...that is because your needs are rather pedestrian. Nothing you mentioned needing/using it for is overly taxing or complicated.
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iMac Pro May Feature Intel's Server-Grade 'Purley' Processors, ARM Coprocessor
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Who wouldn't want to have one? I'd say that realistically this is targeted at whatever actual "Pro" users are given the specs and lack of a true Mac Pro successor until 2018 and beyond, and they are most likely willing to pay 5k and beyond for that power. Clearly this isn't targeted toward the wider consumer market...
As much as I like Macs, Apple's disregarding of standards like CUDA and Vulkan and expecting everybody to use Metal is just plain bad.
This is Apple. Of course they will solder the ECC RAM.
This is going to be an un-upgradable Frankenstein machine that no pro in their right mind will get - you'll spend $10k+ on a mid-level model, and then when you need to change or upgrade something in just a few years, you'll have to recycle the entire machine, 27" monitor included.
Besides which, this thing is going to howl like a jet engine with the cooling fans required. The fattest part of a 27" iMac case is not deep enough to house the CPU cooler alone on my wife's gaming PC (just an i7). Add in some top-end GPUs and you'll be able to fry an egg on the back of the case.
Cool, let me install VMware on some iPad Pros and copy the Linux VMs over. Then I'll plug in the two ethernet cables and we'll be ready to go...
Oh wait.
You never needed a Mac Pro in the first place!
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I can fry an egg on my 2010 model, which was still much thicker, I really am curious to see how they manage a 300W GPU and a 150W CPU in that small space. I am also curious why they even think it's a good idea to try, instead of making the damn thing bigger, THICKER! There, I said it!
You're obviously not a content creator. Many professionals depend on machines like the iMac Pro to do their everyday jobs.
For once, I want an Imac. It's not even ugly. I wish they hade gone with "core i9", to keep cost down a bit. I could easily use 18 cores for editing and rendering my home videos. I have no use for Xeon, ECC memory or high end GPUs though. (I still rely on x264, and I don't see that change soon)
Many of us use Macs as home computers. At my work we have literally hundreds of PCs, and absolutely no Mac at all. The Imac Pro seems to be a nice home computer, a tad expensive perhaps - but compared to the computers of the 1990s not much more.
As for Ipad vs Desktop, "surfing the web" and reading forums is much faster on a desktop.
Many of us use Macs as home computers. At my work we have literally hundreds of PCs, and absolutely no Mac at all. The Imac Pro seems to be a nice home computer, a tad expensive perhaps - but compared to the computers of the 1990s not much more.
As for Ipad vs Desktop, "surfing the web" and reading forums is much faster on a desktop.
OK can we please stop hating on AMD. The argument that "oh software is optimized for nVidia, not AMD" is holding less water. If the software is not optimized blame the software writers not AMD.Jeez...
I'm with you on this. To me, it seems ridiculous to cram all this high-end server grade hardware into a machine, and then glue it so it's inaccessible and out of sight, behind an expensive 5K display. No one pays that sort of money for a disposable consumer device, that will get thrown away at the end of it's useful life (because you won't be able to do anything else with it). - Yeah, I know Apple bangs on about how recycleable their machines are - but basically in practice this means you get to give back your investment to Apple, for them to recycle your computer into something else. Then you have the privaledge of being charged through the nose for the same recycled parts, reincarnated into another Apple device and the whole cycle continues. This has nothing to do with saving the planet, and all to do with Apple getting a bulk load of aluminium carcasses for free, and make a shed load of cash from. Ever wondered why every new MacBook Pro/iPhone is smaller/thinner than the last model? - It's because they are whittling down old iMac carcasses as we speak, into new iPhones/iPads/MacBooks on the Apple milling machines...
You would be surprised, people who really need one will not think twice about spending the money when their careers depend on using something like this, for example one of the editing suits that one of my best friends works at will be interested. A lot of people like the iMac's for a number of different reasons so a Pro iMac makes perfect sense.
