Apple Surveying iMac Pro Buyers About Key Features

[MacBH928]

Nothing says form over function more than the grey finish...
I really wonder if Pro's choose their computers based on colour... it looks good yes but is it the reason?

In general a pro machine should be upgradable:
Lots of memory, upgradable.
Replaceable disks.
Replaceable video cards.
Current generation CPUs, video cards etc.
Thunderbolt 3.
DDR4 (parity is important).

Forget thinness. This isn't the same market that is looking at the new iPhone or iPad. It is a pro machine. Sure they'll buy those too, but this is for development or graphic design and the like where thinness is irrelevant.

but how will they milk you forever after that?

 

[Kinotto]

How Apple is over-complicating things..... Pro users just want a machine with ports, powerful components, upgradable and with adequate cooling: the old Mac Pro (pre-trashcan) was perfect.
Apple: if you can’t innovate anymore, just stick with the good old recipe, no need to try and re invent the wheel!

 

[DNichter]

Good, might as well get input from the people that want/use these machines.

 

[cpfoto2005]

Maybe they should send out the questions to those of us who wanted to buy the Mac Pro but refused because it did not have the needed features. Obviously, the ones that did buy, thought everything was ok.

But how is Apple supposed to know the email addresses of people who wanted to buy but didn't?

 

[Dorje Sylas]

But how is Apple supposed to know the email addresses of people who wanted to buy but didn't?

They can check their own records. For example I'm in their DB by AppleID/Email with a registered Mac Pro 2008, MacMini Server 2010, iPod Touch 3rd Gen, iPad 2, iPhone 4S, and a MBP G4 PowerPC.

They can ask why I haven't bought a Mac in 8 years. They can also cross-correlate, with thier own Feeback form and find my increasing complaints starting in about 2013 with the Trashcan Pro. Apple just doesn't want to hear that they're pissing off their pro customers, and that those pro customers are beginning to pull general users away from them. It's a process that will take 10 years, just like it took 10 years to build Apple back up. Timmy has been coasting since 2014, and if Apple keeps the trend of making Appliances they will will coast right out of relevance like in the early 90s.

 

[nt5672]

But how is Apple supposed to know the email addresses of people who wanted to buy but didn't?

By sending the questionnaire to anyone that bought a top of the line mini, top of the line iMac, or top of the line MacBook Pro. By top of the line I mean anyone who purchased the most powerful CPU option for each model in their last purchase.

The first question would be "Do you need more powerful computing than your Mini/iMac/MacBook Pro?"

I've skipped all Mac Pros since the trash can because they were just disposable toys. Sure they were powerful, but I won't endorse machines that do not fit my need. Now we are moving everything to linux, Apple has maybe one chance left. But to me the writing was on the wall when Apple went linux in its own data centers. Future power computing will not be done on Macs or using macOS.

 

[iop]

Anyone filling this in, please tell them we want Nvidia 1080 ti / 2080 GFX cards.

Screw Vega.

You don't understand. The survey was to determine what customers want and make sure to avoid introducing those features accidentally.

 

[kepgnar]

I hope they're not making assumptions that iMac Pro buyers are the same audience as Mac Pro audiences. I don't want an iMac.

What a weird, uninformed statement to make. Just because you yourself are part of the "Mac Pro Audience" but don't want an iMac, Apple is blowing it by going this route?

Who do you think they should ask then? Should they ask the customers who bought an iPod Shuffle, or the ones who bought a $5k iMac?

Seems pretty clear to me that iMac Pro buyers absolutely ARE part of the audience that would purchase a Mac Pro.

 

[1050792]

I sincerely hope that 'Space Gray finish' isn't going to win the poll.

It probably already is one of the machine's most discussed features among podcasters.

Just... the idea of people buying $5000 workstations for a colour is a sick sign of the times.

