iMac Pro Installing Windows 10 on iMac Pro is Ridiculously Fast

[seasurfer]

I have installed Windows 10 a few times on my old iMac 5K 2014 and MacBook Pro 2013, I have also installed it in regular PC. Today, I decided to install Windows 10 on iMac Pro, given my past experience, I set aside 1 hour just for doing this.

So I started the process, and just leave the iMac Pro alone doing its things, while coming to MacRumors to read and post, within 10 mins, the Windows 10 is installed while I am still doing my browsing on MacRumors!!!! I was speechless, I didn't think it will be this FAST!!!

 

[fathergll]

That is quick. Have you installed the Adrenaline 18.2.2 drivers from bootcampdrivers.com yet or using Apple's generic ones?

Besides that how is the Windows experience on it? Anything glitchy or weird sound problems? The biggest issues I could see would be drivers.

I seriously wonder if the iMac Pro offers a better Windows experience than most Windows all-in-ones.

 

[SecuritySteve]

I wish I could say I had a similar experience boot camping. I lost 256 GB of space on my drive due to a kernel panic during bootcamp partitioning. I'll likely need to backup my system and wipe the drive to restore the use of that space.

 

[seasurfer]

That is quick. Have you installed the Adrenaline 18.2.2 drivers from bootcampdrivers.com yet or using Apple's generic ones?

Besides that how is the Windows experience on it? Anything glitchy or weird sound problems? The biggest issues I could see would be drivers.

I seriously wonder if the iMac Pro offers a better Windows experience than most Windows all-in-ones.

The Windows 10 experience is actually better than on my Corsair One 7700K with 1080TI. I believe this is largely due to the 5K monitor where color is simply more accurate and denser pixel just looks awesome. Playing around with it for an hour, no single glitches.

I have downloaded the Adrenaline 18.2.2 driver from bootcampdrivers.com, but I want to test out the official drivers first and see the improvement with the 18.2.2.
[doublepost=1519676883][/doublepost]

I wish I could say I had a similar experience boot camping. I lost 256 GB of space on my drive due to a kernel panic during bootcamp partitioning. I'll likely need to backup my system and wipe the drive to restore the use of that space.

How did that happen? I went through a very smooth process, in fact I wasn't even doing anything after I partition, I just click next and then next, choose language, region etc...

 

[SecuritySteve]

[doublepost=1519676883][/doublepost]

How did that happen? I went through a very smooth process, in fact I wasn't even doing anything after I partition, I just click next and then next, choose language, region etc...

I did the same thing, during the process of partitioning the computer just shut itself down and rebooted because of a kernel panic. The log indicated it had something to do with BridgeOS, so it likely had some conflict with the T2 coprocessor.

 

[fathergll]

The Windows 10 experience is actually better than on my Corsair One 7700K with 1080TI. I believe this is largely due to the 5K monitor where color is simply more accurate and denser pixel just looks awesome. Playing around with it for an hour, no single glitches.

Interesting. If you spec out Windows all in ones they are pretty much in a similar ball bark assuming you can buy the $4k base iMac Pro at MicroCenter.

MicroSoft Surface Studio - $4200

• Intel Core i7 6th Gen Quad-Core
• 32GB RAM | 128GB SSD + 2TB HDD
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Precision All‑in‑One 5720 - $3500

• Intel Xeon E3-1275 v6 (Quad Core HT 3.8Ghz, 4.2GHz Turbo,8MB)
• 32GB RAM | 1TB SSD
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 w/8GB GDDR5

 

[Bigdog9586]

Interesting. If you spec out Windows all in ones they are pretty much in a similar ball bark assuming you can buy the $4k base iMac Pro at MicroCenter.