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By chance are these the same folks who designed the 2016 MBP keyboard, or who still put 5400 rpm hard drives in expensive computers?
Ha!
This is really key for me. When looking for a high-end system, I want function. If you were to take all the proposed internals of the iMac Pro and build a PC system, things like cooling would be almost be the highest priority. You'd have a kick-ass CPU cooler. You'd have lots of fans carefully placed to draw hot air out and not blow it onto other components. You would have as much case space as possible to help with airflow.
Now sure, maybe the forthcoming modular Mac Pro will allow that, like any PC does, and maybe it'll also have accessibility (another priority) and replaceable components (again, like any standard system).
But this iMac Pro? It's designed to be a super-expensive desktop toy. That's why it is in Space Gray. That's why it uses the standard 27" iMac case. Sure, it looks beautiful. But you don't buy a $5k/$10k$15k system to look beautiful, unless money really is no object to you.
Now, while I want function, I do want form, and there are plenty of PC case solutions that offer outstanding aesthetics as well as function. And, indeed, with any luck that's what the modular Mac Pro will offer - a killer upgradeable rig that also looks great.
Assuming the Mac Pro is out in 2018 (although, seriously, what's taking them so long?), the life of the iMac Pro (if it is out in December) is going to be what, 6 months? Because why, oh why, would you buy one, when you could get a modular Mac Pro? They would be better off simply taking the 27" display of the iMac Pro and turning it into a standalone 5k display, in Space Grey. And maybe add a 21" option and a 32" option.
The iMac Pro seems increasingly like a concept piece that you wouldn't actually want to produce, not with a more sensible solution just around the corner. Although the fact that the modular Mac Pro is taking so long to design suggests to me that they're doing something weird with it again and we'll end up with another strange, expensive Apple compromise.
Back in the old days, that was actually fine. Mac OS kicked ass and, going back even further, the PPC systems smoked Intel. Today Mac OS is still better than Windows 10, but not by much, and computer hardware is now identical. So your return-on-investment starts to make less sense for Macs.
Okay you need to calm down. I wasnt hating. Different sw for different gpu? What's your problem?
Actually, I'd go even a step further:
There is LITERALLY nothing an iPad Pro can do what cannot be done with a kids' magnetic drawing board!
...scratching one's head in disbelief about the initial comment...
OK if you weren't hating, then I apologize if I came off strong. But your point about "Different sw for different gpu" is the way it should be. If people are too lazy to optimize their code for AMD then people need to question them, not blame AMD for existing.
You're turning things upside down: The original poster implied that NOONE needed a real computer any more but an iPad Pro would be sufficient for ALL.
All responding posters just insisted that that's total nonsense because there are a MILLION uses where an iPad is totally UNSUITABLE.
Now you come and say they are wrong because YOU don't need a real computer, ie because there is another INDIVIDUAL CASE where not computer is required. That's defying basic logics in argumentation...
Sure for you an iPad does everything you know. Imagine, I am an underground miner and dig tons of gold worth even $60mm every year, and I don't need any computer or iPad AT ALL, because a shovel does the trick! (ok you know I'm not but I hope you get the logic behind it...)
Most of the reactions I saw on YouTube and elsewhere were people scratching their heads going WTF?
I actually kind of liked the nMP design, but it failed because Apple didn't maintain it or keep its price competitive. It stupidly even went up in price after a few years in some markets when its internals were becoming outdated. That and being tied to expensive server-grade hardware for which there weren't as frequent updates and not offering a dual CPU/single GPU config for CPU-intensive workloads limited its appeal. It also needed space for at least two M.2 PCI-e storage drives.
The nMP could've been the ideal mid-range headless Mac for prosumers we've all been wanting. Instead, someone at Apple has the idea that pros need Xeons and server-grade chips. I'm sure some do but there are way more who don't. A nMP with single or dual high-end i7s and single or dual high-end standard graphics cards would've been cheaper and provided way more bang for the buck. Coupled with 4 and 5k P3 standalone displays (where Apple???) and a space grey keyboard and mouse and it could've been a really attractive solution!