People were willing to pay more only to own the Space Gray accessories so...
Like the YouTubers who own iMac Pro's while a standard iMac with an SSD would be sufficient for their needs... but hey atleast it looks good on the desk

 

[jctevere]

I'm not sure why everyone keeps saying Pros want upgradability, they don't. Most pro users buy a pro computer, use it for 3-4 years, then upgrade to the newest latest and greatest.

 

[aengelbrecht]

I won't buy another MBP until Magsafe comes back. That was a deal breaker for me.

I have seen aftermarket USB-C magsafe adapters, basically feeds the USB-C charger to a Magsafe end. Then there is small Magsafe adapter plugged into the USB-C port on the Macbook. At least this way you have the Magsafe adapter for charging. Don't know how well it works in reality though. But it does suck having to buy all these adapters, etc to use a new Macbook /MB Pro. The world has not converted USB-C yet. Not sure why Apple hasn't put USB-C in the iPhone and iPad, which will help drive up volume and reduce prices, etc, etc.

Anyway back to regular scheduled programming in this thread.

 

[pipis2010]

I think Apple has little interest in forums where snappy juvenile comments reign. Much better to poll real users outside of that domain.

I think it’s really offensive to say this; do you really know EVERYONE in here to make such claim? I am sure that there are plenty of pro members in here, even if they are not commenting or even registered, just browsing through the comments.

Also, forums in general, have been of the outmost importance to companies, Apple included, because they can monitor and better understand the trends and opinions of their users, even if they are fanboys, average users or even professionals...

Apple would be STUPID to not take account or monitor some of these forums around the world, even rumors-sites. I bet, there are Apple employees in here lurking as well...heck, maybe even higher management may take a swing in here...

 

[spacebro]

Forum comments can be misleading. A couple years ago I was crying about not having a MacBook Pro powerful enough to buy. Now I don't care anymore because I'll just use a cloud server to do anything intensive and will never again need a beast laptop. I barely care that I could buy a MacBook with i9 in it because my needs have changed. Maybe apple was right that we would want thinner and lighter over more powerful.

 

[partsofspeech]

NVidia just announced a futuristic GPU - based on Ray Tracing engine. What if that is what the pros want? What is Apple gonna do about it?

 

[ROGmaster]

I'm talking about mobile GPUs here, AMD sells binned chips to Apple that are much more efficient than the desktop ones.
The 50W notebook GTX 1050 is only 2% faster on average compared to the 35W 560X in benchmarks and 16% in games, so if you configure the TDP down to 35W it's most likely slower (34W is the minimum for the 1050, you can't configure 1050 TI or 1060 this low).
The most efficient GPUs are the mobile Vega chips in Kaby Lake G but since the CPUs are still quad core Apple had to choose between faster, more efficient GPUs or a 6 core CPU for the 2018 15" MBP (I'd have preferred KLG, the Coffee Lake chips throttle a lot anyway).

Irrelevant, Nvidia can also sell binned GPU's. It's not something exclusive.
The full GTX 1050 is faster than the full RX 560 and more efficient. Heck even the GTX 1050Ti is more efficient.

Nvidia has been wiping the floor with AMD on the GPU front(gaming market, professional market etc.) for more than 3 years.
It's amusing that I have to explain the very obvious and well known fact that their GPU's are faster and more efficient.
PS. The GPU in the i7-8705G is based on the outdated Polaris architecture, what makes it efficient is the use of HBM2. The GPU architecture itself is nothing special.

 

[knweiss]

Apple has recently been sending out surveys to customers who purchased an iMac Pro

Survivorship bias. They should've asked people that didn't buy the iMac Pro, too.

 

[jscooper22]

Jobs said he hated focus groups (which I assume meant he felt similarly about surveys). I think then he died Apple lost there world's best beta tester. I'm glad they're asking questions.

 

[kgelner]

Irrelevant, Nvidia can also sell binned GPU's. It's not something exclusive.
The full GTX 1050 is faster than the full RX 560 and more efficient. Heck even the GTX 1050Ti is more efficient.

