iMac Pro Described as Blazingly Fast, Quiet, and Fairly Priced, But Lacks Upgradeability

[CWallace]

The three or four Xenon chips Apple are using will make a fantastic Hackintosh.

Apple is using custom W-Series Xeon CPUs one of which supposedly has 43MB of L3 cache, which would be almost double what the "standard" 18-core model has (24MB) so that will likely boost performance in some applications over the standard model.

 

[aidler]

Undoubtedly an excellent device but fairly priced? Half the price or less would be fairly priced. The iMac Pro is technologically what the standard iMac should be and no more or less what should be expected from Apple. The standard iMac these days is a mediocre device with a questionable pricing. At the low end the price is somewhat ok but when you come to the top end the price is absolutely ridiculous for what you get.
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Will you and the rest of the people injecting these one-off comments please move on? Yes, it is fairly priced. You may not have a need for a machine like this and that's ok, but working pros do.

No it's not.

 

[GuilleA]

That HP is well over $100,000... can you imagine the outrage on this forum if Apple sold a $100,000 computer? And someone would still complain it’s “gimped” because Apple didn’t offer 4TB of RAM.

Yeah, I know. A fully specced out Z8 is way overkill for 99.98% of people, but you can start configuring it at about $3k, and add more later. Is the adding later part that'd make the Mac Pro great again (no pun intended).

 

[Stella]

This machine is for video editing pros who want a Mac, would never consider a PC, and want some style on their desks at the same time.

Pro's shouldn't really care what it looks like, its not a beauty contest. They want the hardware to be sufficient in getting the job done.

 

[Bryan Bowler]

Undoubtedly an excellent device but fairly priced? Half the price or less would be fairly priced. The iMac Pro is technologically what the standard iMac should be and no more or less what should be expected from Apple. The standard iMac these days is a mediocre device with a questionable pricing. At the low end the price is somewhat ok but when you come to the top end the price is absolutely ridiculous for what you get.
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No it's not.

Please go educate yourself on the component costs of the new iMac Pro and then come back to join the conversation.

 

[Whit1906]

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner is fairly priced at $120,000,000 but I don't think I'll be getting one any time soon.

Of course you wouldn't because the 787 Dreamliner is not targeted to you/individuals but rather to large airlines. So like wise, the iMac Pro is not being targeted to every PC user so please make comments that make sense

 

[CarlJ]

Brownlee also revealed that the iMac Pro comes with a black Lightning to USB-A cable in the box, compared to the standard white version for other devices. We've asked Apple if this black cable will be available to purchase separately.

This is the big news here - I had to spray paint a standard Apple Lightning cable black to put in my car (running around the interior to a mount that only fit the actual Apple cable).

 

[accrama]

Oh my god, it has a black cable ! Courageous !

 

[aidler]

what is a "fair price" to you? I think when it comes to the "pro" stuff apple does price stuff pretty competitively.

I just spec'd out a PC (with 5K monitor) with similar specs and I reached $4,999 really quickly. This was using the cheapest stuff I could find that matched the specs. If I were to really dig in to match it apples to apples I would be easily a $6,000+ machine.

No idea where you buy your stuff. A very well equipped PC costs no more than $3,000. Maybe not top of the line but as I said very well equipped. It would be at least 2 - 3 times as fast as a standard iMac that you would get for the same price. I bought 3 iMacs so far. Each time the top model for which I paid around $3,500 each time. Each time I had the hope and impression to get an excellent device and each time I had to witness PC's for the same price or less that were much faster. The gap, when it comes to speed between Mac and PC, grew larger with each generation of iMacs. Each time it left me frustrated and disappointed. The fact that they now sell a device for an absolutely insane price that should, by all means, be the standard iMac is a mockery.

 

[Mike Oxard]

It’s a review. He’s just trying to get all the necessary information out there so real life customers are not caught off guard. I don’t think he set his expectations anywhere. It’s a downside and now we know. You’re welcome.

A review by someone that obviously doesn’t understand the iMac all in one concept.

 

[aidler]

Please go educate yourself on the component costs of the new iMac Pro and then come back to join the conversation.

I'm well informed. I think it's you, my friend, who needs to be better informed. And while we at it you should also work on your manners.

 

[PJivan]

Stopped reading at "Fairly Priced"..

You clearly have no clue of how much a work station with similar spec cost from HP or Dell....or the difference betweek workstation and league of legend computer....

 

[Marx55]

Nope. Programmed obsolescence. All-in-one (AIO) computers like iMac are a huge aggression to planet Earth. Computers may last for seven years or less, whereas displays may last for more than 20 years. I am using an Apple Cinema Display 22-inch purchased almost 18 years ago and it works great. And it has been on an average of 15 hours a day, 356 days each year.

