Why is Apple so quiet about the iMac Pro?

[SecuritySteve]

That thing is going to run so hot and throttle so hard that it's not worth buying at all.

Really? You think Apple would spend so much money on developing a brand new thermal architecture for it to utterly fail? You're not wrong in that these parts suck up a lot of juice to get going, but they specifically made the thermal architecture with workstation class parts' thermal requirements in mind.

 

[Bradleyone]

Appleinsider is reporting enterprise customers are being briefed on costs of certain configurations, with availability possibly starting sometime this week for invoicing before the end of the quarter.

No public information on those costs. I guess we can guess based on the pricing increments of the raw components.

My very rough ballpark guess is $1000 for each major step up: Xeon W 8c to 10c, 32GB to 64GB, Vega 56 to 64.

 

[SecuritySteve]

Appleinsider is reporting enterprise customers are being briefed on costs of certain configurations, with availability possibly starting sometime this week for invoicing before the end of the quarter.

No public information on those costs. I guess we can guess based on the pricing increments of the raw components.

My very rough ballpark guess is $1000 for each major step up: Xeon W 8c to 10c, 32GB to 64GB, Vega 56 to 64.

That is pretty rough. Memory isn't quite that expensive: https://www.servers4less.com/memory...MI_YqB_YSD2AIVFKvsCh2uJggiEAQYASABEgKOY_D_BwE Note that this link is for 128 GB (max for iMac Pro). Internal shots show 4 of these chips, so its fair to assume that the memory going from 32 to 64 will not be a full 1,000$ jump, and in fact be much less.

Oh and for the processor, it looks like they are down clocked varients of the Xeon W chips. The price difference between the 8 and 18 core Xeon W chips is 1,000$, so the 10 core will be cheaper. Check out intel ark for Xeon W's to get a ballpark estimate.

And as for the Vega GPU, heres the two GPUs compared (note that these are not the "pro" models, but the price delta should be similar) http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-RX-Vega-64-vs-AMD-RX-Vega-56/3933vs3938

 

[whwang]

That is pretty rough. Memory isn't quite that expensive: https://www.servers4less.com/memory...MI_YqB_YSD2AIVFKvsCh2uJggiEAQYASABEgKOY_D_BwE Note that this link is for 128 GB (max for iMac Pro). Internal shots show 4 of these chips, so its fair to assume that the memory going from 32 to 64 will not be a full 1,000$ jump, and in fact be much less.

But Apple sells RAM at a much higher price than the rests of the market, right? If iMacPro can be easily upgraded by users, then the market price is fair. But if not, then average users will have to buy the expansive RAM from Apple.

 

[BurgDog]

But Apple sells RAM at a much higher price than the rests of the market, right? If iMacPro can be easily upgraded by users, then the market price is fair. But if not, then average users will have to buy the expansive RAM from Apple.

For the current iMac going from 32GB to 64GB is $800 for non-ECC memory. For ECC memory a $1000 upgrade cost from Apple looks looks plausible for the same upgrade. ECC memory is not as much of a commodity as non-ECC memory so not sure how 3d party prices would come out if Apple did make upgrading easier.

For the current iMac going from 1TB SSD to 2TB is also $800 so expect same for iMac Pro.

I plan on getting the base unit, looks sufficient for my needs. For same config top 4-core CPU iMac with 32GB/1TB the increment to get a base iMac Pro is $1300 for faster 8-core CPU and graphics and maybe better cooling and less fan noise.

 

[danielwsmithee]

But Apple sells RAM at a much higher price than the rests of the market, right? If iMacPro can be easily upgraded by users, then the market price is fair. But if not, then average users will have to buy the expansive RAM from Apple.

Apple has and will always be about simplifying their supply chain. They intentionally charge lots of money for RAM upgrades because it encourges consumers to buy it from 3rd parties. Another way to do the same is make it so the RAM is not user uogradeable. They want to limit the number of configurations. It wouldn’t surprise me if the base level iMac Pro can not be ordered with a different amount if RAM. You may have to select the mid-tier to get any BTO options...

 

[teohyc]

Really? You think Apple would spend so much money on developing a brand new thermal architecture for it to utterly fail? You're not wrong in that these parts suck up a lot of juice to get going, but they specifically made the thermal architecture with workstation class parts' thermal requirements in mind.

Apple can get things wrong too. E.g. Graphic card problems in Mac Pro, thermal limitation of their 2013 Mac Pro (as Apple themselves said), screen retention in iMac, lousy keyboards in MBP, questionable functionality for touchbar in new MBP, removing 2012 quad core Mac Minis. There are many real life examples on the forum.

On paper, the design and specs may sound nice, but in reality, we really have to wait for tests and reviews, hopefully by people who actually use and push their Macs to the limits, and not just rely on reviewers or marketers who run and publish benchmarks for a living.

 

[thefriendshipmachine]

Really? You think Apple would spend so much money on developing a brand new thermal architecture for it to utterly fail? You're not wrong in that these parts suck up a lot of juice to get going, but they specifically made the thermal architecture with workstation class parts' thermal requirements in mind.

they screwed it up every time in the past so naturally yes they will screw it up this time too. It will throttle. I guarantee it.

