Apple's Next iMac Pro: Everything We Know

chscag said:
Save your pennies folks. I'm thinking that an adequately equipped iMac Pro is going cost way more than $2K. Nowadays, 512GB storage doesn't cut it. And since it's very likely that memory is not going to be user upgradeable as it is now on the 27" iMacs, that too is going to be expensive if you want more than 16GB.
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How much more? My hopefully guess for base models: 27”iMac non pro M1pro/512GB/16GB=2.5k; 27” iMac pro M1max/1TB/32GB 4k
 
Given the performance of the 12900k, Apple should consider holding off until it scales up performance. Next to the 12900k, the m1 max looks a bit mediocre at best in many multithreaded tasks. Of course m1 max is much more power efficient…but Raptor lake is coming that will make m1 max seem even weaker.
 
kingtj1971 said:
I have one of the original base configuration iMac Pros that I still use as my primary Mac at home. (Using it now to write this message!) I started thinking about this and I think you may be right. I ordered a new M1 Max 16" MBP and am trading in a 2019 Intel model for some credit .... but it's really this iMac that I should have been trying to resell or trade in. My 3 year AppleCare on it has expired and it's making a lot of fan noise, even when it's pretty much idle. I assume it could just be due to dust and lint that got sucked into it, reducing its cooling efficiency? Except I've tried using canned air through its vents and that hasn't helped a bit.
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Canned air just push dirt further inside. Take it to an official or authorized repair shop for a internal clean up. Not expensive.
 
I will be pretty annoyed if they don’t simultaneously release an external display with similar specs as the iMac’s screen. If this iMac is HDR with 120Hz, you just can’t have a secondary display beside it with a significantly inferior screen.
 
newbmacuser2021 said:
That said, if you’ve been following along, there has been Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, 7, 8, 10, and now 11.

So, it’s not like Microsoft ever left…
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I remember the launch of Windows 95 almost like it was yesterday, so yep… I have been following along for quite a while my friend! Not exactly sure how your post follows on from what I wrote, but I agree! ?
 
The sooner the better. I hope we don't have to wait until June. I expect it will have a chin and a notch. The big question is will it have FaceID?? I really hope it does!

My guess is we will have to wait until 2023 or 2024 for FaceID on any Mac, unfortunately...
 
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That is not pro specs. Just ordinary 27 iMac specs. Intel lineup had about iMac=MBP performance. iMac Pro was distinct from that. 2XM1 Max, 64 Gg RAM, 32 inch 6k for 5000 sounds much better for an iMac Pro.

I doubt the miniLED in the MBP is correspondingly expensive as the 32 inch XDR screen so a less expensive miniLED in an iMac Pro would work fine.
 
SFjohn said:
No reason Sir Jonathan Paul Ive can’t return, like the second return of Steve Jobs.
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Dear Lord, please, NO! Ive was responsible for, in my opinion, some of the worst hardware and functionality in Apple's history. Almost everything he designed looked sexy as hell, but was a functional disaster... right down to the Apple Stores.
 
My guess is that it will be exactly like the 2021 imac 24, but with a 32” display, with the lovely chin and the MLP colors ?
 
bilbo--baggins said:
An hdmi port on an iMac would be nuts. Still not convinced it was a good choice on the new MacBook Pro’s but utterly pointless on an iMac.
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Do you think for a second before commenting? How about HDMI 2.1 with target display mode? Wouldn't that bet truly useful and also justify the "Pro" name?
 
falkon-engine said:
Given the performance of the 12900k, Apple should consider holding off until it scales up performance. Next to the 12900k, the m1 max looks a bit mediocre at best in many multithreaded tasks. Of course m1 max is much more power efficient…but Raptor lake is coming that will make m1 max seem even weaker.
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That’s not how Apple works. Tim Cook will tell in the keynote that the new 27 inch iMac M1 Pro is 2.3x faster than the last one (I think that’s also the reason why they didn’t update the old 21 inch iMacs to the 10th intel generation in 2020, that way the new 24 inch M1 iMac is just way faster than the old 21 inch Intel iMac).

In the follow years and iterations Apple will just tell you that it is the fastest iMac they have ever built. That’s the benefit of having their own architecture. They don’t have to compare to Intel anymore.
 
Unless they are rebranding the iMac Pro as a lower spec machine they will have do do much better than an M1 Max chip with a metal score of 68870. My Intel iMac Pro (18 cpu) comes in at 62249. I would hope an new iMac Pro would have a significant performance increase over what I already have.
 
So essentially? You know nothing.

The quality really has dropped to rock bottom over the past 10 years. At least in years gone by, this type of article had some reasonable idea's and something that could be somewhat close to reality. Now it's let's pull stuff out of our backsides and create a click bait post.

It says an awful lot, when LTT have more sensible Mac content than MacRumors.

