Probably the smart play is for anyone who is in the market for a $5k+ workstation computer like this is to spend the extra $800 on the upgrade to 64GB. It will be much easier to unload on ebay down the road for a good penny. Unless you really don't need anywhere close to 64GB and think 32 GB is overkill for a while.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iMac Pro's RAM Can Only Be Upgraded by Apple or Authorized Service Provider
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
form factor. these machines are not using SODIMMs like the other iMacs. To provide access to those would mean a huge door on the back of the machine. easier to just leave it to the ASPs & the store to do it than engineer that.
You lost me when you said corporate. This isn’t for admin and sales people. This is for content generators. Loads of the iMac Pro audience will upgrade their ram in the next 3-5 year’s when they begin to desire better performance—and their bank accounts have replenished.
[doublepost=1513293358][/doublepost]
You always do anyway (especially if you’re a pro).
Its about $400-800 above current market rates. I half expected Apple to charge more.
The Funny thing is Apple has a history of overcharging for RAM because Steve Jobs did not want Apple to be in the RAM business. There is a quote of him saying as such. Steve went on to elaborate Apple preferred customers to buy RAM separately and replace it themselves.
Somehow this has mutated into Apple continuing its surcharge for RAM while removing the ability for customers to upgrade it themselves.
[doublepost=1513293994][/doublepost]
Noticed big gains in my tests moving from 32GB to 64GB on Mac Hardware. 32GB chokes 8+ core xeon performance - 16GB cripples! Be thankful Apple at least offered a 32GB minimum.
Last edited:
So if Apple gave you an upgrade able Mac Pro that could only be upgraded with propriety overpriced parts you would be okay with that?
"Once they found out they couldn't upgrade the RAM on a workstation computer...
![]()
...you should have seen the look on their faces !!! "
...you should have seen the look on their faces !!! "
While I understand what you're getting at here, and agree on some points, stating that the "world is changing" and shrugging off the consequences as if they're the result of some sort of natural evolution mischaracterizes what's happening, IMO. The world is changing because manufactures, like Apple, and consumers, like most of us, have pursued and encouraged, with our purchases, the change.
Technology moves on, obviously, and with different pacing for different types of tech. Interconnect and storage tech are certainly two areas that have seen dramatic increases in performance. Apple, however, through its design decisions, has purposefully and, debatably, needlessly introduced products that are acutely susceptible to being left in the dustbin (see what I did there?) of technological progress.
For example, the move from the 2009/2010/2012 Mac Pro to the 2013 Mac Pro was not the result of some natural change necessitated by the advancement of technology. It was a change, with significant compromises, thoughtfully and purposefully implemented by Apple. There were no technological pressures forcing Apple to make a mostly non-upgradable workstation.
Your example of storage speeds is a perfect example of this. My 2009 cMP came with a spinning HD on a SATA 2 interface. Both are practically ancient by today's standards. SATA 2 progressed to SATA 3, storage moved to the PCIe bus, and from AHCI to NVME protocols. My computer, from 2009, can do all of these things (NVME starts straining things) because it was designed to be upgradable. The speed of the USB 2 connectors that came on my machine are laughable compared to the speed of today's USB 3.1 Gen 2 connectors. But, I can readily add USB 3.1 Gen 1 and, if a card was designed to do so, I could also add 3.1 Gen 2.
Apple stripped all of these possibilities out of the 2013 MP by deciding that the only user access to the PCIe bus was going to be by way of TB 2, which, at the time, was already a pale imitation of PCIe slots. This wasn't some organic, technology-driven or -necessitated choice. This was a design decision. Apple decided to take relatively immature technology (often prone to large generational leaps in performance) that made a lot of sense for a laptop and used it to replace in toto the very flexible, more mature tech on its former workstation. In doing so, Apple designed a product that was going to have a far shorter usability life than its predecssor.
One can react to this by saying the world is changing, but in the process of doing so let's try not to delude ourselves when it comes to the reasons why the world is changing.
Last edited:
Goodness! This is a shocker for a 5 grand machine and the equivalent to a swift knee to your privates from Apple. They simply don't know their audience and the arrogance is dripping from this courageous decision.
Tim, only Steve can be so because he was Steve and knew what customers needed. You and your minions simply do not do stop pretending.
Tim, only Steve can be so because he was Steve and knew what customers needed. You and your minions simply do not do stop pretending.
Buy the configuration you need plus a little extra RAM and down the road upgrade by putting an external SSD Array that can be as fast that paging won't be noticeable. PRO software is built to work with just enough pieces to complete a given task, prefetch into cache and load/unload parts as needed. If it needs more resources than what you have, it is poorly written.
