iMac Pro Now Available to Order With 8 to 18 Cores and Prices Ranging From $4,999 to $13,199

[Phil A.]

I'm sure they're a fantastic machine but I have neither the need nor the bank balance to justify one!

I'd be interested to hear from the creative pros (i.e. what I assume is the target market) what they make of it

 

[Defthand]

According to Schiller, an iPad can do most everything that this iMac Pro does.

(I jest.)

 

[itguy06]

Countdown to when some oil prince in Dubai buys a $13K configuration for his cat...just to say he could.

Or some moron Youtuber trys to Blend it or buys it just to destroy to see how durable it is.
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Except Vega is a DOG SLOW TURD compared to Nvidia. Also many PRO apps only support gpu acceleration via CUDA. (nvidia) I still don’t get Apple?!

It's not but thanks for playing. Vega may be slower but it's not that much slower and is quite the performer. There is a reason all the crypto miners buy them.

 

[zzLZHzz]

not yet available in singapore.

 

[modemthug]

I can’t imagine the component parts of a Windows machine ever coming to a total of $13k.

Mac is a convenience platform, not a power platform. Whoever spends that much on a Mac is crazy, and whoever thought those prices would sell is even crazier. That’s why the trashcan Mac Pro didn’t sell, and that’s why I believe this one won’t either.

Were you hit in the head with a brick before posting this? You can build an $80k Windows workstation. With these components, the iMac pro costs exactly what it should cost.

 

[itguy06]

Well Dell is almost as over priced as Apple is. Bad example.

And Dell makes garbage computers so it's even a worse example.
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I am very curious if the iMac Pro can sustain high processing speeds over an extended length of time. It may do great in a bunch of limited benchmark tests, but as is the case with all iMacs and Macbook Pros, the compact body design limits cooling and as a result the processors tend to throttle themselves when they are given a heavy load over an extended period of time.

It will be interesting to see the innards of this but I could imagine it would work given good thermal design. Heatpipe to the case as a huge heatsink. Then have airflow that is in at the bottom and out at the top. Or in one side and out the other.

Will also be interesting to see extended benchmarks on these but you hardly ever see those except on laptops.

 

[ginkobiloba]

The real test for these will be in relialability. These machines are very likely to be in situations where they will be running 24h a day ( maybe doing renderings at night, or used by a night shift post-pro crew ), at full speed.
How will the components survive in such a slim enclosure is the question, as well as how will Apple handle repairs in case of failure.
Video/Audio workplaces can’t afford down time and waiting weeks for the machine to be fixed at an Apple Store. It would need to be done on site by Apple. That’s what vendors like HP and Dell do with their high-end computers.

 

[puckhead193]

i wish apple made it so you can upgrade the ram yourself. I knew they wouldn't but jeez those prices.
Even the trashcan mac pro i can upgrade the ram myself.

 

[npmacuser5]

Love how Apple is pushing the envelope on price. There are lots of people with money who just want to spend. As an investor in Apple, this is fantastic. As a consumer, there is probably more to complain about if you aren't one of the people ready to overpay.

A business person spends 100k on a truck, knowing that you can buy many trucks at 50k that could do the job. However, this business person has a business that requires the heavy lifting offered by the 100k truck. Will get every job done in significantly less time. Overpaid? If this type of system a core function of your business, a bargain. I highly doubt the home user, other then those with a good deal of disposable income, will buy one of these. The 50k truck will do just fine.

 

[Naimfan]

For those who think it's "too expensive," the answer is easy: Don't buy one.

If it would help me do my work significantly faster, I'd certainly consider it, at least until the new Mac Pro arrives - which should leave the iMac Pro as far in the dust as the iMac Pro leaves all other current Macs behind.

 

[stevekr]

People complaining about the price need to realise that the iMac Pro isn't aimed at the average consumer, we are talking professional editors, content creators and so on. Movie studios will buy these, it is not very often you see a Windows machine in the editing labs (at least not here in the UK).

Most of the main broadcasters in the UK use Avid MC.

 

[Mr. Dee]

In Jamaica, a fully maxed out configuration cost Jamaican $1,650,000. Thats a huge chunk of my life savings. I would rather buy Apple stock.

 

[laz232]

A long time ago (late 90s / early 2000s), I recall the claim being made that most PSUs are the most efficient at 80% of their rating. Is that not still true?

