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I would not buy an iMac for anything demanding. When under load it will overheat and throttle down. Happens in games or longer cpu/gpu heavy operations, like rendering longer 4k videos for example. The problem with iMacs is that they are a laptop on a stick. They don't offer the advantage of a laptop: mobility. And they don't offer the advantages of a desktop: upgradeability and speed. And their mirror screen is awful for anything where accurate colors are important.
iMacs are for looks, watching online videos and social media activities.
Ok. We get it. You love the Mac Pro. So do I. That said…
Your arguments against the iMac really don't hold water, and the amount of condescension is just flat out rude. A laptop on a stick. Really?
The iMac currently offers Intel’s BEST mainstream CPU (the 6700K) which provides the highest SUSTAINED single threaded / 4 core performance you can find on a Mac (period) and rivals the best (non overclocked) single threaded / 4 core performance you can find on a PC (given that it uses the same chip this isn’t surprising). No Mac Pro even comes close, and yes this matters when even a majority of pro apps (outside of video encoding) struggle to utilize more than four cores. Hell, the iMac’s CPU is so much faster per core that it gives 6 core Mac Pro’s a run for their money even in apps that can efficiently use more than four threads.
As for the screen, you’re right, its certainly not a matte screen, and yet professionals around the world somehow find a way to make it work. It’s called calibration and understanding you’re working on a glossy screen. By the way, has it ever crossed your mind that if you’re a photographer or videographer, the final destination for the majority of you’re work is likely to be viewing on some form of glossy screen? Please note, I’m not knocking matte displays here, they certainly have their advantages and their place, but pretending that a professional needs one to get real work done is just silly.
As for the throttling, yes, it CAN be an issue, and no the current iMac thermal profile is not ideal for high spec components.That said, this ONLY applies if you run a full spec CTO 2014/2015 Retina iMac at full (simultaneous) CPU/GPU load, and even then it’s not the end of the world. The GPU in particular will throttle, and the CPU may have to dial back to stock speeds (4Ghz vs 4.2Ghz/4.4Ghz Turbo), but its not like we’re talking about the machine suddenly becoming unusable or even slow (on the contrary its still very fast). Of course its all about what you need, and if the throttling issues mean that the iMac doesn't meet those needs, or engender concerns about longevity, then you should indeed buy something else. That said, given that this isn’t even an issue on non CTO configs, which have plenty of thermal headroom compared to the top spec machines, I fail to see how this is even relevant to the OP’s post.
The Mac Pro is a great machine, but its not a solution for everyone, not even all professionals. While you can certainly argue that someone who is thinking about a top of the line CTO Retina iMac should also consider a (“New”) Mac Pro (if they can afford to spring for the 6 core model with D700s) (as they’re pushing into the same price bracket), that is a ridiculous suggestion for someone looking at a lower level or mid tier Retina iMac, as the difference in price is huge. This is even true at the high end if you factor in the cost of a decent 4k or 5k monitor, which to be fair, you should. While the delta in performance (compared to a base nMP) is minimal. While the calculus in favor of the lower end nMP will (hopefully) improve assuming its actually updated this year, the iMac will remain an attractive choice for a wide range of people not just those looking to browse social media on an $1800+ computer.
If you’re arguing people (or businesses) should consider the “Old” Mac Pro, I’d have to disagree in the majority of cases. Yes you can build yourself a very capable machine for a reasonable price if you’re willing to shop around the used market and then get your hands dirty working to tweak and upgrade the machine. That said your starting point is tech from 2009-2010, so it’s going to require a lot of tweaking (likely the replacement of almost every major user serviceable component and then some, plus the filling of every PCIe slot), just to get a machine with a very unbalanced performance profile (relatively slow single threaded performance, potentially very fast heavily multi-threaded CPU performance, and potentially blazing fast GPU performance). Oh, and as Apple doesn’t even sell refurbished models anymore you’re completely forgoing a warranty. IMO, at that point its better just to build a hackintosh, as otherwise you’re basically going through a similar amount of work for less performance, and only slightly better (OS) support.