MicroSoft Surface Studio - $4200

• Intel Core i7 6th Gen Quad-Core
• 32GB RAM | 128GB SSD + 2TB HDD
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Precision All‑in‑One 5720 - $3500

• Intel Xeon E3-1275 v6 (Quad Core HT 3.8Ghz, 4.2GHz Turbo,8MB)
• 32GB RAM | 1TB SSD
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 w/8GB GDDR5

I thought about going Dell but didn’t care for the reviews and problems. Plus using iPhone and iPad just thought it would be better to just jump in 100%.

 

[seasurfer]

Interesting. If you spec out Windows all in ones they are pretty much in a similar ball bark assuming you can buy the $4k base iMac Pro at MicroCenter.

MicroSoft Surface Studio - $4200

• Intel Core i7 6th Gen Quad-Core
• 32GB RAM | 128GB SSD + 2TB HDD
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Precision All‑in‑One 5720 - $3500

• Intel Xeon E3-1275 v6 (Quad Core HT 3.8Ghz, 4.2GHz Turbo,8MB)
• 32GB RAM | 1TB SSD
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 w/8GB GDDR5

I noticed that too. The iMac Pro is not considered expensive when you compare it with a Windows PC of similar spec, with educational discount, or those from Micro Center or B&H, it may even be cheaper.

I checked out the Surface Studio before in a Microsoft Shop, no way I will ever spend money to buy this machine, not only are the components outdated, but Windows 10 on this machine is not that fluid as advertised. Even the regular iMac 5K 2014 beat that.

I will never get a Dell, poor customer service, if there is a problem, it takes forever to get hold of them and they are still pretty useless. I will never forget that experience 12 years ago when I was still a poor student. It was what prompted me to go fully Apple.

If anyone ever wants a PC, I will go with Corsair One, Corsair has great customer service based in California, you get a one to one time with them. I tested it out by calling them and they are very helpful.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Interesting. If you spec out Windows all in ones they are pretty much in a similar ball bark assuming you can buy the $4k base iMac Pro at MicroCenter.

MicroSoft Surface Studio - $4200

• Intel Core i7 6th Gen Quad-Core
• 32GB RAM | 128GB SSD + 2TB HDD
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Precision All‑in‑One 5720 - $3500

• Intel Xeon E3-1275 v6 (Quad Core HT 3.8Ghz, 4.2GHz Turbo,8MB)
• 32GB RAM | 1TB SSD
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 w/8GB GDDR5

Both these machines are quad core and so not even in the same league as the iMac pro with a minimum 8 core xeon.

The microsoft studio is a terribly specced machine. The graphics card was outdated when they released it its also a consumer gaming card and not optimised for pro apps, it has no EEC RAM and it has the equivalent of a 2TB fusion drive much derided in macs as terrible for the price charged, it really is a dreadful cost to performance ratio, its a perfect example of what many accuse macs of namely being a gimmicky product with a high price and poor internals for the intended use.

 

[fathergll]

I thought about going Dell but didn’t care for the reviews and problems. Plus using iPhone and iPad just thought it would be better to just jump in 100%.

I've read issues with the Dell XPS 27 which is very similar to the Dell Precision but I haven't heard much about the Dell Precision in reviews so I wasn't sure if the internals were the same such as motherboard. Apparently I am reading you can upgrade the harddrive and ram easy and put in 2 hard drives which is pretty cool and you might be able to spec one cheaper. That said I haven't read enough reviews to feel confident about a computer like that yet.

 

[fathergll]

I noticed that too. The iMac Pro is not considered expensive when you compare it with a Windows PC of similar spec, with educational discount, or those from Micro Center or B&H, it may even be cheaper.

I checked out the Surface Studio before in a Microsoft Shop, no way I will ever spend money to buy this machine, not only are the components outdated, but Windows 10 on this machine is not that fluid as advertised. Even the regular iMac 5K 2014 beat that.

I will never get a Dell, poor customer service, if there is a problem, it takes forever to get hold of them and they are still pretty useless. I will never forget that experience 12 years ago when I was still a poor student. It was what prompted me to go fully Apple.

