Apple Reveals New 'iMac Pro' Built for Users With Demanding Workflows, Starting at $5K

[CWallace]

Saying it's not pushing a million is not the same as saying it is selling 50,000 or even 3,000. It is implying that the figure is up in that region (even if it is half that).

Understanding is fundamental.

To be clear, I believe the Mac Mini is a very poor-selling computer and always has been. I expect that it rarely, if ever, sold more than 50,000 units a quarter at any point in it's entire production lifetime. I believe Apple ignores it because it is not worth the effort at such low volumes. They did it because they had to at the time and as soon as they no longer had to (pretty much once the Mac went Intel and definitely once the MacBook Air dropped below $1200) they stopped spending any real time on it and it will eventually be End of Lifed as was the Thunderbolt Display and Airport / Time Capsule.

 

[Roobun]

Woa, hold up

What is Apple trying to pull off with all this performance mumbo-jumbo? More CPU cores and graphics power?? Who approved of this?

 

[robeddie]

Missed opportunity here...still not user-upgradable. The Mac Pro needed to be replaced by a proper workstation. Oh well...the hackintosh lives on!

While you're probably right, do we know for sure it wont be user upgradeable?

 

[willgreene99]

Everyone needs ECC memory, I think. One of the greatest failures in modern computing is companies pushing the idea that we don't need ECC memory.

Memory corruption can irreversibly destroy data at any time. ECC memory isn't much more expensive than non-ECC (difference is about 10%). It's absurd that we're trading data security for 10% cost savings in one of the cheaper components in the system.
[doublepost=1496690111][/doublepost]

I'm actually really happy Apple is sticking with AMD. macOS drivers for AMD GPUs have always been FAR better than Nvidia.

This still excludes users from taking advantage of the NVidia engine for Premier until Adobe writes some optimizers for AMD and stop relying on that CUDA component. Not sure when or if that will ever happen so FCP is still the fastest encoder for current Mac's.

Were people asking for these things in an iMac? Just update the damn Mac Pro already.

It does make one wonder as to the reasoning behind this powerful iMac instead of putting resources into the Mac Pro. I did not realize the demand for a beast of an iMac was high enough to warrant the time and effort that went into this.

For those, who didn't unterstand this:

Rest in Peace, Mac Pro.
Rest in Peace, new standalone Apple monitor.

Apple turned 100% lifestyle, there will be no more upgradable computers. It is over.

And for 5k, this iMac unpro will be as successful as the NeXT cube.

I find the color eerily similar to the NeXT color scheme.

 

[danielwsmithee]

Interesting but I am looking forward only to the new Mac Pros...I love these specs and imac dark look but I really want to be able to add my own graphic card or be able to upgrade an M2 or SSD myself

Well then you should be thrilled that Metal 2 will support eGPUs. Also I suspect the new Mac Pro is going to to be a dual socket solution which means it is going to be extremely expensive...

 

[bearda]

I'm very interested in a teardown of this one once it's released to see how they're managing the heat. That's a lot of grunt for a very small chassis without a lot of room for heatsinks and pipes.

 

[jeremiah256]

Surely if you're making good money in your business then the tools should pay for themselves. I'm certainly not suggesting that you need an iMac Pro as I haven't a clue what you do, but if you need all that power and you can justify the purchase based on your income then is there a problem?

Nope, you're right. There is no problem, just the normal negativity that follows every Keynote since Jobs passed on.

It's a great device - especially since with multiple USB-C/TB3 ports and with Apple coming out in support of eGPUs, it's as future proof as you can make an All-in-One.

 

[adamjackson]

With all due respect, start making money off of it. Then you can justify the expense of the best tools. (Caveat, I work in video for a living, but haven't freelanced in a long time. I can't justify this computer either, but man, I'd love to).

I figure that would be the only response. I know the iMac Pro would absolutely help my workflow. It took 2 full days to prepare my video I recorded for editing in Final Cut and now I'm trying to export an hour of video and it's taking many hours. Apple's top of the line computer here. I'm sure hand-built workstations that run windows are cheaper but I love final cut & Mac OS.

 

[phpmaven]

The one product I would buy immediately if it were refreshed with Quad-core Kaby Lake, USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, and upgradable RAM.

Ya you and about 3 other people.

 

[kazmac]

My current skill sets do not demand such power, but that iMac Pro is a beaut inside and out.

 

[vladi]

Say hi to Mr. Throttle

 

[Cisco_Kid]

This iMac Pro will fit nicely into my workflow, the price seems reasonable as well for a base model. I have a hard time understanding the wasted effort people are pouring into an iMac discussion that have been the same people complaining for the last 3 years about the "TrashCan" and about Apple missing the mark, clearly this machine was never intended to replace a modular workstation.