 

[Average Pro]

As a famous poet once said.

 

[ggggggmmmmm]

It will throttle. It's already underclocked. It'll be better than an iMac but it won't outperform an HP, Dell, or Lenovo workstation.

 

[Glmnet1]

Apple has and will always be about simplifying their supply chain. They intentionally charge lots of money for RAM upgrades because it encourges consumers to buy it from 3rd parties. Another way to do the same is make it so the RAM is not user uogradeable. They want to limit the number of configurations. It wouldn’t surprise me if the base level iMac Pro can not be ordered with a different amount if RAM. You may have to select the mid-tier to get any BTO options...

I understand how charging more for RAM could reduce the number of BTO people buy because they will buy RAM from 3rd parties. But how does preventing the user to do exactly that achieve the same goal? If we go with your logic, no user accessible RAM complexifies the supply chain.

 

[fokmik]

Phil Schiller talks about the gamble of dropping the Home button; says iMac Pro 'days away'


So like i said Friday or Monday
[doublepost=1513087260][/doublepost]Its Coming ...you buy it with Vega 64 or 56?
I think ill go with 64 Gb Ram, vega 64 and 10 Cores xeon cpu, 1T should be enough !

 

[Glmnet1]

Just got an email from Apple: release date is December 14th!

 

[Michael Scrip]

I just found this... I guess the embargoes have ended?

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2017/12/12/apples-new-imacpro-has-an-impressive-200-300-speed-bump/

He's quoting a 200-300% increase in performance over his current Macbook Pro and iMac.

That's impressive... but how much does this monster cost?

iMac Pro - 10 Core 3GHz Intel Xeon W - 2TB SSD - 128 GB RAM - Vega 64 Radeon

And here's MKBHD's take:

 

[ETN3]

Well Schiller mentions a tiny bit on the iMac Pro here: https://www.t3.com/features/phil-schiller-interview


“What we find is, across all of our Mac products, we have a lot of pros on MacBook Pro; we have a lot of pros on iMac; and we have pros on Mac Pro. And so, a number of years ago, when we talked about where we need to move all our products forward for pros, we knew we needed to, along with MacBook Pro – and doing a new Mac pro – that there’s an iMac need there.

"This time, we decided to push it further. We asked our engineering teams, 'Can you make an iMac Pro that’s truly designed for pros?' It really, inside, is a different computer.

 

[fokmik]

so its quiet even in final cut pro editing 8k...no throttling so Apple did a great job for the best all in one in the world

 

[driftless]

Come to Papa!

 

[Max108]

14th December for orders:
https://www.apple.com/uk/mac/

 

[RuffDraft]

HALLELUJAH!!!! What time will we be able to order? Midnight?

 

[Max108]

Typically 00:01 PDT - so that might be just after 8am on Thursday if ordering from the UK etc.
The Apple Store will likely come back online around that time if they sync the release date around the world as they often do.

 

[RuffDraft]

Typically 00:01 PDT - so that might be just after 8am on Thursday if ordering from the UK etc.
The Apple Store will likely come back online around that time if they sync the release date around the world as they often do.

Thanks Max. I'll check at midnight, 3am and 7am onwards then. I don't want to be waiting forever for it.

I'm a bit disappointed that Marques Brownlee could have helped us all out by comparing real life footage to the iMac Pro. Very few people are shooting with a RED and using 8K as standard - no idea why he's doing it either considering that he makes promo videos and reviews and then releases them in 1440p. I like him as a reviewer, but it's a very narrow first impressions video that mostly just says, "Hey, I've had an iMac Pro: here's absolutely nothing new to tell you other than it runs quietly..." Jeez... not helpful.

*EDIT* Vincent's is much better: http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2017/12/12/apples-new-imacpro-has-an-impressive-200-300-speed-bump/

 

[crw]

Typically 00:01 PDT - so that might be just after 8am on Thursday if ordering from the UK etc.
The Apple Store will likely come back online around that time if they sync the release date around the world as they often do.

If you signed up to be notified of availability, Apple sent out an e-mail with the news. There is a calendar invite in that e-mail with an event title of "iMac Pro Available Online" and a start time of 5:30am Pacific.

 

[RuffDraft]

If you signed up to be notified of availability, Apple sent out an e-mail with the news. There is a calendar invite in that e-mail with an event title of "iMac Pro Available Online" and a start time of 5:30am Pacific.

Mine doesn't have one - where do you click?!

 

[crw]

Mine doesn't have one - where do you click?!

Underneath "Available to order December 14." it has a link for "Add to calendar" where it will download an ICS calendar appointment.

 

[RuffDraft]

Underneath "Available to order December 14." it has a link for "Add to calendar" where it will download an ICS calendar appointment.

Thanks crw. Unfortunately, my email doesn't appear to be the same as yours.

Mine's entitled, "iMac Pro. The news you’ve been waiting for."