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iMac Pro Now Available to Order With 8 to 18 Cores and Prices Ranging From $4,999 to $13,199
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According to Rene Ritchie:
I’m curious why pro has to mean user ability to upgrade cpu/graphics themselves and if that’s not possible it means the device isn’t pro.Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
12/14/17, 7:39 AM
#iMacPro upgrades:
1. You can’t upgrade RAM yourself but you can take it to an Apple Store or certified service center and they can upgrade for you.
2. You can’t upgrade storage or graphics, but TB3 and eGPU let you update/expand.
So I took the challenge to compare the price of the iMac Pro to a comparable Windows 10 System. I choose to use Dell for the Windows system. So I custom built a Dell Precision Workstation Tower 5000 with a configuration as close to the iMac Pro I would buy as possible. PLEASE NOTE- my iMac Pro IS NOT maxed out. I would not buy it that way even though others might, and I would not recommend that you buy it that way. My iMac Pro config gives the most computer for the least money. Sounds right to me. So here we go:
iMac Pro- 10Core Processor,128GB of Ram, Vega 64 Graphics,1TB SDD,Keyboard and Trackpad-$8849
Dell PW5000-10 Core Processor (W series),128GB of Ram,(2)RadionPro W7100 Graphics Cards,1TB SSD,No Keyboard and Trackpad (Windows Systems -pick what you want), LG 5K display-$9200
So the Windows system costs MORE. You can argue that you get more, more expandability,more options,more upgradeability.
I was of the opinion before I started this that the iMac Pro was a stupid priced system. I was wrong. It's important to understand that these systems are made and priced for people who are real pro's and making their living on them. When you see them as the work tools that they are meant to be,these prices make a lot more sense.
iMac Pro- 10Core Processor,128GB of Ram, Vega 64 Graphics,1TB SDD,Keyboard and Trackpad-$8849
Dell PW5000-10 Core Processor (W series),128GB of Ram,(2)RadionPro W7100 Graphics Cards,1TB SSD,No Keyboard and Trackpad (Windows Systems -pick what you want), LG 5K display-$9200
So the Windows system costs MORE. You can argue that you get more, more expandability,more options,more upgradeability.
I was of the opinion before I started this that the iMac Pro was a stupid priced system. I was wrong. It's important to understand that these systems are made and priced for people who are real pro's and making their living on them. When you see them as the work tools that they are meant to be,these prices make a lot more sense.
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Thanks for that anecdote. I have zero experience with the market this is positioned for, but do have experience with high performance computing with GPUs. Is most of the acceleration for this market GPU or CPU based? I've heard varying reports on the GPU performance of the Radeon included in the iMac Pro.
CAD makes me cry. Still waiting for them to readjust to our higher trading value now, they're still on the last readjustment down at 70 US cents a dollar.
Looking forward to seeing some practical benchmarks against a £3.5K pc built with an AMD 16 core Threadripper and a couple of 1080ti's. I suspect it might be close to half the price for double the performance (depending on the application of course). Of course 'pro's have money to burn so it doesn't matter - they don't have mortgages, kids or cars to pay for; for them the money just roles in (probably the case if have anything to do with Apple, Google or Facebook but the rest of the world isn't on quite such a gravy train)!!
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I'll try to believe that with you. In my head, once Apple learns they can get away with selling iMacs for these prices, the new Mac Pro is NOT going to be practically priced... but priced at level reflecting it's superiority to these iMacs... meaning higher still. But we'll see... apparently sometime in 2018. Maybe Apple will surprise us with Mac Pros priced considerably less than these iMac Pros? (Read that last sentence a few times and think about it.)
Then you've never priced out an equivalent workstation from HP or Dell. Workstation parts are VERY expensive. ECC ram, Xeon processors, Quadro and Fire GL video cards, dual processor motherboards WITH normal desktop features, etc. It gets expensive very fast. $5k for the base iMac Pro, considering the quality of the parts you're getting, is actually a fair price. The display alone is worth $1-1.3k.
Now! My first car was £500 and it really wasn't THAT long ago. Even if you adjust for inflation, and it was a relatively decent car as well.How long now until we're able to write that about iPhone pricing?
