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iMac Pro Thinking of purchasing iMac pro
- Thread starter jetjaguar
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I won't comment on whether or not you should do it.... But the upgrade to Vega 64 is definitely not worth $1600.
When Navi comes out you can get an eGPU with Navi if GPU power is that vital and you'll save money and get a better GPU - and hopefully the mining craze will have stopped by then and you'll save loads more money
When Navi comes out you can get an eGPU with Navi if GPU power is that vital and you'll save money and get a better GPU - and hopefully the mining craze will have stopped by then and you'll save loads more money
Yea the only reason I am considering it is because of the discount. How well will egpu work? We’ve been hearing about this for a long time and nothing has really come of it
I haven't heard of Navi, can you provide a link?
Edit: Nevermind, it's just the next AMD GPU architecture. I thought it was a special eGPU technology.
If you want to use the internal iMac Pro monitor with an eGPU, you should expect a fairly big performance decrease (up to 30-40% on the most powerful GPUs). With an external monitor, it's down to 10-20% afaik. That's something to be aware of.
So, when does Thunderbolt 4 arrive?
So, when does Thunderbolt 4 arrive?
If you want it, get it. The iMac Pro is an amazing elegant machine! I'd get it if I had the funds.
What are your intended usage for the iMac Pro? Do you need a 4,000 dollar computer?
I don't need anything more than a base level 21" iMac or Mac Mini. What I wanted was something that could do some Handbrake tight good quality compressions in a realistic amount of time and allow me to do other stuff in the foreground without being impacted by the 95% CPU hit taken by Handbrake. The iMac Pro can do that and allow me to play Diablo 3 at full performance at the same time Handbrake is working with minimal fan noise. At $5000 + tax I couldn't justify it. At $4000 + tax I paid I managed to talk myself into it. I don't make money using the computer, but I like good performance and good quality and am willing to pay for it, within reason.
Ok, but I was asking the OP, granted I did not quote him, but it was directed towards him, since he had not documented what his needs were
It is basically the same as he said ... I’ve always had the highest end iMacs. Also had the old cheese grater Mac Pro. I left Mac and built a couple for the past 6 months but now I’m looking to come back to Apple since I use Apple for everything else. I just don’t know if I can wait until the end of 2018 or beginning of 19 to see the new Mac Pro.
In that case, just so we're on the same page, you know that for single-threaded tasks like web surfing and whatnot, the highest end standard iMac is faster than the iMac Pro, right?
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With High Sierra Apple has official support for it, and there are viable options now with Thunderbolt 3.
As mentioned, there's a rather high performance overheat when using the internal monitor, but that's because all data still needs to go through the internal GPU since that's the one connected to the display - however, I don't think that overheat will be quite that high on a Vega 56 as the internal card. The external card processes the data and sends the output to the Vega 56, with HBM2 memory and a large frame buffer, I don't think the delay there will be so big.
The iMac Pro is totally worth it. The machine is an enterprise class build with top quality parts
and a superior cooling system to the current iMac. I have been editing in Premiere as well as after effects and it has yet to ramp up the fan to where I could even hear it. It has a latest gen SD card slot that transfers files at double the speed of standard cards if you have the latest high speed cards. The speakers are better, the FaceTime cam is 1080p, the internal drive is faster, the ram is ECC, the monitor is a few nits brighter than the previous model, and you have at the minimum 8 cores of CPU power. It also has more than one TB3 channel so you could raid stripe SSD's and theoretically match the r/w speed of the internal drive. It's a fantastic machine with only the lack of upgradeability, and a questionable GPU offering as it's only flaws. Frankly the higher end models will never attract anyone on a budget but the base model with the Microcenter discount is an opportunity to have one hell of a computer at the desk of your home office.
The whole egpu thing is still a labor of love and not one of practicality from the computer geek world. With gpu's scarce from currency mining and prices through the roof for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't bank on any reasonable egpu solutions this year.
and a superior cooling system to the current iMac. I have been editing in Premiere as well as after effects and it has yet to ramp up the fan to where I could even hear it. It has a latest gen SD card slot that transfers files at double the speed of standard cards if you have the latest high speed cards. The speakers are better, the FaceTime cam is 1080p, the internal drive is faster, the ram is ECC, the monitor is a few nits brighter than the previous model, and you have at the minimum 8 cores of CPU power. It also has more than one TB3 channel so you could raid stripe SSD's and theoretically match the r/w speed of the internal drive. It's a fantastic machine with only the lack of upgradeability, and a questionable GPU offering as it's only flaws. Frankly the higher end models will never attract anyone on a budget but the base model with the Microcenter discount is an opportunity to have one hell of a computer at the desk of your home office.
