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Did anyone go from an iMac to an iMac Pro?

memo90061

memo90061

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 2, 2008
557
134
Los Angeles, CA
Hello! I currently have an iMac from late 2014. I think the computer is still good for the most part. It has 4ghz i7, 32gb ram, 1tb ssd. I've been thinking about buying an iMac Pro, but don't know if I would see much if a difference? Can anyone tell the difference? I do graphic design, some video editing, and play a few games like The Sims 4. Wondering if anyone noticed a difference from their iMac to an iMac Pro. What do you suggest?
 
If you have 2014 iMac and its still kinda ok then why do you wanna blow money on iMac Pro? Just get the normal iMac, upgrade ram yourself and you will be screaming fast :)
Unless there is something you are not telling us :)
In all honesty though, if I was in the market and eyeing iMac Pro then I would rather buy Mac Pro as the longevity, upgradability etc. is way more future proof than AiO solution.
So in my case, either iMac or Mac Pro. iMac Pro at this point is little out. (for me)
Wait for WWDC though, something might change your mind so try to stay strong. I certainly am :)


memo90061 said:
Hello! I currently have an iMac from late 2014. I think the computer is still good for the most part. It has 4ghz i7, 32gb ram, 1tb ssd. I've been thinking about buying an iMac Pro, but don't know if I would see much if a difference? Can anyone tell the difference? I do graphic design, some video editing, and play a few games like The Sims 4. Wondering if anyone noticed a difference from their iMac to an iMac Pro. What do you suggest?
Click to expand...
 
memo90061 said:
I've been thinking about buying an iMac Pro, but don't know if I would see much if a difference?
Click to expand...

With the "Pro" Macs it is generally true that if you don't know whether you need the Pro, then you don't.

A new top end iMac will, in most use, be indistinguishable from the low end iMac Pro, maybe faster. Of course, if you need, and can use, 14 or 18 core CPU then iMac Pro is far superior - it also has better Thunderbolt, ECC RAM, etc.
 
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Just get an upgraded iMac. No need for the iMac Pro. RAM will be cheaper because you can upgrade it yourself.
 
Do what a real pro would do-- have your people buy both machines, perform custom benchmarks, and use the benchmarks to decide what machines to deploy across your organization.
 
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Haha, thanks for the reply. I think I should just wait until this one dies, or until one of the iMacs is cheaped refurbished or used.

Thank you :)
 
I believe you’ll get $550 for trade-in. Go for it! iMac pro if you got $$. Either way, it’s worth it.
(It’s 2020, and it seems to be an odd year so far)
 
Wonder if I can sell it for more on OfferUp or craigslist. If I were to get good money for it I would trade it and buy refurbished or using the education discount. For the iMac Pro I would want to spend around 3500, and for the new iMac maybe 2000? lol.
 
I hate to say this, and I'd hate to hear it, but even though the iMac Pro is sexy and sleek and hardware-dark-mode and all that: If you don't know if you need it, you don't need it. If you don't know if you want it, you know you shouldn't have it. :(

(I want one too if you can't tell... I have 2017 27" iMac...)
 
That's true. haha.
At least you have a newer iMac! :) I couldn't even connect my iPhone to the computer at first because I don't have the USB-C adapter. I have one now. haha
 
So long as the 2014 is still doing ok for you...

... I would wait until the NEXT release of the iMac (the "regular" iMac, not the "pro"), either later this year or more likely in 2021.

That will probably yield performance that "is getting close" to that of the base model iMac Pro, for the price of a regular iMac.
 
I went from an iMac to an iMac Pro. There's one very good reason to get the iMac Pro if you have a quiet room or the CPU is at load for long periods of time. It has significantly better cooling and sound levels across loads. My iMac's fans would often spin up and get noisy. This is the biggest difference I noticed, the iMac Pro is barely spins up and is the quietest powerful Mac they sell. Have a look here for noise comparisons:

https://quietmac.app

On top of that a better sound system and 10Gb ethernet (which I use) is great. Refurbished ones can be had for the same price at a top of the line iMac, so would keep an eye out for that if you are interested.

Maybe when they redesign the iMac they will provide a much improved cooling system, but the current enclosure is at its thermal limits with the most recent powerful intel CPUs.
 
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I wouldn't upgrade to an iMac Pro right now. If you can justify that machine, you might also be interested up-front or down the line on a 2nd display. The iMac Pro uses an older generation TB3 controller, making it unable to run the Apple Pro display at full 6K resolution.

Other than that limitation, the iMac Pro is a solid machine with many benefits over the standard iMac for all the reasons above.

For now, I just purchased the standard iMac upgraded to the i9 CPU, 1TB SSD and Vega 48 with 8GB of RAM so I could upgrade that myself. It's a stand-in, until the new iMac Pro is released and hopefully I can sell the iMac 2019 to recover enough of the purchase price. I've been sitting on an iMac from 2015 eagerly awaiting a proper iMac and Apple external monitor setup for programming purposes.
 
I was happily using a 2014 iMac with the same specs as the OP's -- then I started shooting with a Nikon D850 instead of a D810, and the iMac, using Lightroom, choked on the D850 RAWs. It was unusable -- the lag was horrible.

So I got the base iMP but with 64 gb ram and 2 TB, and what was the top GPU then. It's been flawless (and quiet). It will sit at 100% on all 8 cores and when, eventually, the fans ramp up they are hard to hear.

I sold the 2014 for $1500, which helped.

