that is odd in a supposedly pro orientated mac
be a bit annoying if you need 64 gigs in the future but only bought the 32 gig...
be a bit annoying if you need 64 gigs in the future but only bought the 32 gig...
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iMac Pro's RAM Can Only Be Upgraded by Apple or Authorized Service Provider
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Geez, lighten up.
This is an entirely new product designed for a specific niche of pro customers. It's not replacing the Mac Pro (2012 or 2013). It's not replacing the iMac.
Did you not hear anything Apple said when they announced this product in the first place? That the Mac Pro was being retooled and reintroduced for a 2018 release? That Apple all but admitted screwing up with the 2013 model? That machine certainly got bought by a lot of big shops...I've seen dozens of them in some places. But the small shops and indie crowd who always wanted a modular machine like the original silver chassis never warmed up to this machine. They are two different "Pro" customer bases. The iMac Pro is not for that crowd (though some will buy it). The 2018 Mac Pro will be for to borrow a phrase, "For the rest of us".
It's not ideal but this is a business product and most businesses aren't upgrading parts. Hell they probably aren't even buying these outright. Lease and trade in, is a more viable option.
But the point was, that the machines get serviced. If not by them, by the tech department, or some 3rd party service provider. Would you, as someone who services Macs for many businesses, recommend an iMac Pro, to someone who could utilize the power of the machine?
I would think you would chomping at the bit to get a REAL Mac Pro out in the field, so you can perform targeted upgrades, and greatly increase possible services to the companies you support.
You put your big boy pants on for that order. Congrats. That’s quite a machine!
OR you could upgrade parts of a PC, to keep your employee constantly at near top peak performance, and NOT have to throw $10k machines in the trash.
How has your plan worked with the trans can Mac Pro, over the past couple of years? Here's a simple video showing the folly of going your route, in recent years ...
Businesses that I've been involved with, both small and large, have treated custom machines like this(as opposed to the word/excel folks), differently than most. They have sought out upgrades/adjustments to existing machines, rather than throwing them away. A VERY small, non tech-savvy outfit would be at a disadvantage here, and would probably go this route, with extended warranty.
So you're looking for a machine that you get more field service calls, not less. Good luck with that with any IT Director. Here's a hint....if you're a service organization, you're not the customer. They purchase what they want. You provide services that fit the need of the product. If they think you are recommending something so you get more service calls, they will find someone else.
Lighten up? It's the same argument for why Apple has NOT touched the Mac Mini.
2012 Mac Mini - SUPER versatile machine that was perfectly suited for Grandma and Grandpa as well as powerful enough to get some non-GPU intensive tasks done efficiently. By all accounts, a popular machine.
2014 Mac Mini - Glued in, CPU crippled albatross. ONLY good for Grandma and Grandpa. Sales tanked as 2012 Mac Minis became worth their weight in gold.
No updates since, as most speculate it's due to poor sales of the 2014 Mac Mini - Gee, I wonder why.
So that posters fear of a limited audience for the iMac Pro(think 2014 Mac Mini and Grandma), is well founded, IMHO.
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So re-outfitting everyone with new iMac Pros, every 2-years is better Cap-Ex than upgrading parts as needed, over the course of many years? I'd LOVE to see you review your budget with the CEO on year 3, compared to my budget.
I know there are lots of studies done by Apple to show that Macs are cheaper to maintain than PCs, but I highly doubt the study was limited to the high end machines. I'm sure it centered on idiots bringing in viruses, and users taking crappy care of their blah beige boxes. it's an entire order of magnitude greater level of respect for creatives and their precious machines.
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You say it’s certainly worth the $5,000, but then go off on a rant about “lustfully greedy arrogance” when contemplating failure of a RAM stick (a very uncommon occurrence).No one is saying this computer isn't worth it's price. With the components Apple threw in this beast, it's certainly worth $5,000.
The people who are complaining about this computer are those who want 8-cores or more, but don't need xeon processors. Nor do they want to pay $800 for 32GB of ram. We're not scientists, nor cyber security experts. Creative content users have apps that can take advantage of more than 4 cores efficiently, as well as GPU acceleration. Apple is doing nothing for these users. You either pay $3,000+ for a 27" 4 core iMac or $5,000+ for an 8 core iMac Pro. And those prices are worse if you don't need a display.
If money were no object for small business, I'd consider an iMac Pro. Then I'd remember if a ram stick goes tets-up, you now have to lug your computer to an Apple Store to get it serviced....or box it up and send it away. That's just lustfully greedy arrogance on Apple's part. At least with a laptop, you can fold it up, throw it in a backpack, and carry it in the store with no issues. With a 27" iMac, it's not so easy.
I've lost an immense amount of love for Apple since the 2013 Mac Pro. And each successive product release, their closed system gets worse, while their prices continue to go up. They were charging $5,000 for the 2013 8-core Mac Pro in April of 2017. But yeah, the disappointed disenfranchised users are WAAAAAAA. That's what it is.
Due to the location of the iMac Pro cooling system, it wasn’t feasible to have user replaceable RAM. So buy your own 32GB sticks at $400 a piece and pay a shop to put them in. Now you’ve saved a few hundred dollars. Awesome.
