The new iMac Pro
Apple’s powerful new computer is big on processing and price
Apple appeals to the hearts and minds of professional Mac users.
Apple is making a pitch for the hearts and minds of professional creatives and software developers with the latest member of the Mac family. The iMac Pro is a workstation-class range of all-in-one computers with the kind of processing power needed by the likes of virtual reality content creators and 3D graphics artists.
The computer sports a 27-inch Retina 5K display with a P3 wide color gamut and 500 nits brightness. Its Xeon processor will be available with 8, 10, or 18 cores, with graphical power provided by an AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 with 8GB of High Bandwidth Memory 2, or a Vega 64 with 16GB of HBM2 as an option.
There’s 32GB of 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory as standard, which can be upgraded to 64GB or 128GB. Unlike the regular iMac range, the iMac Pro will be available with a solid-state drive only – 1TB by default, with 2TB and 4TB options also available.
“This will be our fastest and most powerful Mac ever, which brings workstation-class computing to iMac for the first time,” said John Ternus, Apple’s vice president of Hardware Engineering. “We reengineered the whole system and designed an entirely new thermal architecture to pack extraordinary performance into the elegant, quiet iMac enclosure our customers love.”
the computer and its accessories sport a Space Gray design, and the wireless keyboard includes a numeric keypad. (Apple has already started selling a silver and white version for $129: bit.ly/mgkbdnum). It features a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, and four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, four USB 3 (Type A) ports, an SDXC card slot, a 3.5 mm headphone port, and, for the first time on a Mac, 10Gb (10-Gigabit) Ethernet.
The iMac Pro should ship in December. Its starting price of $4,999 reflects its high specs and the pro uses it’s intended for. Even the entry-level price puts the iMac Pro beyond the reach of most consumers. Alongside its announcement, though, Apple refreshed its mainstream 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs – learn more on page 12 .