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The starting price is £4,899, making it Apple’s most expensive product in years
Months after its exciting reveal at WWDC, Apple has finally launched
the iMac Pro here in the UK. The most powerful iMac ever released is a real beast of a machine, ideally suited to the heavy workloads of demanding users. But it’s also more than that – it’s a statement that Apple hasn’t given up on its pro customers, and is as devoted to them as ever.
So just how powerful is it? The default configuration comes with an 8-core Intel Xeon processor, which can be boosted up to 10, 14 or even 18 cores if you really have some heavyduty work on your hands.
The standard graphics processor is an AMD Vega 56 with 8GB of HBM2 (second-gen High Bandwidth Memory). Or you can choose a Vega 64 with a huge 16GB of memory.
You can have 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of ECC memory on board, so you’ll never have to worry about multitasking slowing down the machine. The iMac Pro comes with a 1TB SSD, configurable up to a 4TB of super-speedy flash storage for an astonishing £2,520 extra.
When it comes to expansion, the iMac Pro comes with four Thunderbolt 3 ports with transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps, four USB 3 (Type-A) ports, a 10Gb Ethernet port, an SDXC card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The iMac Pro comes in a space grey finish, as does its included accessories: a full-size Magic Keyboard, a Magic Mouse 2 and a Magic Trackpad 2.
And, of course, you’ve got the stunning 5K display, which lets you edit a full-size 4K image with plenty of room to spare.
Pure power
Naturally, none of that comes cheap. The starting price for the iMac Pro is £4,899, making it Apple’s most expensive product in years. Buying one of these computers is not a decision that will come lightly to most people.
That said, considering what you get, it’s not actually an extortionate price to pay. Apple claimed at WWDC that a similarly equipped PC would set you back about $7,000, while other outlets have pegged the equivalent cost at around the $5,000 mark. Either way, highquality components command a high price, and you get your money’s worth with Apple’s high-end, all-in-one machine.
Building a PC that is, on paper at least, equivalent to the iMac Pro also misses out on some key features you get in Apple’s machine. Most obviously, there’s macOS and its tight integration with the iMac Pro’s hardware, especially given changes implemented in High Sierra. This affects a range of things,
such as using the graphics processor and Metal 2 to support VR content creation, and exporting 8-bit HEVC video files three times faster than the regular iMac.
The iMac Pro is also the first Mac to feature Apple’s T2 chip. This integrates several system controllers – such as those responsible for the SSD, audio and image signal processing – into a single place, allowing for functionality not possible on older Macs. For example, the data on the iMac Pro’s SSD can now be encrypted thanks to the dedicated hardware without impacting the performance of the drive or the Xeon processor. Similarly, the image signal processor on the T2 chip works alongside the FaceTime HD camera to enable ‘enhanced tone mapping, improved exposure control, and face detection– based auto exposure and auto white balance’, according to Apple.
Memory test
Despite the power lurking inside the iMac Pro, some users may feel the need to upgrade certain aspects of it, particularly the memory. On Apple’s Retina 5K iMac there is a hatch on the back allowing you to access the memory, but this is missing on the iMac Pro.
What that means is that upgrading any part of the iMac Pro is very difficult to do yourself and would require major disassembly. However, the memory can be upgraded at an Apple Store or by an Apple Authorised Service Provider after you’ve purchased an iMac Pro.
The iMac Pro comes with 32GB of memory as standard. Upgrading to 64GB costs £720; 128GB will set you back £2,160. Anyone investing in an iMac Pro should carefully consider how much memory they require before buying.