Is $50 or $100 for a shop to do it for you really a deal breaker, or are these iMac Pros just too expensive for you? There may be 6- or 8-core Core i7/i9 coming to the consumer iMac, but they would likely occupy that gap you mention above, the $3k-5k range.
But if you create content and can’t afford $150 a month—tax deductible at that—for a tool that enables you to do your work, I really don’t know what to tell you.
Well I'm the owner and it's not about recommending products to customers that require higher rates of servicing/failure. We only service Apple hardware (in addition to the other services we provide) anyway so I don't care what a customer has. But times when we do make recommendations, it is based on the customer's needs. And that could be a Mac mini. You build more trust by understanding what a customer actually needs (sometimes wants) and finding the right solution.
So as for recommending iMac Pro to customers, I could do so easily. Because it's not much different (other than price) than recommending a MacBook Pro (in terms of serviceability). But if it fits the use case then that's what's most important. A Mac Pro on a desk doesn't automatically mean more servicing and more money. Most of the computers we do hardware servicing on are actually laptops.
Another unsurprising move from a company who couldn't give a **** about its customers.
A 2013 8-core Mac Pro for $5,000 (even $4,000) is lustfully greedy arrogance.
Forcing your customers to take your machine to an Apple store or authorized Apple reseller to change a bad ram module is greedy arrogance. But yeah, let's talk about the down time hoofing the machine to the shop to add ram vs. popping open a door an installing the ram.
The components themselves, in the current 2017 iMac Pro are worth $5,000. Not sure what's so freaking difficult to grasp.
Don't be ridiculous about adding a door for changing/adding ram. It wouldn't change the thermals - it's just an access panel. It's not open hole in the chassis. This is Apple being stupid. Just like they're being stupid on the 21" iMac by not including memory access panel. That's the very least they can do.
For me personally, I don't need server grade components in my workstation. It's overkill. Apple doesn't offer what I want, so I'm building my own. If you can't understand that. I really don't know what to tell you.
Cheers
I hesitated on a PC for years. Then when my 5,1 started to struggle with 4k, even with a GTX980 video card, I realised I had to jump ship. I custom ordered a Threadripper PC 16cores, 64GB ram, and GTX1080ti 11GB video card. With Adobe CC it's plain sailing. I am having a few problems with .MXFs under Premiere, but other than that it's fast, quite and very reliable. I'd recommended jumping to PC for Adobe CC work.
Look at the cutaways of the iMac Pro. You wouldn’t be able to get to the RAM with a hatch. The heatsink/heat pipes/fans are nearest the back.
In any case, it sounds like you don’t need a Mac, or a workstation. Sure, you can save yourself some money building a desktop Windows or Linux box. Some users want/need MacOS though. I mistakenly thought you were one of them!
You’re simply not the target market for this machine, no big deal. But for those who are in the target market—as you said, it’s certainly worth the $5,000.
A current Mac Pro 6-core for 3k, or 8-core for 4k—these can pay for themselves in a matter of days or weeks for pros who use them to generate revenue. They don’t see them as expensive in the least. But they need Xeon workstations and MacOS. You don’t, but that’s not relevant to their needs.
Its really not that hard to understand. iMac Pro uses ECC RAM.
Apple is hedging against idiots trying to put non-ECC RAM into the machine and then pissing away AppleCare time/dollars troubleshooting.
Apple is hedging against idiots trying to put non-ECC RAM into the machine and then pissing away AppleCare time/dollars troubleshooting.
$2400 to upgrade the RAM?
I suppose in the U.K. that’s going to mean upwards of £3000?
What planet is Apple on these days?
Where do they think this money us coming from?
I suppose in the U.K. that’s going to mean upwards of £3000?
What planet is Apple on these days?
Where do they think this money us coming from?
Anyone who has to find the money to buy one to continue to earn their living.
Clearly not you.
Worse, they will compare this to their DIY gaming machine. And of course, all "pros" only cares about spec.
You missed out “Na na na na nah!” To all those stupid people who need a pro Mac to work but aren’t as clever and rich as you.
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So, what do you do it you don’t?
Give up and find a job stacking shelves or buy a PC?
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If only Apple didn’t seriously overcharge for their RAM!
I don't really get this machine. (With that said, a buddy of mine in video ordered a pretty burly one today.)
I like the iMac a lot. It's not my cup of tea, but it's been serving my father well for years at this point. For a person who is basically going to get a desktop and hold onto it for a long time, it makes sense. That person generally does not need a metric ton of power though.
Of course, I don't really get the cost of workstation class hardware for the most part. It turns into crazy diminishing returns.
This just makes me more curious about the upcoming Mac Pro. My hope is that they have a new bump in the Thunderbolt spec, but I imagine the modularity is going to be something significantly different than whatever we've seen with towers and the like. At least they're throwing a bone to the Pro crowd again.
I like the iMac a lot. It's not my cup of tea, but it's been serving my father well for years at this point. For a person who is basically going to get a desktop and hold onto it for a long time, it makes sense. That person generally does not need a metric ton of power though.
Of course, I don't really get the cost of workstation class hardware for the most part. It turns into crazy diminishing returns.
This just makes me more curious about the upcoming Mac Pro. My hope is that they have a new bump in the Thunderbolt spec, but I imagine the modularity is going to be something significantly different than whatever we've seen with towers and the like. At least they're throwing a bone to the Pro crowd again.