My use case doesn't seem to be yours, but you might ask yourself if you're expecting to have whatever you buy working hard for long periods of time. If you are, then look hard at the iMP.
 
chorner said:
There's a newer TB3 controller, that offers display stream compression and more bandwidth specifically for video display output
Click to expand...
DSC compression relies on the GPU. I maybe mistaken, but the thunderbolt chip shouldn't affect that. The only thing it will change is allow slightly more bandwidth through which is required to push the XDR display. Having DSC on the GPU would mean you'd be able to get away with an older thunderbolt 3 controller, as it would use less bandwidth.
 
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I upgraded from an iMac to a base iMac Pro last year and, for video editing, there is a big improvement in speed. But huge improvement in thermal control: the iMac Pro fans never kick up, even with 4 or 5 camera feeds and outboard audio. The old iMac screamed like a jet engine with only two video feeds or simple edits in LightRoom and PhotoShop...
 
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I have a 2019 27" 5K iMac on my desk at work, and I just upgraded to a baseline iMac Pro 8 core for home to replace my aging nMP. I got the iMac Pro refurbished from iPowerresale for $3500 - it came with the 1 year apple warranty too. Here's the link: https://ipowerresale.com/product/27-imac-pro-8-core-3-2-5k-late-2017-space-gray-2/

A quick, subjective comparison of the two machines:

Sound.
Winner: iMac Pro. Quieter at idle, far quieter at load, and far better speakers. I hate computer noise, and the iMac Pro is the quietest computer I've ever owned. It's amazing.

Speed.
Tie. The 2019 5K iMac "feels" snappier during day-to day use. The iMac Pro is actually massively faster when loaded down with virtual machines, running simulations, autocad, etc. And did I mention it's almost silent under full load?

In the past I had a 5K 2014 machine, but I sold it off in ~2016 for an nMP because the iMac was too slow for my work. As other commenters have said, it ultimately depends what you need your machine to do for you, but you will know if you need an iMac Pro. If you don't need the power but you're willing to spend the extra money over the regular iMac then go ahead!

I think either option, a regular iMac 2019 or an iMac Pro, would be a massive improvement for you over the 2014 iMac, but given what you've said I recommend the regular iMac (with SSD!!!!). With the cost savings you can hold onto the extra $2000 and buy another iMac 5K in 5 years when the iMac starts to slow down. Or you can run your existing iMac for another couple of years and then jump in on that sweet 2024 iMac. I hear they're going to be awesome.
 
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Alexis Noel said:
Would you consider iPowerresale more reputable than the OWC?
OWC also has the base iMac Pro starting at $3500.
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All other things being equal, I would choose OWC. They've sold and serviced macs for decades and can be trusted. I'm not familiar with iPowerresale ( another company with a similar name, PowerMax, has been around for a long time but they are mostly a reseller ). My personal preference is a local Apple Certified/Authorized service store because, at least in my case, the mac can be picked up or dropped off without shipping.

Another good option, once Apple reopens its own stores, is ordering online and store pickup. Apple's own refurbished products ( which have the same warranty and AppleCare options as new macs - a big plus that many resellers don't offer ) offer this option too.
 
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briloronmacrumo said:
All other things being equal, I would choose OWC. They've sold and serviced macs for decades and can be trusted. I'm not familiar with iPowerresale ( another company with a similar name, PowerMax, has been around for a long time but they are mostly a reseller ). My personal preference is a local Apple Certified/Authorized service store because, at least in my case, the mac can be picked up or dropped off without shipping.

Another good option, once Apple reopens its own stores, is ordering online and store pickup. Apple's own refurbished products ( which have the same warranty and AppleCare options as new macs - a big plus that many resellers don't offer ) offer this option too.
Click to expand...

I was also skeptical, since I'd never heard of iPowerResale before, but the original Apple refurbished warranty (1 year with possibility of purchasing AppleCare) with them was better than OWCs warranty. OWC is also a great company, and I've purchased many things from them over the years. I'm awfully happy with the iMac Pro.
 
I’ve viewed the OWC warranty as well and I see they offer the iMac Pro with a 1-year limited warranty. Could you please explain any differences between OWC’s warranty and the ipowerresale’s? TIA
 
YaBoiD said:
I’ve viewed the OWC warranty as well and I see they offer the iMac Pro with a 1-year limited warranty. Could you please explain any differences between OWC’s warranty and the ipowerresale’s? TIA
Click to expand...
OWC's warranty is currently through them as they don't have Apple Certified Refurbished ones on hand, however they get new stock in regularly so they could later, as they once had.

ipowerresale is Apple Certified Refurbished, as in refurbished by Apple themselves in the Apple Refurbished white box which has the limited warranty through Apple, and since it's Apple refurbished you can also purchase additional Apple Care for the product, which you can't through OWC's currently.
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Alexis Noel said:
OWC's warranty is currently through them as they don't have Apple Certified Refurbished ones on hand, however they get new stock in regularly so they could later, as they once had.

ipowerresale is Apple Certified Refurbished, as in refurbished by Apple themselves in the Apple Refurbished white box which has the limited warranty through Apple, and since it's Apple refurbished you can also purchase additional Apple Care for the product, which you can't through OWC's currently.
Click to expand...
Another note, for OWC if you'll need a repair or service you'd have to ship to them where the one from the latter you can just drop off at an Apple Store under the Apple Limited Warranty and/or Apple Care.
 
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