 

[Juicy Box]

nobody is expecting upgradability from an iMac, those are for people who are happy with the package they order ... upgradability, thats what the macPro is for .... ahem, hold on, ahe at least it looks pretty ... next gen macPro maybe, soon I guess (hope),

IDK, I can understand CPU, and GPU being an iMac, but not being to upgrade the RAM?

 

[PJivan]

Upgradeability. Maybe, just the GPU. Instead of an entire set again just for a RAM.

That way, Titan V graphics, more RAM never possible at once altogether but one step at a time.

Why did you shift topic? you said alternative companies sells workstation for lower prices... please provide source....

 

[sintra1]

The lack of any upgradeability is pretty frustrating. I'm probably not the only person out there who'd consider buying the low-end model and then upgrade the RAM and SSD later. I can understand not making the processor upgradeable, but not being able to add RAM or upgrade to a larger SSD? Ridiculous.

It's also frustrating that the new iPhones have Bluetooth 5.0, whereas the new iMac Pro still appears to be stuck at Bluetooth 4.2. While Apple has deliberately crippled the Bluetooth on their iOS devices by excluding AptX compatibility, their Macs have included AptX. It would have been sweet it the new iMac Pro included both Bluetooth 5.0 and support for the new AptX HD codec. But I guess that ain't gonna happen.

Is not lack of AptX support more todo with ongoing licensing issues between Qualcomm and Apple

 

[jkdsteve]

Not even the RAM is user upgradeable :-/

 

[citysnaps]

I ordered 50 of them and then found out.....No VGA port.....Cancelled my orders too

Not just a fail, but a MASSIVE FAIL.

 

[Smearbrick]

Hope the "DNA" in this iMac Pro drops down to lower-end models in some capacity, not in the form of 18-core Xeon processors, but at least give this broke dad the option to buy a Space Gray keyboard

I really cringe when I hear the term DNA when reference any inanimate object. Tim Cook is always saying that Apple's DNA is all over this MacBook or this iMac. I would prefer that my computers (and everything else) remain DNA-free.

 

[Helpfixit]

janky reliability of a Hackintosh

Parts from 27 slim iMac. Choke full of dust, ( thermal blanket ) and overheated PSU..
That fan was blocked up like a coronary artery! Virtual no air flow.

Janky ? Look at those CPU temps, PSU and fan.




From past experience, repairing iMac’s including new Retina 5k’s. I expect to see some hot hot iMac Pro’s !! I simply don’t believe the marking claims about the cooling system in these new iMacs, it’s bs. Buyers will soon complain about throttling. From a thermal point the design is wrong! I would prefer a Hackintosh any day. Ever wonder why Apple make it so hard for you to look inside your iMac.

Best described as Blazingly Hot !

 

[D.T.]

Parts from 27 slim iMac. Choke full of dust, ( thermal blanket ) and overheated PSU..

From past experience, repairing iMac’s including new Retina 5k’s. I expect to see some hot hot iMac Pro’s !! I simply don’t believe the marking claims about the cooling system in these new iMacs, it’s bs. Buyers will soon complain about throttling. From a thermal point the design is wrong! I would prefer a Hackintosh any day. Ever wonder why Apple make it so hard for you to look inside your iMac.

Umm, that wasn't my point, but thanks, those are interesting photos.

 

[v0lume4]

I'll take this mac over a $5,100 PC any day.

To each their own. I'm just saying... I find this infinitely more attractive than a sterile (albeit beautiful) iMac. Come on over to the dark side, Paul!

 

[Helpfixit]

Umm, that wasn't my point, but thanks, those are interesting photos.

Im just making the point about the janky reliability of an iMac

 

[Michael Goff]

No idea where you buy your stuff. A very well equipped PC costs no more than $3,000. Maybe not top of the line but as I said very well equipped. It would be at least 2 - 3 times as fast as a standard iMac that you would get for the same price. I bought 3 iMacs so far. Each time the top model for which I paid around $3,500 each time. Each time I had the hope and impression to get an excellent device and each time I had to witness PC's for the same price or less that were much faster. The gap, when it comes to speed between Mac and PC, grew larger with each generation of iMacs. Each time it left me frustrated and disappointed. The fact that they now sell a device for an absolutely insane price that should, by all means, be the standard iMac is a mockery.

So Apple should lose money on every iMac? No standard AIO at 3k dollars has the parts in the iMac Pro. Heck, you’d be hard pressed to build a PC with the workstation parts and get a good monitor for 3k$.

 

[eatrains]

I ordered 2 and then found out.... No HDMI... Cancelled my orders

And where exactly did you order it?