Apple makes their Mac products more and more anti-consumer every year. It's really sad.
this is not a consumer product in any way shape or form.. industrial design is all about trade offs. Apple had a form factor they wanted.. they had equipment they wanted to put in that form factor.. to make that work this was their solution. Dell and HP's all in one solutions are not much better. (not not nearly as powerful)
A large majority of the people that will be using these machines wont ever upgrade them. Many large corporations, universities, and companies that would be buying this type of machine have internal people certified to maintain/upgrade them.. or a contract with a local support staff that can do it. This is a non-issue for 90% of the people out there.. The 10% of home users that would buy a 5-15k machine will have the means to support it.. and bring it into the apple store to upgrade it. If not.. there are other options.. PC's.. or in a year or two.. some other mac pro product
And they'll order 1-4 extra then the current butts in seats for backup and new hires
Look on the crucial website, 128GB of ECC DDR4 RAM is around £1400. There isn't much difference between ECC and non-ECC RAM these days. I recently bought a Lenovo P51 and there wasn't any price difference on the configurator between the two types of RAM. The same is true on the Dell website for the Precision Mobile laptops last time I looked.
Apple are quite simply ripping off their customers here with this pricing. $2,400 for 96GB is scandalous!
for those complaining about ram, the Dell 5820 uses the same processor as the iMac pro (if you select the W-2145 & w-2155). Dell is selling their 128GB ECC for 2600$.
When you all add it up, its expensive and you still don't have a shiny monitor.
http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop...r/spd/precision-5820-workstation/xctopt5820us
It's way too expensive for me but if you have the cash (and needs), why not.. hell of a beast.
When you all add it up, its expensive and you still don't have a shiny monitor.
http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop...r/spd/precision-5820-workstation/xctopt5820us
It's way too expensive for me but if you have the cash (and needs), why not.. hell of a beast.
Look at the Crucial website, yes you can get 32GB DIMMS. They've been available on servers and workstations for quite a while now.
Anyone know where to get that wallpaper? It's sick.
Standard 27-inch iMacs have a small hatch in the back that allows the RAM in the machine to be upgraded after purchase, but the iMac Pro does not have that feature.
There is no rear hatch because the RAM in the iMac Pro is not user upgradeable following purchase, but there's good news -- an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider is able to open up the iMac Pro and swap out the RAM.
iMore's Rene Ritchie spoke to Apple and learned that any service center is able to upgrade the RAM on an iMac Pro following purchase.
At Apple Stores, iMac Pro users will likely only be able to upgrade to Apple-provided RAM, but third-party service providers will be able to offer non-Apple RAM and might even allow users to bring in their own RAM. Policy will undoubtedly vary by location, however.
The entry-level $4,999 iMac Pro ships with 32GB of 2666MHz ECC RAM, but up to 128GB RAM is supported. Apple charges $800 to upgrade to 64GB RAM and $2,400 to upgrade to 128GB RAM. Upgrading RAM after purchase in eligible machines is often more affordable than purchasing Apple's RAM upgrades at checkout.
There are no post-purchase options for upgrading the SSD, processor, or graphics card in the iMac Pro.
Apple began allowing customers to purchase the iMac Pro this morning. 8 and 10-core machines will begin shipping out this week, while 14 and 18-core options won't be available to ship out for 6 to 8 weeks. While the entry-level iMac Pro is priced at $4,999, there are a number of upgrades available. A maxed out 18-core machine with 4TB of storage and a Radeon Pro Vega 64 is priced at $13,199.
Article Link: iMac Pro's RAM Can Only Be Upgraded by Apple or Authorized Service Provider
you dont understand the statement. just because you can get a 32GB stick, doesnt mean Apple is going to give you a single 32GB stick when you order that config. The cost for the single stick is significantly higher than four 8gb sticks or two 16gb sticks. Years ago, when Apple was more robust in their CTO offerings, you could order configs like that with a single, higher capacity stick than multiple smaller ones, and in every case, there was a substantial markup. That's simply how inventory management and cost margins work.
And others who are also not in the market for this machine will defend every move Apple makes.
Most of the time i think Apple makes awful choices in what the offer at the minimum. They have a habit of crippling something to get the low hanging fruit users to purchase such as using using spinning drives and tiny SSDs in the fusion drive. Here I will say the RAM options are reasonable. A simple choice of 32/64/128 and considering the price point the upgrade from one RAM option to the next isn't bad. If in fact the next version of the regular iMac gets refreshed next year and it doesn't have user upgradable RAM for the love of god will Apple at the very least load it up with 16GB RAM at minimum and drop the fusion drives, just pure SSD. People don't mind paying a bit more we just don't want to feel like we are getting completely ripped off.
So what? I could throw away all the Apple RAM regardless of its form and buy 4x32GB DDR4 ECC 2666 to get to 128GB. That's $800 savings immediately over Apple adding 96GB.
Apple RAM is always extraordinarily overpriced. The question was "who cares". Anyone who wants to save $800 is who cares.
