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The iMac Pro clearly fits the needs of 99.9% of people who need some horsepower in their work - video editing, pro photographers and coders who want a ton of VM

by grecy 7y ago

The iMac Pro clearly fits the needs of 99.9% of people who need some horsepower in their work - video editing, pro photographers and coders who want a ton of VMs or whatever. I'd be interested to hear of a workload that is unsuitable for the iMac Pro that is suitable for the new Mac Pro, but for which you think a $5k machine should be capable of doing. Then let me know what $5k machine exists on the market you can buy that can do that workload.

_ph_ 7y ago
Basically any desktop machine with a high end desktop processor and some decent graphics card. With the iMac pro you are even limited to buying RAM with the machine. And with a desktop, you get to choose your graphics card.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  > With the iMac pro you are even limited to buying RAM with the machine. You can upgrade the RAM after purchase by going to an authorized repair store, or by reading a couple of iFixit guides if you're fine with doing it "unofficially".
  - _ph_ 7y ago
    Well, nice that it isn't soldered, but the machine is glued shut. So any work on the inside is getting expensive. When I bought my iMac, the dealer charged me close to $300 for a disk exchange.
- arvinsim 7y ago
  > And with a desktop, you get to choose your graphics card. MacOS is now stuck to using AMD GPUs only.
  - _ph_ 7y ago
    That is certainly something else one could critisize, though with the combination with Metal2, the AMD graphic cards seem to be a great alternative. Yet, they offer way more choices than you have when configuring an iMac or even Mac Pro (but with that, probably generic AMD graphic cards would probably work)
ChrisLTD 7y ago
I still don't want my computer to be tied to my display
- asdff 7y ago
  Then spin it around and hook up your own
  - kshacker 7y ago
    This is a very valid but downvoted comment, in the context of its parent comments.
AlchemistCamp 7y ago
>> They already had a big gap in the area of a "desktop mac". There was a large unoccupied space between the Mini and the Pro > The iMac Pro clearly fits the needs of 99.9% of people who need some horsepower in their work - video editing, pro photographers and coders who want a ton of VMs or whatever. The entry-level model is $5,000 USD, RAM can't be added later and there's no option for an NVIDIA video card. Even in rich countries, that's clearly not what 99.9% of people want in a desktop computer with "some horsepower".
- scarface74 7y ago
  Officially, you can take the iMac Pro in to an authorized service center and they can upgrade the RAM. Unofficially, you can do it yourself. https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac-pro/imac-pro-faq/imac-pro-how-to-upgrade-replace-ram-memory.html https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac-pro/imac-pro-faq/ima...
  - _ph_ 7y ago
    The question stands, which service centers are willing to do that (certainly not Apple) and what are they going to charge for it? (I was charged about $300 for switching the HD to an SSD in my iMac, just for the work, the SSD came extra)
    - scarface74 7y ago
      Any Apple authorized service center is “willing to do that”? Also there is a big difference between “it can’t be done” and it “cost more than I’m willing to pay”.
      - _ph_ 7y ago
        Any Apple authorized service center is “willing to do that”? That is the question and their mode of business. I am not aware that they are required to perform work on random Macs brought to them and they are pretty scarce. Which brings us to point #2: Also there is a big difference between “it can’t be done” and it “cost more than I’m willing to pay”. Yes, it is better than "it can't be done". But it is a strong limitation of a computer, if the pure work price for exchanging a memory module or a SSD is $300. And requires to find a service center which can do the work and probably a longer stay there. Even on most laptops, such actions are a matter of a few minutes, and on most desktop even much faster and normally user-doable.
arvinsim 7y ago
> The iMac Pro clearly fits the needs of 99.9% of people who need some horsepower in their work - video editing, pro photographers and coders who want a ton of VMs or whatever. It certainly doesn't meet the needs of people who prefer a headless solution and prefer their own displays.

by grecy 7y ago

_ph_ 7y ago

Basically any desktop machine with a high end desktop processor and some decent graphics card. With the iMac pro you are even limited to buying RAM with the machine. And with a desktop, you get to choose your graphics card.

saagarjha 7y ago
> With the iMac pro you are even limited to buying RAM with the machine. You can upgrade the RAM after purchase by going to an authorized repair store, or by reading a couple of iFixit guides if you're fine with doing it "unofficially".
- _ph_ 7y ago
  Well, nice that it isn't soldered, but the machine is glued shut. So any work on the inside is getting expensive. When I bought my iMac, the dealer charged me close to $300 for a disk exchange.
arvinsim 7y ago
> And with a desktop, you get to choose your graphics card. MacOS is now stuck to using AMD GPUs only.
- _ph_ 7y ago
  That is certainly something else one could critisize, though with the combination with Metal2, the AMD graphic cards seem to be a great alternative. Yet, they offer way more choices than you have when configuring an iMac or even Mac Pro (but with that, probably generic AMD graphic cards would probably work)

ChrisLTD 7y ago

I still don't want my computer to be tied to my display

asdff 7y ago
Then spin it around and hook up your own
- kshacker 7y ago
  This is a very valid but downvoted comment, in the context of its parent comments.

AlchemistCamp 7y ago

>> They already had a big gap in the area of a "desktop mac". There was a large unoccupied space between the Mini and the Pro > The iMac Pro clearly fits the needs of 99.9% of people who need some horsepower in their work - video editing, pro photographers and coders who want a ton of VMs or whatever. The entry-level model is $5,000 USD, RAM can't be added later and there's no option for an NVIDIA video card. Even in rich countries, that's clearly not what 99.9% of people want in a desktop computer with "some horsepower".

scarface74 7y ago
Officially, you can take the iMac Pro in to an authorized service center and they can upgrade the RAM. Unofficially, you can do it yourself. https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac-pro/imac-pro-faq/imac-pro-how-to-upgrade-replace-ram-memory.html https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac-pro/imac-pro-faq/ima...
- _ph_ 7y ago
  The question stands, which service centers are willing to do that (certainly not Apple) and what are they going to charge for it? (I was charged about $300 for switching the HD to an SSD in my iMac, just for the work, the SSD came extra)
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Any Apple authorized service center is “willing to do that”? Also there is a big difference between “it can’t be done” and it “cost more than I’m willing to pay”.
    - _ph_ 7y ago
      Any Apple authorized service center is “willing to do that”? That is the question and their mode of business. I am not aware that they are required to perform work on random Macs brought to them and they are pretty scarce. Which brings us to point #2: Also there is a big difference between “it can’t be done” and it “cost more than I’m willing to pay”. Yes, it is better than "it can't be done". But it is a strong limitation of a computer, if the pure work price for exchanging a memory module or a SSD is $300. And requires to find a service center which can do the work and probably a longer stay there. Even on most laptops, such actions are a matter of a few minutes, and on most desktop even much faster and normally user-doable.

arvinsim 7y ago

> The iMac Pro clearly fits the needs of 99.9% of people who need some horsepower in their work - video editing, pro photographers and coders who want a ton of VMs or whatever. It certainly doesn't meet the needs of people who prefer a headless solution and prefer their own displays.