That's a rule of thumb, not a law of physics and with good design it's not relevant (to within a few % points)
No way am I going to go into all the what-abouts, but here is an example of a high quality supply - efficiency is basically flat versus load from 20-100%

http://www.xppower.com/Portals/0/pdfs/SF_GSP750.pdf?ver=2017-10-13-081235-797

YMMV

 

[jsalda]

I want that full size keyboard, and in space gray to boot!

 

[DeepIn2U]

$13k....lol

Na nah ... the real joke is when it has video card faults causing multiple returns

I just watched Marques Brownlee's unboxing review and performance revenue of the nMP 2013 model. I found it uncanny how he predicted:

Judging by the last release we may not see an update to the Mac Pro for another 4 years.
So in 2018 (late 2013 nMP) get back to me to see what Apple releases then

then the update mid-2017 his 20th request/peeves vlog he requested Apple to PLEASE release another Mac Pro in 2018.

Pretty accurate ... probably enough for Apple to prompt him not to state anything like that after the pre-1wk iMac Pro review posted this week.

PS: Going to be looking out on 2011 iMac Core i7 machines on kijiji

 

[Bryan Bowler]

I am very curious if the iMac Pro can sustain high processing speeds over an extended length of time. It may do great in a bunch of limited benchmark tests, but as is the case with all iMacs and Macbook Pros, the compact body design limits cooling and as a result the processors tend to throttle themselves when they are given a heavy load over an extended period of time. You can see this happen in both the new Macbook Pro and the current iMac. There is not enough airflow or cooling happening internally so the processors simply have to cut back to keep cool. So can you edit and render 4k video for 8 hours on this machine and not any suffer speed losses? I seriously doubt it. While pretty, the iMac case is not the best design for power work stations. I don’t care what kind of thermal cooling jargon Apple spouts.

Couple that with Adobe’s poor support of multicore processing for almost all of its app, and you have a super expensive machine that has all these amazing components that you can never fully utilize.

I’ll be honest, I still want an iMac Pro. I work with massive video files every day and it will definitely be faster than any other Mac out there. But don’t be impressed by all the speed tests you start seeing on the internet. Seek out tests that show extended use over time, not just one-off benchmarks or quick rendering tests. Right out of the gate, the iMac Pro will smoke the competition, but an hour or two down the road the gains will be significantly reduced.

So how fast is the iMac Pro after it has heated up and you’ve been working on it for hours on end? That is the real question. I guess we will know soon enough.

You've brought up some excellent points! I've been thinking about the same thing too. My work would benefit from this machine, but I am holding out for approximately two months to see how it holds up to extended processing in the real world and also so I can study the upgraded processors to better determine which configuration would best suit my needs.

For now, I'm eyeing the 10-core, 64 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD, Vega 64 model and it seems just about right, but I will be able to better tell after all of the models have been thoroughly tested. Happy to upgrade even more if it will benefit my workflow. In the same regard, if cooling becomes an issue, then I may very well wait for the redesigned Mac Pro and see what it brings. Luckily for me, I can get by on what I have now. Others are not so lucky and need to pull the trigger right now.

 

[kagharaht]

I can buy two Smart Cars for that price. lol

 

[spaz8]

This is an interesting machine, I have mixed feelings about it. The first thing I look for on any apple product is if there is an Nvidia GPU option.. nope Apparently apple still has no interest in the machine learning space. Kinda sucks you are gonna have to spend another $1K-$2K on an Egpu and use up a TB port ( you only get 4, I am using 3 of 6 on my nMP without an egpu) . I have no need for a monitor, until one of mine dies, or I find space for a 3rd 27", but I agree Apple likely won't think a nMP 7,1 should cost less that this. I spent a bit over $8K on my 6-core 2013 nMP with 3rd party ram, TB2 raid box etc etc and the lack of GPU upgrade options is a killer, and the quickest thing to date the system.

In two years you are gonna want an new GPU for this thing.

I am also wary of the heat envelope claims in this thing. I could run my cheese grader 2006 mp at 100% load for weeks no problem. I have seen issues doing the same for just overnight (8 hrs) with the nMP.

I hope a modular new mac pro is still a thing and this does not replace that, as tempting in the short term an iMac pro kinda is.

