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iMac Pro

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Re: iMac Pro

#151

Post by flamtap »

crispyambulance wrote: post #86
peatmoss wrote: post #20

This is an impressive feat of engineering to get all that hardware into a that kind of a package, but man, I bet there are a lot of pros who'd have preferred an aluminum box that they could open up. No fixability / no upgradability is the price we pay for laptops, but does it really have to be the price for desktops? I'd think that swapping a video card or adding a drive or two is the sort of thing that one might do…

You "can" swap out parts and repair iMacs, it is just not something one does casually. You need tools, instructions, skills and will-power. The thing is most people, even pros, don't bother with that stuff even when they have Dell boxes. Apple knows that and, I think, trades off ease-of-repair for sleekness and mostly wins out (until recently). AFAIK, there is no "screen mode" that enables one to use these things as…

Yeah, as much as I like tinkering on my own machine, if someone has a machine go down at work, or gets approved for an upgrade, etc., tech support gets a call and they come drop a new box on our desk. Not enough time in the day for us to make it more complicated than that.

Re: iMac Pro

#152

Post by KGIII »

bomanbot wrote: post #145
KGIII wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't read the article and I balked when they exclaimed the bit about 18 GB of RAM. That'd be an unusual number but, more importantly, is well below what I'd expect for a minimal amount of RAM in a designated 'professional' system. These days, I'd want 64 GB as a minimum but I suppose 32 would suit for some tasks. I still muck about with some modeling that hasn't been shunted off to the GPU, so I'd even find a us…

That is Video RAM for the GPU, though not the main RAM for the system. The minimum RAM amount you can buy the iMac Pro with is 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB configs are also available Also, 18 GB was certainly a typo, if you look now, they are saying 16 GB now.

That makes a whole lot more sense.

Tangentially related: It's a bit of a strange feeling to recommend 32 GB of RAM as a base amount. My, how times have changed.

Re: iMac Pro

#153

Post by blunte »

trosi wrote: post #104
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a programmer and so buy middle of the line macbook pros with mid range CPUs, mid range RAM, and integrated GPUS. Ironically, my wife, a designer, always chastises me for getting such slow hardware: turns out what works for a programmer doesn't work for soemone who has to use a lot of Adobe CSS :). I assume this iMac pro would be for her, not for me.

Is a fully specceed Macbook Pro / iMac really not enough for her? This thing looks way too overpowered

Never underestimate the ability of Adobe to make a computer feel slow. I'm a user and fan of their Premiere and Illustrator products, but I believe they need to invest a lot more energy into: 1 - making their stuff crash less often! and 2 - optimizing some of the unreasonably slow features. In a way, ever more powerful computers like this have enabled Adobe to stay lazy.

But it is what it is, and at the end of the day an extra $1500 to not hate life every time you try to pan around in a piece of art is worth it.

Re: iMac Pro

#154

Post by blunte »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #91
stefco_ wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you can't do that with the latest MacBooks, which have their SSDs soldered directly onto the logic boards. And you can't do that with memory for any Apple notebook from the last several years for the same reason. My 7 year old MacBook Pro is running okay thanks to some memory and storage upgrades. I would not be able to get the same life extension with one of the new models, which makes me hesitate to get a new M…

I bought a Macbook Air recently and love it, almost want a Macbook Pro but I don't want a laptop where I can't replace the Hard Drive or RAM two things which sometimes just need a replacement. I guess I'm going for a Dell with Ubuntu next instead.

In which case you'll find a small but annoying set of new problems. Dell can make some great stuff, and Ubuntu can be great. Dell+Ubuntu can be great, or fine, or ok, or a disaster. Unfortunately, and inexplicably, you can't ever really be sure which case you'll get until after you've plunged in. Ask me how I know this :).