The whole egpu thing is still a labor of love and not one of practicality from the computer geek world. With gpu's scarce from currency mining and prices through the roof for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't bank on any reasonable egpu solutions this year.
This is my situation, as well. Plus I really felt I was overdue for a 4K/5K monitor, and my current Mac mini couldn't drive such a monitor in an acceptable way. Yes, I could have done pretty well with about a $2500 27" iMac. But for the extra $1500, I think I got a way more capable computer that should feel pretty strong for several years after a base iMac would start to show its age.
BHPhoto discounts $500 if you catch a sale so pay $4500 to them if they don't collect sales tax for your shipping address. Micro Center cost me $4300 including sales tax. Difference isn't that much if you can get the deals at BH and BH ships free, Micro Center is store pickup only.
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For $3999 it's a great machine, but quite frankly I don't think it's a great long term investment for a number of reasons. I think the iMac Pro is a SUV posing as a Jeep for weekend camping enthusiasts.
If you need that kind of performance I'd say a PC would be a better investment, or if you can, wait until the next Mac Pro.
If you need that kind of performance I'd say a PC would be a better investment, or if you can, wait until the next Mac Pro.
"we have a special offer that's available only for AppleInsiderreaders. For a limited time only, save $500 on every iMac Pro at B&H Photo, from the standard model up to top-of-the-line 18-core systems. This is in addition to free shipping and no tax on orders shipped outside NY and NJ, saving many shoppers $900 all the way up to $1,555 compared to buying direct. To secure the bonus savings, simply email us at priceguides@gmail.com and mention this iMac Pro deal. We'll send over a time-sensitive, one-time-use coupon code to activate the $500 discount."
Promo code: AIBHIMACPRO1 (may have expired possibly)
...and I doubt that the new Mac pro will cost much less than $4k - I'd be surprised if a Mac Pro + 5k display added up to less than an iMac Pro with the same CPU/GPU spec, and they might decide to kick the MP off at 10 cores.
Anyway, yeah, as someone who bought a nearly-top-end (bar third-party RAM and passing on the super-expensive 2TB SSD option) iMac last summer on the "best spec you are willing to pay for" basis, $5000 or more for an iMac Pro (and a 6 month wait), was too much for me without a clear "time is money" case for the extra power. Had the $4000 offer been available (still not an option where I live) I might well have succumbed.
Wonder if a future product line re-shuffle will see the base iMP replace the top-end options for the regular iMac - the new 6-core i5 could be an adequate sufficiency for those of us not editing Hollywood blockbusters...
For single-threaded tasks like web surfing and whatnot, the cheapest MacBook Air is quite adequate - and even the top iMac is, only like, 30% faster at a task that wasn't slowing you down anyway. If that's mostly what you're doing you don't even need an i7. Whereas, things like video encoding that do take hours, and have been optimised for multi-core or GPU-based processing, can be several times faster with extra cores or a better GPU.
Yep. I just mentioned it in reply to a post that talked about not really needing all the power
C'mon now... I really wouldn't want to shift all the way to Windows just to get (maybe?) a bit more bang for the buck.
And a Mac Pro won't have a monitor, which is good for some, bad for others (potential iMac Pro customers). Not to mention, I have a feeling the Mac Pro will be significantly more expensive than $4K.
I expect the entry level Mac Pro to be about $3500 and have the same specs as the entry level iMac Pro. An iMac Pro and a Mac Pro & 5K monitor combo with same specs should be about the same price. ~~~~
eGPUs currently are plug-and-play (with some bugs) in High Sierra if you're using an AMD card. I've got 2 5K monitors, a 1440p Wacom, and a 4K TV attached to my iMac Pro right now. The latter two are connected to a Sonnet eGPU box with an RX580 inside.
Sometimes when I plug or unplug a monitor into the eGPU, the entire system will freeze (although the mouse still moves).
Using the box with my laptop is more of a hassle, since you need to log out before disconnecting or the system will crash.
In neither case do I think that I'm getting the full performance out of the card. So if video performance really matters to you (for professional apps, not games) pay the extra cash now for the Vega 64.
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