I also had to cough a bit at the base price, even if the parts warrant it. Recent ram prices are a killer. I paid less than a grand for my 64 gb ecc set in 2014, that was replaced under warranty two years ago when one of the chips was failing now thats stuff is likely double the cost.

 

[SaxPlayer]

I haven't read every post to this thread so I expect someone's already made this point, however...

Advertised US prices don't include sales tax. UK prices do. So if you remove the VAT from the advertised UK price (which, of course, uses the Irish rate of 23% rather than than the UK rate of 20%) then that still makes the base model of iMac Pro nearly 10% more expensive than it is in the States.

Shipping isn't an excuse because these machines are made in China so have to be shipped whichever side of the pond you live on.

I know Apple have to allow for fluctuations in the exchange rate and there's the "so called" better consumer rights that you have in the EU compared to the US (which is utter b*****ks if anyone's ever actually tried to claim anything using those rules) but 10%. I mean TEN PERCENT? Come on Apple. For goodness sake.

(Does anyone know. Is the EU import duty on goods is higher than the US? If so that may explain some of it, but I doubt it would explain it all.)

I'm waiting for the new Mac Pro so this is all irrelevant to me, although I suspect that new product will also be more expensive to buy here. I'm hoping we don't have to wait too long to find that out!!

 

[Dave245]

Most of the main broadcasters in the UK use Avid MC.

Most of them use Mac hardware as well, the software is different sometimes but Final Cut Pro X is used a lot.

 

[technole]

I can’t imagine the component parts of a Windows machine ever coming to a total of $13k.

Mac is a convenience platform, not a power platform. Whoever spends that much on a Mac is crazy, and whoever thought those prices would sell is even crazier. That’s why the trashcan Mac Pro didn’t sell, and that’s why I believe this one won’t either.

It's okay, we get it. You don't work in the industry that can use these wonderful Mac Pro devices.

 

[raythepa]

maybe I could afford the space grey trackpad if I didn't have all my funds tied up in buying Fox today

 

[Daniel Reed]

In Sunny California, Maxed (i)Mac Pro is about $15,000.

The 128GB DDR4 ECC RAM option is about $400~800 over market value and costs $2,400 before taxes:

The 18-core Xeon option is reasonably priced at $2,400 before taxes:

The 2TB SSD is a good deal at $800 for 2TB; the 4TB option is a whopping $3,200:

The Vega64 16GB upgrade is a no-brainer fantastic deal at $600 - Don't buy an (i)Mac Pro w/out one!

The demo (i)Mac Pro that was shown in reviews last Tuesday is nearly $11,000 here:

Just the base model w/ the Vega 64 upgrade is about $6,500:

All-in-all, the (i)Mac Pro is competitively priced, especially if purchased right now, double-so if a write-off.
But by early 2019, one may better served w/ a $25 iMac opening kit and buying new old-stock for CPU & RAM


EDU pricing for students/teachers knocks 10% off, making the base model + Vega64 about $5,800:

 

[Falhófnir]

£4,899? A fair conversion at current exchange rates (with 20% VAT) comes out as £4,499... seems a little greedy to me but then I was never going to buy one anyway

 

[scoobs69]

GamePC (Silicon Valley company that makes custom workstations) has Xeon W listed in their prices.

iMac Pro - $9,599 (same configuration that MKBHD had)

• Intel Xeon W-2155 (downclocked)
• Radeon Pro Vega 64 16 GB HBM2 (downclocked)
• 128 GB DDR4-2666 ECC
• 2 TB PCIe NVMe SSD
• 10 Gb network card
• MacOS
• 1 year warranty

GamePC GMT-W7/300 - $6,514 (PC) + $1,299 (Dell UP2715K display) = $7,813

• Intel Xeon W-2155
• Radeon Pro Vega Frontier Edition (Vega 64) 16 GB HBM2
• 128 GB DDR4-2666 ECC
• 2 TB PCIe NVMe SSD
• 10 Gb network card (2x)
• Windows 10 Pro
• 1 year warranty

That's $1,786 less for a more powerful workstation that can be upgraded and won't have thermal throttling.

Intel 7900x
Radeon Pro Vega Frontier
128GB DDR4 2400
2TB PCIe NVMe SSD
10Gb Network Card
Windows 10 Pro

= $5,325 + $1,299 (Dell UP2715K display) = $6,625