Re: iMac Pro

#155

Post by stevep98 »

alkonaut wrote: post #79
peterburkimsher wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm seriously considering an iMac these days. Currently I use a 2014-model 15" MacBook Pro, and it's heavy to carry to work every day. I also need a lot more disk space. If Apple allow upgrading the iMac Pro with a 3.5" 12TB hard drive, I'd be interested. The new MacBook Pros aren't suitable for my needs because they don't have ports. I need more storage, but can't upgrade my laptop. I don't want to go down to a 2012…

> So, how am I going to store the Big Data for machine learning on my office computer, while also having a nice screen? This would be the choice, but I'd hesitate to buy one with the new Mac Pro coming. I hate the idea of attaching a screen to the computer unless absolutely necesary, especially a nice screen.

When I got my iMac the biggest change for me was the lack of clutter in my office. It was amazing. Part of that was the small Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, but the rest was the box with all the cables trailing from it. It was a true breath of fresh air.

Re: iMac Pro

#156

Post by Corrado »

devmunchies wrote: post #150

A dark magic mouse and keyboard at the very bottom of the page. Thats new.

When the new MBP was introduced a year ago a big part of the demonstration was targeted toward professionals and how they would use the new Touch Bar. Where is the Touch Bar for this professional machine? The new keyboard would be a perfect place to launch such a feature, yet it is not included.

Re: iMac Pro

#157

Post by Someone »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #94
huhtenberg wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> most new laptops _ some _ new laptops Most new laptops are still fully serviceable.

Most is really ambiguous here. By units sold? Probably not (mass quantity low end laptops aren't upgradable). By dollar amount sold? Definitely not (Apple has an outsized share of the market based on revenue). By new models? Probably.

”Apple has an outsized share of the market based on revenue”

On profit, I can believe, but on revenue? Even at 10% market share, Macs would have to be five times the price of PCs to bring in equal revenue.

Re: iMac Pro

#158

Post by coldtea »

urza wrote: post #45
coldtea wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example the macbook airs have non standard ssd that is not replaceable, so when the disk dies, whole notebook is done... Or you can go and get either a warranty extension (before it runs out) or an aftermarket SSD, like millions (including me) have done.

I am talking about models that have ssd as chips soldered to the motherboard. You cant buy aftermarket replacement for that.

True, was reffering to the models with merely "non standard" SSDs that vendors like OWC sell. There are warranty extensions to 3 years though.

Re: iMac Pro

#159

Post by coldtea »

walshemj wrote: post #65
coldtea wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seeing the history of updates to the Mac Mini and Mac Pro why would anyone trust Apple with a high end desktop computer? Because they don't buy for the next 20 years, but for their actual current needs. If anything happens and the line stops, I can always go find another solution then and there, as opposed to now. Besides, this is like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. There were several cases fo…

Moving from a MAC pro workflow to a Wintel (i9 Xenon or AMD) is non trivial you might as well bight the bullet and go threadripper or EPYC now

>Moving from a MAC pro workflow to a Wintel (i9 Xenon or AMD) is non trivial

So what do I earn from "biting the bullet"?

I go through a non trivial process for merely the possibility that the iMac Pro might not have continued new models (which will only matter to me in 2-3 years at earlier if I buy it).

And that when there's already another Mac Pro model announced for 2018.

Re: iMac Pro

#160

Post by gnicholas »

crispyambulance wrote: post #86
peatmoss wrote: post #20

This is an impressive feat of engineering to get all that hardware into a that kind of a package, but man, I bet there are a lot of pros who'd have preferred an aluminum box that they could open up. No fixability / no upgradability is the price we pay for laptops, but does it really have to be the price for desktops? I'd think that swapping a video card or adding a drive or two is the sort of thing that one might do…

You "can" swap out parts and repair iMacs, it is just not something one does casually. You need tools, instructions, skills and will-power. The thing is most people, even pros, don't bother with that stuff even when they have Dell boxes. Apple knows that and, I think, trades off ease-of-repair for sleekness and mostly wins out (until recently). AFAIK, there is no "screen mode" that enables one to use these things as…

> * AFAIK, there is no "screen mode" that enables one to use these things as monitors.*

You actually can! It's called Target Display mode:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592

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