Explained: iMac Pro
It looks familiar, but it’s a whole different beast on the inside
It’s all about cool
The iMac Pro isn’t just a reskinned iMac — it’s newly configured to give priority to the cooling system, which is unlike any other iMac’s. Its dual-fan cooler, huge heat sink, and beefier rear vent increase cooling capacity by 80%.
Custom controller chip
The T2, successor to the T1 in 2016’s MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, handles the functions of the system management controller, image signal processing for the camera, audio, SSD control, the Secure Enclave and hardware encryption.
Potentially upgradable...
Some components are modular – the memory (left), dual SSDs (center), and CPU (at right of the motherboard). This means that, in theory, they could be upgradable, although the SSDs and CPU seem to be custom-made for Apple.
5K display
The display panel is the same as in the Retina 5K iMac: LG Display model LM270QQ1. That said, the cabling arrangement and webcam hardware have been moved around, so you can’t swap displays between models.
Not upgradable
Graphics are handled by an AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 GPU with 8GB of HBM2 memory. Sadly, this part is soldered in place, so easy upgrades aren’t possible. Not that it’s exactly easy to get at the modular parts…
No easy access
Key replaceable components are buried behind the logic board, requiring a lot of disassembly for access. The loss of the memory access hatch makes for much more challenging upgrades compared with the regular 27-inch iMac.