EDIT - Anyone thinking that a possible iMac Pro would be anything less than thr $5,000 of the originl is seriously deluded.
 
bilbo--baggins said:
An hdmi port on an iMac would be nuts. Still not convinced it was a good choice on the new MacBook Pro’s but utterly pointless on an iMac.
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This would be in line with the Mac mini. The point is to plug in an external monitor using standard cables (which many people will want to do). One application is where you want to support dual monitors in a lab/workspace setting, especially if you need dual systems support (Windows/Mac, for instance).

There seems to be limited I/O capacity on the M1 series. USB-C/Thunderbolt might be OK on a desktop (you can always buy a hub), but you would then need to take the choice between a few USB-3 ports plus Ethernet plus HDMI plus SD plus 2-3 USB-4/Thunderbolts, or just 3-4 USB-4/Thunderbolt ports. For my use case, more ports is definitely better and the HDMI is a freebie. To be honest, 95% of my devices are USB-3.1 (including external disks), and you can always multiplex monitors through one of the Thunderbolt ports, so I don't see that an extra Thunderbolt port is really that useful. Having direct connections to a desktop rather than using a hub/dongle also cuts out a lot of problems and reduces fault diagnosis.

On the new MBP, for many professional users, the HDMI port on the MacBook Pro is a godsend. Plug into client monitors with no dongles (eg when doing on-site support), connect to standard projectors/TVs for presentations, connect to public workspace/hotel/hot desk setups when on the go, ... And all with no dongles to lose/forget/carry. Basically, unlike the Intel MBP with the TouchBar and Thunderbolt ports, Apple have actually made a laptop that is good for real-world use. They had successfully downsold me to the MacBook Air, but I might consider the new Pro next time.
 
Hopefully there is just a larger screen iMac. I don’t need a pro. Would just like the larger screen than the current 24 iMac. Hopefully there is an entry level one with a large screen. By no means am I a pro user but the 24 inch screen is too small. Rather a 27 inch to avoid having 2 smaller screens.
 
If it comes with a 32 inch screen fine, otherwise I just want the mac mini Pro so I can keep using my 43inch monitor.
 
repoman27 said:
Turning a perfectly good DisplayPort 1.4 port into a less capable HDMI 2.0 port is always a questionable choice.
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...assuming the GPU has the horsepower to drive it at > HDMI 2.0 (or > DP 1.2) rates. Unless Apple have artificially knobbled the M1 Pro MBPs and/or (OK, that wouldn't be the shock of the century) to only support 2 displays and/or not support HDMI 2.1, they don't have DisplayPort bandwidth to spare.

repoman27 said:
And I count up to five Thunderbolt 4 ports on the M1 Pro and Max:
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Interesting. I was pretty sure that Apple specifically said that the M1 pro had an extra TB controller over the M1 - but I see the printed press release just vaguely says "extra TB controllers".

I won't argue with your IC component identification skills - it certainly looks plausible - although I don't get why the "oddball in the middle" would have two DisplayPort sections...

Also, it's impossible to know whether all of those supposed TB and PCIe controllers can be enabled simultaneously and/or if they are all equal in terms of connectivity to the GPU and CPU. E.g. one of them could be a "runt" just for supplying USB 3.1g1 and HDMI. I'm also thinking of the Intel chipsets which had a bunch of "universal I/O" lanes that could be configured as either USB, general PCIe, SSD-optimised PCIe etc. but only in certain fixed permutations.

...so, maybe the mains-powered iMac will have 4xTB with an extra TB controller enabled at the expense of slightly higher power consumption... or the Mac Mini Pro will have 5 TB ports because it doesn't need to support an internal display... or the iMac Pro XDR will use that "oddball" controller for an 8k display.... I.e. the M1 Pro/Max chips in MacBook Pro, iMac Pro, Mac Mini Pro (...and future Mac Pro?) might be the same physical chips but with different permutations of modules enabled at build time.

Of course, it would be nice if Apple would share this info so we didn't have to speculate, but they do like their secrets.
 
This iMac may end up being the cheapest way to get a good quality external monitor seeing as seemly nothing on the external monitor market matches the new MacBook Pro screens. This device may actually replace my whole setup at some point in the future if Apple can do it for $1999 which I unfortunately doubt with some leaks suggesting they're going with the iMac Pro branding. If Apple is indeed adding such a high quality display to the iMac at such a comparatively low price then the Pro Display XDR looks very out of place in the current lineup.
 
HDFan said:
Unless they are rebranding the iMac Pro as a lower spec machine they will have do do much better than an M1 Max chip with a metal score of 68870. My Intel iMac Pro (18 cpu) comes in at 62249. I would hope an new iMac Pro would have a significant performance increase over what I already have.
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A new iMac Pro could likely have a 2 or more M1 Max option. So yeah, that would be a significant performance increase over what you already have.
 
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