“In response to popular demand, here are ten Pro App tests we ran on the fastest 2017 iMac 5K to see how it faired against seriously configured Mac Pros,” rob-ART morgan writes for Bare Feats.
“Analyzing your pro application’s performance can be frustrating. Some functions are CPU intensive. Some are GPU intensive. Some are a mixture of both,” morgan writes. “In some cases the 2017 iMac 5K 4-core acquitted itself very well compared to the 12-core Mac Pro tower and 8-core Mac Pro cylinder. At other times, it was left in the dust.”
“We featured the 2010 Mac Pro tower with two different GPU setups. The dual Radeon HD 7950 ‘Mac Editions’ are the last AMD GPUs that Apple blessed for the Mac Pro tower,” morgan writes. “Since the NVIDIA Pascal GPUs are the new, hot ‘mad GPU science,’ I included results for the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. The AMD GPUs do best with Apple pro apps (FCPX, Motion). The NVIDIA GPUs do best with DaVinci Resolve NR playback and CUDA capable functions in Adobe apps.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s amazing how well a seven-year-old Mac Pro can perform when it’s user-extensible, isn’t it?
SEE ALSO:
Geekbench: Apple’s new 27-inch iMac benchmarks – June 21, 2017
CNET reviews Apple’s new 27-inc iMac: ‘Apple doesn’t mess with success’ – June 21, 2017
The 2017 iMac 5K’s Pro 580 GPU versus previous iMac 5K and GeForce GTX 1070 – June 16, 2017
Apple’s new iMac is the best all-in-one yet — and the best Mac ever – June 14, 2017
Just got a Mac Pro (TC) a month back. It’s funny as it works wonderfully – runs lots of different iterations of macOS – but I only feel less than great when I think about what’s inside.
I think it still looks cool, and it has a nice, small footprint.
I also have a Cube under my desk, so you know I’m a sucker… 😉
I ordered another Cheese Grater last week. 2012, 20GB $700.
will support my other Cheeser, one with a 980 Ti and upgraded Xeons.
The new Macs are good, I’m glad Apple is getting more serious with Macs again but Cheesers fit my workflow and budget. Need the GPUs to drive graphics on big monitors. A standard 1080 costs about $500.
Cheesers are probably the easiest to upgrade and most flexible Macs Apple ever produced, drives slide out on trays I can just pop into other Cheesers for example….
waiting to see what the New MP will look like next year.
Question: With the GPU breakout boxes, will they still aid in computational functions, or will they only aid in driving displays?
Nobody knows. It will all be at the whims of 3rd party providers, few that are chasing the small fraction of Mac users that are interested. The whole external GPU thing looks like a band aid to me. Who cares if Apple was able to stuff xeon processors into an old imac chassis if the user is locked into current gpus with no way to upgrade beyond what thunderbolt offers. Putting chips directly on the motherboard will always be faster. If Apple wants to be relevant in gaming or other hugely intensive gpu computation, they need to get busy with that new Mac Pro. We’ve only been waiting 7 years now for Apple to show they care about the cutting edge.
“If Apple wants, If Apple wants, If Apple wants…”
It never ceases to amaze me that a group, representing ~1% of Apple’s revenue, in a product category that is shrinking worldwide, see themselves as so important to anybody, especially Apple. For christ’s sake iPad revenue, after declining for 12 straight quarters, generates over 10X the revenue of high end Macs.
Here’s a news tidbit for you: the WORLD of computing doesn’t think you are that important.
Mac make near TWICE the revenues of Watch, AirPods, Beats, iPod, TV etc COMBINED (the ‘other products’ category in Apple financials). For many quarters it also makes more than iPad.
So by your ‘revenue’ reasoning we should abandoned a whole bunch like Watch etc. and just concentrate on MacBooks and iMacs.
To paraphrase “For christ’s sake Macbook revenue … generates over XXX the revenue of Apple Watch ”
Actually thinking that EVERYTHING else compares to iPhone is pitiful Apple should ABANDON EVERYTHING ELSE !