If anyone ever wants a PC, I will go with Corsair One, Corsair has great customer service based in California, you get a one to one time with them. I tested it out by calling them and they are very helpful.

Thats the thing thats always bothered me because everyone says it's foolish to buy a Mac and run Windows on it but the catch is there are no really good AIO PCs out there. Obviously desktops are Windows bread and butter but there the AIO market is pretty lacking. Which is funny in that Apple has the opposite problem, there choices for desktops are frankly crap and even worse(old underpowered Mac Mini and ancient Mac Pro(technically a workstation I guess))

The Corsair One is very cool desktop. I would seriously consider getting one.

 

[seasurfer]

Thats the thing thats always bothered me because everyone says it's foolish to buy a Mac and run Windows on it but the catch is there are no really good AIO PCs out there. Obviously desktops are Windows bread and butter but there the AIO market is pretty lacking. Which is funny in that Apple has the opposite problem, there choices for desktops are frankly crap and even worse(old underpowered Mac Mini and ancient Mac Pro(technically a workstation I guess))

The Corsair One is very cool desktop. I would seriously consider getting one.

I am totally with you on this.

There truly are no good pre-built PC out there until Corsair One came out last year. The only good thing I like about Corsair is because it has outstanding customer service, in fact I think their customer service is better than Apple, if there is a problem, they will seriously look into it and own up to it. The bad is, it is still a Windows computer, and you are stuck with Windows and the endless slow Windows updates...

In addition to everything, all the iMac has a much better trade-in or reselling value compare to any PC, if you take that into account, it is SIGNIFICANTLY a better deal. The only downside is that you don't get to choose your specific hardware of choice, Apple choose it for you.

 

[Rockadile]

I know one gamer AIO PC: Digital Storm Aura
Curved 34" / 60hz / up to 1080 GPU / i7 8th gen, Skylake-X or Ryzen

That Corsair One seems like a special scenario so it could hold value more.

 

[seasurfer]

I know one gamer AIO PC: Digital Storm Aura
Curved 34" / 60hz / up to 1080 GPU / i7 8th gen, Skylake-X or Ryzen

That Corsair One seems like a special scenario so it could hold value more.

Yeah, I know about that one, but too bad, they use 1080, it will be better if they use 1080TI, also the refresh rate is only 60Hz, they should get the 120Hz one.

 

[kudos212]

It never takes an hour to install windows 10, it'll take less than 10 minutes for any MacBook built in the last 4-5 years with an ssd installed.

 

[Bentleyonthego]

That is quick. Have you installed the Adrenaline 18.2.2 drivers from bootcampdrivers.com yet or using Apple's generic ones?

Besides that how is the Windows experience on it? Anything glitchy or weird sound problems? The biggest issues I could see would be drivers.

I seriously wonder if the iMac Pro offers a better Windows experience than most Windows all-in-ones.

I worked with a primary mac company, they only had two desktop computers (one of them was bought just before i was there, the other I set up, both for accounting department) they were like HP or dell something like that, that ran windows, they had issues weekly, primarily the newer one, and not all but a good amount of the issues were valid glitches and crashes, what was even more frustrating is the accounting had everything set up for just them, they didn't need to interact with anyone but sending a bill to the clients and paying the employess, so other than internet, there was no need for interaction, even the accounting software backed up online, there systems could access any of the internal servers set up, but they never needed to, everything they needed was set up just for them, and yet those computers had the most actual crashing and glitching issues. The 60 or so other employees all used mac OS, a mac servers where used, for the intranet system, the database job tasking system, the file server, and the archival and backup servers, if a client needed windows OS then a mac computer would have windows for mac installed, the system would be set up with the same client software to work with the job system, and other than a learning curve from OS to OS, it worked without any issues. Overall from my experience in IT, it seems if windows has good hardware to work with, it runs just as smoothly as Mac OS.

At the same time, other then setup, when I had a mac it ran mac OS, never personally used windows OS on a mac system.