Nvidia has been wiping the floor with AMD on the GPU front(gaming market, professional market etc.) for more than 3 years.
It's amusing that I have to explain the very obvious and well known fact that their GPU's are faster and more efficient.
PS. The GPU in the i7-8705G is based on the outdated Polaris architecture, what makes it efficient is the use of HBM2. The GPU architecture itself is nothing special.

The problem with all of the GPU comparisons I've seen you post so far is that they are not actually showing the GPU's that Apple ships in computers... in your Vega comparison you were not showing specs for the more advanced Vega cards the iMac Pro includes. In this comparison you are using the Radeon RX 550 when the MacBook Pro today ships with either a Radeon Pro 555X or a Radeon Pro 560X.

Mind you I would love Apple to start shipping nVidea cards because of CUDA support. But that doesn't mean the cards they do ship with are not up to par with niVidea offerings.

I also question the use of posting only results for games since an iMac pro is more about using the GPU as a processor for specific tasks...

 

[vkd]

How many will be honest and admit they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth and have no idea of the value of money? Why else would anyone pay for an iMac Pro? I imagine 5% have a reason other than that, perhaps REAL professionals with real jobs, and not the imaginative dreamers we usually encounter.

 

[ChrisA]

It would be harder to do but more interesting to ask all the people who did not buy the iMac Pro why they did not buy it.

Just think how many computers Apple could sell if they could convince just 1% of their non-customers to by a Mac.

I bet the overwhelming #1 reason for not buying is because of the all-in-one, non upgradable form.

 

[ROGmaster]

The problem with all of the GPU comparisons I've seen you post so far is that they are not actually showing the GPU's that Apple ships in computers... in your Vega comparison you were not showing specs for the more advanced Vega cards the iMac Pro includes. In this comparison you are using the Radeon RX 550 when the MacBook Pro today ships with either a Radeon Pro 555X or a Radeon Pro 560X.

Mind you I would love Apple to start shipping nVidea cards because of CUDA support. But that doesn't mean the cards they do ship with are not up to par with niVidea offerings.

I also question the use of posting only results for games since an iMac pro is more about using the GPU as a processor for specific tasks...

There is absolutely no problem with my comparisons.
My intent is to show AMD cards at their max vs Nvidia Cards at their max to see how they compare and comparing desktop GPUs is the only objective way this can be achieved.
There is nothing special about the Vega GPUs Apple uses and they are most likely slower and more thermally constrained than AMD's full desktop Vega 64 variants anyway.
I didn't even mention the Titan Xp or Titan V, or the next Titan which will be based on the Turing architecture.
No offense but AMD simply has no case for itself on the GPU market. The only reason Apple uses AMD GPU's is because they have some sort of a problem with Nvidia.

 

[ChrisA]

...
I also question the use of posting only results for games since an iMac pro is more about using the GPU as a processor for specific tasks...

Why not post games. For 99.9% of users this is the only use they have for a high performance computer.

 

[drcre8tive]

Damage control for when they remove all "options" and call it a new feature.

 

[dannys1]

If Pros (pretty much everybody here, evidently),

Pro's and people who have the edge niche case which means any chance Apple makes renders their tech life un-liveable. The situation they've come up with should only affect about 1% of users, but all 1% seem to be in here.

 

[ROGmaster]

Why not post games. For 99.9% of users this is the only use they have for a high performance computer.

Yeah 3D games are very intensive workloads for any modern GPU, but really this is getting ridiculous.
Nvidia's Titan Xp and Titan V wipe the floor with Vega 64 in most professional tasks as well. Vega is competitive in only a few specific tasks or in GPU mining. AMD tried to play a trick with this when they launched the Vega Frontier Edition but after one driver update from Nvidia the scale was balanced.

---
As a serious question.
Does AMD have an equivalent for the Titan V? Because I simply can't see it? Where is it?