26 comments

  • John PJohn P, over 5 years ago

    People keep speccing up machines and saying this is actually good value for money. The reality is if you could spec up anything you'd never build this machine because it's not actually a useful build especially in such a heat constrained space.

    E.g almost no one needs ECC ram. Thunderbolt is pretty worthless outside of the Mac space. You'd likely go with Threadripper over Xeon, you'd definitely go with 1-3 Nvidia GPUs over any AMD (especially a LOL 8Gb one) if doing 3D work.

    Can't see any point to this unless you are one of the dying breed of Final Cut editors or an extremely wealthy iOS dev.

    8 points
    • Account deleted over 5 years ago

      This machine was simply an answer to the people who claimed apple didn't care about power users. It is designed to shut them up until a proper mac pro comes.

      6 points
      • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, over 5 years ago

        an answer to the people who claimed apple didn't care about power users

        Apple are very lucky they’re also releasing a 2018 Mac Pro, or the power users you’re talking about would rip this product to shreds.

        The iMac Pro is a very, very nice Mac, and if you want these parts, it is good value for money. The display is second to none. It is the fastest Mac ever released.

        But, this is not what most pro developers, 3D artists and video editors want. They want a box like the cheese grater Mac Pros, with replaceable and upgradable ram, drives and GPUs. Not just to prolong the life of the machine via upgrades, but also for fast replacements if something fails while it is in service. Most also want consumer GPUs (1080 Ti etc). I agree with John P that ECC ram isn’t a requirement, and using non-ECC ram would make the machine cheaper and faster. If you were building a video rig PC, you likely wouldn't bother with ECC ram.

        This isn’t rocket science. A thin, thermally challenged, but good looking Mac with no user swappable parts is not what pros want, it’s just what Apple is selling.

        At least they got the keyboard right, and space grey looks stunning for an iMac.

        9 points
        • Account deleted over 5 years ago

          Apart from the usual apple fanboys, they basically are ripping this product to shreds...

          2 points
        • Joe AlfonsoJoe Alfonso, over 5 years ago

          They want a box like the cheese grater Mac Pros

          Opening up those boxes was a dream. They were some of the nicest cases to mess around with.

          2 points
          • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, over 5 years ago

            Yeah, so good! I realise the need for change, but I hope they end up with a similar design. It really was exactly what most pros wanted.

            0 points
    • Dexter W, over 5 years ago

      The negativity for Final Cut is not a strong argument anymore. Real time 4K rendering on low end Macs, magnetic timeline, H.265 editing, files that don't corrupt themselves, $300 price to own it instead of $50 / month.

      Final Cut is to Premiere as a super powered Sketch is to Photoshop.

      0 points
  • Dirk HCM van BoxtelDirk HCM van Boxtel, over 5 years ago

    Starting at $7300 AUD.

    Hah.

    4 points
    • Mick NMick N, over 5 years ago

      Wow, for those prices I'd rather get a top specc'd Surface Studio

      0 points
      • Aaron Wears Many HatsAaron Wears Many Hats, over 5 years ago

        I'd rather a 1993 Toyota Supra... That's the sort of money they're asking :P

        2 points
        • Dirk HCM van BoxtelDirk HCM van Boxtel, over 5 years ago

          I was thinking cars too.

          .edit: how about this one - get a fully decked out A$21,562.98 iMac Pro, or, you know, pay rent for a year in one of the most expensive cities in the world (Sydney).

          .edit2: Nevermind, I found the perfect marketing approach:

          FULLY DECKED OUT IMAC PRO, NOW, FOR JUST UNDER 1* BITCOIN!!!

          * bitcoin atm $22607.74 AUD. Felt like I had to include that.

          2 points
          • Aaron Wears Many HatsAaron Wears Many Hats, over 5 years ago

            Is it even possible to build a WinTel machine for that sort of money? Even using premium parts on PC Case Gear, I could spec up a machine to $11,000 using all the very-most-expensive core components (Phanteks Enthoo Elite, Thermaltake Cooling, AUSUS ROG mobo, i9 7980XE, 2TB Samsung M2 SSD, Corsair Vengeance 128GB, 11GB 1080 Ti, 1500W Silverstone). You're certainly paying a lot for the Apple form-factor....

            1 point
  • Taylor PalmerTaylor Palmer, over 5 years ago

    I won't buy it, but that's a beautiful lookin' machine.

    3 points
  • Jamie Diamond, over 5 years ago

    Just ping me in the Spring when they "really" announce their pro machine. I'm not about to buy a sealed desktop from Apple at a premium. No value prop.

    1 point
  • Aaron Wears Many HatsAaron Wears Many Hats, over 5 years ago

    For half, or even 2/3 of that price, I could see it being alright value. But at AUD $7,299.00.... Fuck that

    1 point
  • Alex IonescuAlex Ionescu, over 5 years ago

    The price / quality ratio of this machine is ridiculous. The top configuration is just over 14K which is like buying a pencil for $500. I guess there will always be people that don't care that much about getting a similar performance (but non-Apple product) for half of the price.

    1 point
  • Bruce Vang, over 5 years ago

    Crazy. $5,000 for a Mac VR machine.

    1 point
    • John PJohn P, over 5 years ago

      This wouldn't be a good machine for VR, you'd be much better off getting a Windows machine with a 1080Ti for a fraction of this price and much better support.

      0 points
      • Bruce Vang, over 5 years ago

        I agree. I was just saying that if you wanted to build for Mac VR, the entry point is $5,000 vs $500 on a Windows machine.

        0 points
  • Paul Van TuylPaul Van Tuyl, over 5 years ago

    Would you really ever need to max out the specs, really? I mean, if I was looking to buy a desktop I would just get the baseline model. It almost seems silly to max out this form factor for all of the reasons stated, so why bash it?

    If you’re really going to be spending 15K on a workstation wouldn’t you be wanting to have a small rendering farm set up anyway (so you can continue working while rendering)? I guess it depends on what your pipeline setup is and what kind of work you’re doing (single scenes or stills vs sequences).

    ¯_(ツ)_/¯ doesn’t matter what Apple makes, some people like it, some people will hate on it. Seems to me that nobody else could design a world class monitor that’s also a pretty amazing computer.

    0 points
  • Eythan D'AmicoEythan D'Amico, over 5 years ago

    JUST LET ME BUY A SPACE GREY MAGIC MOUSE AAAAAKKK!

    0 points
  • Steve Berry, over 5 years ago

    I love this iMac Pro. Fantastic form-factor and performance for those that work with large-scale image manipulation.

    0 points
    • John PJohn P, over 5 years ago

      Fantastic form-factor and performance

      The "fantastic" form factor actually causes so much thermal throttling that the GPU runs slower in this machine than in a 2012 Mac Pro. Heard reports that the processor is downclocked too.

      0 points