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
And that's the point: there are people who see $5K or $13K like average people see $500 or $1300... or even $5 and $13. For some, either end of this range is "chump change" to have "latest & greatest."
This. AMD's Zen platform (Ryzen, Threadripper, EPYC) rocks and is very high performing and easy on the wallet. Just built a Ryzen 1700 system and that baby flies. 8 cores/16 threads and it does great with video files, photo editing, and running VM's.
The best part is I built the whole thing (R7 1700, 32GB, 2x 4TB HDD, 256GB SSD, RX460) for $1100. It's near silent (you hear the HDs), and did I mention FAST and SNAPPY?
Since the Mac Pro will have similar hardware and no monitor, similar configurations may be cheaper. Probably will be able to spec it out with even higher end components, though. And adding the cost of the new monitor, will end up costing more than comparable iMac pro, presumably.
Kind of an odd thing to say. When I was a student living on beans (a very long time ago, or so it feels), I was thrilled when I found a brand new, discontinued, Mac II VX slashed to $800 at CompUSA. (Yes, said it was a long time ago). No way could I afford to have paid what that Mac cost new let alone a tower Mac. Before the II VX I felt "fortunate" to have had a Mac LC.
I have decent income and savings now. But also common sense. No way can I justify an iMac Pro -- even a "low end." I'm not a professional in any industry that can use that kind of power. But I do still have a taste for headless boxes. I would spend $2500 for a "low end" Mac Pro that was grumble, grumble, expandable. Yes, I like to tinker and upgrade.
So, yes, I think there is a market for a decent headless Mac. I'll happily sell my current 27" iMac for one.
The same kids buy $4,000 Razer laptops to play League of Legends on their grand parents yacht. Money is money, spend it how you want.
A lot of pros still use Macs. If they do, sometimes it makes sense to get the most powerful one they can buy.
A business that bills $350/hr for imaging or video work could pay for one of those in a week.
My early 2008 Mac Pro was bought with a 23" ACD. I agree with you about not needing this all-in-one.
WHERE ARE THE NEW MAC PROS?
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Layer in Apple mentality though: if you are Apple and not cmaier (consumer), and you learn that an iMac "Pro" can sell for between $5K and $13K, are you really going to price your Mac Pro at less than $5K-$13K?
I grasp your logic but that logic seems to leave out Apple thinking- which is pretty much never to give much focus to drive pricing down to as low as possible. Generally, Apple prices things relative to other offerings. They'll learn here that they can sell fancier, juiced up iMacs for these prices. That makes me doubt that Mac Pros will come in lower than these levels... unless sales of these flops with the target market, who, presumably will be about the same target market for a Mac Pro.
If that market "accepts" this pricing by buying lots of these, Apple learns that market will pay up for "pro" hardware. If the Mac Pro is perceived superior to this hardware, it seems Apple would decide to build in some additional price to reflect that status... even if the underlying costs don't necessarily support the additional premium.
What I don't imagine happening at Apple HQ is some mentality of "...but this pro doesn't have a monitor, so it should be priced $XXXX below the all-in-one iMac Pro." Instead, I imagine the thinking being more like: "traditionally our Mac Pro has been our top of line, finest Mac and always sold at prices higher than any other Mac line. So..."
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Pooh.
For a moment I was really concerned that I'd have to add the cost of the Lightning cable, to already somewhat steep cost of my 18-core Mac.
Right. Someone making $34K/year probably isn't shopping this - if they're a creative professional, they're working at a shop where their machine is supplied, if they're self-employed, but looking to manage costs, there's a nice 5K iMac for $2700, or a non-5K for $2200 (those include upgraded RAM and SSD).
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Holy hell, I didn't notice the lower end machine is a 5K setup too? Is this new? All the 27" iMacs are 5K displays now:
In my defense, I have NOT been paying attention to iMacs for the last several months ... I've also been drunk most of the time ...
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That could be. We've definitely seen TC dipping his pricing toe in those waters of late. I'll hope for the best and wait to be disappointed with the rest. Mac Pros have rarely been practically priced though. But I too suspect the days of a "bare bones" MP starting at $2500 might be past us.