]

I really don't think this should qualify as an update, or even a speed bump. They simply dropped the low-end model. The fact that the nano-texture glass isn’t being offered strongly implies that this update only happened on paper in the product ledger. There were no actual changes to any manufacturing assembly lines. The only change that seems to have happened occurred in the Apple Store database.

I don't know what this portends for future iMac Pros -- whether this means that they'll be none or that they'll eventually be ARM-based. I suppose it's possible that there are no iMac Pro assembly lines running at all at this point, and that this is just clearing out an existing warehouse, but I do hope that the MacRumors Buyer's Guide doesn't list this as an update, resetting the 964-days-since-release clock.

Yeah, it’s not an update. As you say, they just dropped the low-end SKU, which makes sense because the regular iMac goes up to 10-core now.

Upgrading from W2100 series to W2200 series (cascade lake) would have been nice. But with no 8TB SSD or nano texture upgrade options added to the lineup, I guess they’re waiting for a GPU to do an actual update with mini-LED display later this year. (The Apple Silicon equivalent is a couple years away.)

 

[szw-mapple fan]

The iMac Pro was surely just a product to satisfy the Mac Pro audience while it was still in development. Don’t see it lasting another generation, it did it’s job of the time. The ARM iMac should theoretically negate the need for another iMac Pro.

The iMac Pro looks like it's a product to satisfy the audience of the 2013 Mac Pro. It's for the people who just need the processing power in a prebuilt package without needing to upgrade the internals.

 

[nutmac]

I guess my 8 core iMac Pro is now discontinued... Hopefully the Apple Silicon iMac Pro model will be fantastic!

iMac Pro launched more than 2.5 years ago, with Skylake architecture. Mac Pro launched 2 years with newer Cascade Lake architecture.

The current iMac Pro remains unchanged: no nano texture display, still using older generation Skylake architecture, and not even black and silver input devices from Mac Pro.

I suspect iMac with Apple Silicon will more or less make iMac Pro irrelevant. I don't see Apple designing a Xeon-class Apple Silicon. Apple can simply offer iMac in both silver and space gray finishes, with optional higher core count and RAM options and call it a day. As much as some would lament lack of ECC RAM, most iMac Pro users simply want better thermal design, higher RAM, and higher core counts, at lower price than Mac Pro.

 

[mi7chy]

Design is ugly so more like iMac Amateur. iMac Pro design should look more like the Pro Display XDR.

 

[Pearple]

Apple has successfully launched a trade in program for iPhones, since they became more and more expensive (and more and more phablet-like) you could bring your old one in and get a rebate for the new one.

Apple could do something similar here, like a "get an iMac pro for a kidney" program...