Personally I have no want to tinker inside a box to extract the last remaining performance out of it, when it does not fit my needs, sell it and buy the newest machine that does, I'll buy one of these for sure.

 

[pankajdoharey]

It's heartening to see Apple putting this year's GPU in this year's iMac. How does it compare with Nvidia performance? And could it lead to a Mac version of Oculist Rift?

The Vega Architecture blows smokes off of Tesla of Nvidia. It is equivalent of what AMD did with Rizen to Intels i7.

 

[zorinlynx]

This still excludes users from taking advantage of the NVidia engine for Premier until Adobe writes some optimizers for AMD and stop relying on that CUDA component. Not sure when or if that will ever happen so FCP is still the fastest encoder for current Mac's.

The simple truth is we need a good fully cross-platform toolkit for this. If each vendor has their own system, it will always be a pain in the ass for some people.

 

[pankajdoharey]

Stupid comment - it's an 'All in One', not even PC makers make upgradeable 'All in Ones' - and the iMac has NEVER been upgradeable (apart from Ram).

The Mac Pro next year is set to the modular machine for those that really want to tinker.

Ofcourse this is the top End of PC we are talking about. YOu need to wait for the next release of the GPU architecture to be able to upgrade this. Vega is the newest architecture of GPU and The Xeon CPU with 18 cores is the top of the top line. One cannot make a compelling PC at this price. This is actually cheap for the hardware that is going in.

 

[576316]

Calling it now: Space Grey keyboard, mouse and trackpad only available in iMac Pro box.

 

[CWallace]

This still excludes users from taking advantage of the NVidia engine for Premier until Adobe writes some optimizers for AMD and stop relying on that CUDA component. Not sure when or if that will ever happen so FCP is still the fastest encoder for current Mac's.

Well maybe Apple and/or AMD will help with that cost or perhaps this will boost the penetration rate of FCP if it is appreciably faster on the iMac Pro with AMD GPUs.

Or Apple just buys Adobe and re-writes it run on Metal 2 (which is cross-planform).
[doublepost=1496703680][/doublepost]

Calling it now: Space Grey keyboard, mouse and trackpad only available in iMac Pro box.

Easy call since Apple already confirmed it to 9to5Mac an hour ago.

If you really want a Space Grey wireless Bluetooth full-size aluminum keyboard, I like my Matias.

 

[rogerdee123]

Five Thousand Dollars !!!

For this amount we could probably buy 20 - 25 Apple II machines or TRS-80s in 1979.... and hook them up to our TV's and play poker over the telephone lines...

seriously folks .. this is 2017! .....

.... but it won't be for long .....

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Say hi to Mr. Throttle

I wonder this also with 18 cores will it.

 

[pankajdoharey]

This is clearly server class 18 Cores and GPU with Vega Architecture. 3TB Fusion Drive this iMac Pro is the Craziest Computer one can built at this price. One cannot even build a PC of this config at this price.

 

[mariogt]

Pretty sweet machine, ultra powerful slim/all in one workstation. Pretty expensive also, but if you need that kind of power then you have to make good money with it. That stealth space grey look !!! awesome

 

[Blue Sun]

I can't help but feel that those interested in this iMac Pro would be better served by an expandable, modular workstation.

 

[smoledman]

Still not user-upgradable and an all-in-one PC which is not what pro users really want. But people have been leaving the Mac Pro behind for years(2013-present) because of the first reason. This is almost an insult.

 

[mi7chy]

Too bad it's stuffed inside a disposable proprietary kitchen sink case.

 

[theluggage]

For this amount we could probably buy 20 - 25 Apple II machines or TRS-80s in 1979....

Ok, you're making a joke (I assume) but there's a nice bit of perspective here:

The Apple ][ famously cost $666, but if you wanted to see anything you'd need to spend at least $150 on a massive 9" black & white monitor and probably about $400 adding a floppy drive if you wanted to store anything, so, probably at least $1200 for a half-decent system.

Then, if you head over to the US Inflation Calculator you'll discover that $1200 in 1980 money is actually over $3500 in 2017 money. So by the time you've added some upgrades, maybe a colour display and software (ISTR Wordstar/Visicalc etc. cost $100-$200 a pop) you'd easily have spent that 5 grand.

The original Macintosh 128k was about $2500 in 1984 = $5681 in 2017 money.

So, the iMac Pro costs about the same in real terms as a nice Apple II setup, and rather less than a classic Macintosh 128k. That just leaves the small elephant in the room about it being several orders of magnitude more powerful in every respect...