Yes, the nMP still ships with a white keyboard and mouse, even though it's a black computer and they now make "dark" accessories. Go figure!
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Are they RAM sticks on the left at the top? They look possibly... removable as opposed to soldered?
I think when we all refer to "professional" we specially talk about professionals in an industry which requires this kind of computing power, I.E Design, Video, Film, TV, Architecture, science, etc. Just because you're a "professional" who uses apple products, it doesn't make you a professional user. Far from it. I'm sure you could do what you do on any device - and I'm sure there are lots of features of the iPad Pro which you don't use. In a same way that you get users who purchase a MBP and use if for word, excel and surfing the net. Hardly the purpose of the kit really.
I run a very successful design studio with requirements for Apple to supply powerful systems. In recent years it has flagged and neglected us "professionals". Bringing power to the Macbook "Pro" but offering very tacky consumer gimmicks like the Touch Bar. It has benefits, but for a pro system, do I really need to have a touchbar for emojis. It may be a small market segment, but the amount of money studios spend on kit balances it out. Sometimes purchasing 20 or 30 systems at a time depending on the size of the company/studio.
There were always going to be issues with the nMP because it fundamentally lacked expandability. I purchased it because the 2009 MacPro was outdated, and really I was forced to either upgrade, keep old tech or move to PC and I really didn't want to do wither of the latter. So I upgraded. Frustratingly spending so much £ on kit which I knew would need replacing in the not too distant future. That and it's been riddled with issues. Initially I couldn't get any usb3 device to work with it. In the end Apple replaced the entire system. To only have the same issue. Turned out it was a compatibility issue with the manufacturer of the drives we were testing. Then there is the issue with GPU. Having so much power and having chips manufactured by AMD who fundamentally don't work well with adobe software. Applications like After effects which fundamentally cannot access that kind of GPU is frustrating. They favour Nvidia with CUDA and that pisses a lot of professionals off. The iMac Pro will similarly use AMD graphics, again which will not utilise the GPU, so having more CPU power will help with this but again not ideal.
I'm not sure if I'll got to the iMac Pro because of the lack of expandability. I also am not the biggest fan of the all in one, with build in screen. Since I have a 5k Dell. Again Displays for the nMP have been an issue. I have resolution issues with every screen, even this one, where I force a scaled resolution. The Mac doesn't like it and I get glitches - something which has been going of for years, and Apple hasn't fixed. I can't be the only on with the issue.
Coming from an IT/Telco background with my current job I completely agree. The fact that any company would be willing to attempt squeezing a 2RU or 4RU heavy-duty server/compute on such short notice much less an all-in-one is incredible. There isn't a company out there that produces something like this, I think folks have forgotten that! While I personally wouldn't buy something like this it speak volumes for the Mac Pro in general.
Hell most of the servers we use are 2/4RU Intel-EP Xeons and this is Itanium grade stuff... unbelieviable!
About the whole AMD/Nvidia thing : There's no hate about AMD, it's just that NVidia delivered this API called CUDA and AMD didn't have anything really equivalent to this. CUDA allowed for the development of great external rendering engines ( for 3D ) like Octane, Redshift, VRAY , etc.. These rendering engines are a great hit with 3D software users.
They are less of use for compositing/editing software, which do just as well with AMD. There's a reason the Mac was never a popular option with 3D software users, unlike video editing and 2D compositing users.
There are however many options appearing now that allow you to use Nvidia cards in an external chassis through thunderbolt.
They are less of use for compositing/editing software, which do just as well with AMD. There's a reason the Mac was never a popular option with 3D software users, unlike video editing and 2D compositing users.
There are however many options appearing now that allow you to use Nvidia cards in an external chassis through thunderbolt.