The simple fact that Apple IS upgrading its Macs, for example putting out Kaby Lake Macbook Pros just months after the last upgrade, announcing the iMac Pro (which matches in specs to rival Pro machines), making a really unprecedented mea culpa apology a few months ago about the Mac Pro and promising new MPs next year show that Apple’s thinking is DIFFERENT from yours and closer to MP users. Why make a mea culpa over the MP , why announce the iMac Pro months before launch if MP users are irrelevant? actually the SVPs said Pro users are very important to them and design mistakes (boxed in by 2 GPU thermal envelope) were the cause of upgrade issues.
Apple has already said it’s future needs HIGH END specs as it’s going into VR etc.
Also Note (before the recent upgrades) for games like Warhammer , many slightly older macs or MacBooks can’t even play them (GPU specs to low).
I don’t even have space to talk about the PR hit of the supposedly most advanced computing company in the world having their flagships a fraction of the speed of rivals or not having a flagship at all.
So by your scenario of ignoring pro Macs if Apple moves into their new (supposedly 5 billion) Campus (where the DOOR HANDLES took 1.5 years to design) they are going to use WINDOWS or LINUX workstations to do the 3D designs for the iPhones , AirPods etc? Guests are going in look at that beautiful building and gape at the Windows machines in Ives design studio ????? (nope that’s why Apple is going iMac Pro and new MP)
The reason I’m so hot about this is why do people who don’t need high end machines (Tweeter bots I call them) so pissed off that Apple provides for high end users? They behave that by making MPs apple is taking candy from their mouths or something… Why the Selfish attitude?
Apple has PLENTY of resources with 200 billion in the bank. Also there’s NO stats that high end machines LOSE money. Maybe they make less than iPhone but iPhone makes more than Google or Microsoft….
Apple SVPs are designing coffee table books, one and half years on door handles, Christmas trees, furniture for charities, ‘a sex romp of Dr Dres’ Life ‘ miniseries etc,. So its not as if they lack time….
2) it was PRO users who kept Apple alive in the dark days. When Mac sales were falling off the cliff it was Mac pros using Apple Laser writers and Photoshop etc and a handful of high end hobbyists who kept Apple alive . Everybody else was going for cheap PCs. (the Mac GUI was superior for high end graphic artists and offset printing).
3) There’s an ETHICAL consideration. Apple for years marketed to pros (the Photoshop Mac VS Windows shootouts they use to have, buying FCP and Aperture were aimed at Pros). Pros invested huge amounts of money into the eco system (equipment, software , Staff) listening to Apple’s sales pitch. Apple has said they’re an ‘ethical’ company , so is abandoning Pros ethical, is Apple’s concern just for OUTSIDE minorities and not Consumer minorities like pros ? I guess Apple thinks that it is not so they’ve said several times recently are NOT abandoning their pros.
Thinking about this I want to say I don’t want to get all heated up and I apologize for being too aggressive to Greg.
But people have to understand we Pro users have had so much pain and so many people over the months have casually sniped at us for no real reason when we ask for new MPs etc.
think about it imagine if you running a small business with say ten Mac Pros and a bunch of MacBooks and iOS devices. Invested tens of thousands dollars.
I’ve got flamers over and over again tell me stuff like “if you think Apple is not giving you the Mac Pros you want why the f-ck don’t you go Windows and stop whining ?”
seriously dudes, do you all think it’s so EASY to change to Windows. dump all our MPs? And pro level software? Retrain staff , hire new people? create new networks , workflow etc — Windows workstations with our MacBooks and iOS devices? etc (Like I’ve not used Windows for ages, how would I run a change over like this?) Also as I mentioned we bought into the eco system because Apple Marketing targeted us pros (so they have a responsibility ).
thus we get really cheesed off when people so casually dismiss of make fun of us — especially when they have NO SKIN in the GAME , i.e if Apple provides for us like I pointed out it does not mean (with all the resources they have available) Apple would need to abandon Beats headphones or something. Non pro users your toys are still there (if Apple neglects them, it ain’t due to us because they have time to do Coffee Table books… ).
Shoot Apple ALREADY has Mac OS, most pro components like video cards are available, if they built a Tower they would be practically NO R&D (as Hackintosh folks can do it), even if they make a unique device it’s way way easier than say build that mythical self driving Apple car…
so with all these reasons we pro users get upset when people so casually dismiss us…
Well, with the recently announced changes in their Mac Pro game plan, iMac Pro, etc., evidently Apple thinks they are that important.