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iMac Pro So did anyone switch from the Macbook Pro 16+external screen to an iMac Pro?

dapa0s

dapa0s

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 2, 2019
533
1,076
Basically the title.

I have a few offers for exchanging my few months old mbp 16, that I mostly use with an external 27-inch 1440p screen, for an iMac Pro base model.

Would anyone recommend doing this? I can also sell my mbp 16 for around 4000€ and add about 200€, and buy a new iMac Pro from Apple's refurbished store.

I hate how my MacBook Pro 16 gets hot when I use it with an external screen, it really bugs me, and I know that the iMac Pro has better cooling and is generally better for music-making.

But should I just wait for the new ARM iMac/MacBooks?
 
I would switch in a heartbeat. I have a 16" Macbook Pro and I hate it. The way it always gets hot and noisy. Do you need the portability? If not, go for it! But shouldn't the iMac Pro be more expensive? Even if used...

P.S. Not to even mention the 5K screen which is leaps and bounds better than a 1440p monitor.
 
Don't get the iMac Pro. Get the regular iMac instead unless you get the iMac Pro cheaper or you are tied into exchanging it with the IMP. It's still a fine machine.
 
The man said he wants it for music making. I would expect noise to be a consideration.

Even so, a few synthetic benchmarks aren't everything. I still consider the iMac Pro to be the superior machine in almost every way. It will run heavy tasks efortlessly for years and years. I have serious doubts that a regular iMac would do the same.
 
wave84 said:
It will run heavy tasks efortlessly for years and years.
Click to expand...

Until dust builds up inside of it and decreases cooling performance ;) I wouldn't trust the iMac Pro to run heavy tasks "for years and years" neither.

It's fine. It has does have a major advantage like it runs very quiet under full load. But other than that you are paying more for a slower machine with older tech (even Xeons that still have all of Intel's security flaws) and you can't upgrade RAM yourself. It really depends on the use case. If he wants to push the machine to its limit all of the time, then yes, the iMac Pro would be a better choice.
 
In fact, I loathe these benchmarks. My Macbook Pro 16 is crushing all the benchmarks. But when I try to do a simple thing like playing an old game like Overwatch for 1 hour, it throttles to the point that it becomes unplayable. Starts at 240 FPS and ends at 40. I have to run ThrottleStop to disable Turbo Boost, set fans at max when I boot into windows, turn on the AC and place the damn thing on a book for better airflow.

So screw these benchmarks. They don't mean anything as far as I'm concerned.
 
wave84 said:
The man said he wants it for music making. I would expect noise to be a consideration.

Even so, a few synthetic benchmarks aren't everything. I still consider the iMac Pro to be the superior machine in almost every way. It will run heavy tasks efortlessly for years and years. I have serious doubts that a regular iMac would do the same.
Click to expand...
I have a 2015 4 Ghz i7 iMac still running fine. The number of years you expect to run it is not so great that you wouldn't refresh it with something newer in the future when you see enough of performance changes.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I am seriously considering switching. Imac Pro is definitely better for music making than the regular iMac, as it can handle significantly more tracks and is overall much cooler, so the regular iMac, while great, for me isn‘t worth switching from a mbp 16.
 
Ah yea, then get the iMac Pro. I've had it, and you can push this machine and it won't throttle. Night and day difference to the MacBook Pro.

Make sure to get as much RAM as you need as upgrading it afterwards is difficult.
 
Yes, but that's the thing. The iMac Pro doesn't have the handy RAM door the other iMacs have. So getting to the RAM slots is a bit difficult and should be done at a service point/Apple store.
 
dapa0s said:
Thanks for the feedback. I am seriously considering switching. Imac Pro is definitely better for music making than the regular iMac, as it can handle significantly more tracks and is overall much cooler, so the regular iMac, while great, for me isn‘t worth switching from a mbp 16.
Click to expand...

Did you see the Max Tech Logic benchmark comparing the iMac and iMac Pro? That surprised me. I’ve heard mixed reports of Xeon for music, maybe Logic is more suited than Ableton...
 
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jobinhosyntax said:
Did you see the max tech logic benchmark comparing the iMac and iMac Pro? That surprised me. I’ve heard mixed reports of Xeon for music, maybe Logic is more suited than Ableton...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've seen it, that's what made me even more convinced not to go for the new iMac.
 
dapa0s said:
Yeah, I've seen it, that's what made me even more convinced not to go for the new iMac.
Click to expand...

I’m leaning towards the i7 iMac for music production as a stop gap before Apple Silicon, it’s still very, very capable for CPU intensive tasks and has a significantly higher clock speed so would outperform in some scenarios. If you’re recording nearby I’d understand why you’d be concerned, but have heard the fans mostly spin up when using both CPU and GPU intensive programs as opposed to audio software.
 
RAWvJPG said:
Until dust builds up inside of it and decreases cooling performance ;)
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Do you not have an air compressor? Or heck even one of those air cans? Takes a moment of time once a year to keep them internally clean.
 
iemcj said:
Do you not have an air compressor? Or heck even one of those air cans? Takes a moment of time once a year to keep them internally clean.
Click to expand...

Does that really work? I thought the iMac's are basically uncleanable, that is, if you don't open them with suction cups or something.


jobinhosyntax said:
I’m leaning towards the i7 iMac for music production as a stop gap before Apple Silicon, it’s still very, very capable for CPU intensive tasks and has a significantly higher clock speed so would outperform in some scenarios. If you’re recording nearby I’d understand why you’d be concerned, but have heard the fans mostly spin up when using both CPU and GPU intensive programs as opposed to audio software.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on your needs. I use tons of VSTs that are very resource heavy, a lot of classical instruments (stuff like spitfire bbc orchestra), tons of plugins, tracks, etc. Still almost no problem with the mbp 16 there, except the noise sometimes, but the iMac Pro is just significantly better for music-making.
But if I was sure that the i7 iMac could handle my needs, I would definitely just get that and wait for the ARM macs to appear, it's so much more reasonably priced (not to mention that you can add your own RAM).

When I record, I do tend to have the macbook/imac nearby, but I think you're right about the fan kicking in mostly when both the CPU&GPU are used simultaneously.
 
dapa0s said:
but the iMac Pro is just significantly better for music-making.
Click to expand...

It depends, if your workload is reliant on serial processing along a master bus channel then the i7 would probably be better. Xeon processors aren't optimised for this kind of processing but more for multithread processing. That's why the Max Tech Logic benchmark was strong for the iMac Pro, none of the tracks in the benchmark are in a signal chain. It really comes down to how you make music.
 
iemcj said:
Do you not have an air compressor? Or heck even one of those air cans? Takes a moment of time once a year to keep them internally clean.
Click to expand...

You can't reach the fan and heatsink inside with air cans or an air compressor. You can't prevent it from happening, only superficially lower the risk.
 
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