“The iMac Pro is now Apple’s biggest, baddest desktop computer. With up to 18 cores on a Xeon W processor, the all-in-one machine can power fast single-threaded tasks and monster multi-threaded workflows,” Serenity Caldwell writes for iMore. “As such, it’s no surprise that Apple also offers a massive amount of RAM for the machine: The baseline iMac Pro ships with 32GB 2666MHz DDR4 ECC RAM (a true monster sentence of acronyms), but you can also upgrade to 64GB or 128GB when you configure your computer.”
“32GB will suit you for most mid-level single-threaded and multithreaded tasks, though you’re always going to get more performance for your multithreaded tasks as you upgrade,” Caldwell writes. “If you can afford to sink some money into your purchase, however, opt for 64GB.”
“By consumer standards, 128GB is a truly ridiculous amount of RAM,” Caldwell writes. “No Mac offers the configuration aside from the iMac Pro, and for good reason: The only reason to have this much memory is when you’re pairing it with a powerhouse processor like the 14- or 18-core Xeon W.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you’re buying an iMac Pro, odds are that you know how much RAM you need, but there you have it. Max out the RAM as your budget allows.
128GB of RAM is some serious virtualization space.
Zero, because I won’t purchase iMac.
all of it
Why should I have to answer that question now…. /s
the RAM, just at an authorized shop. Nobody swaps the plugs in their car or replaces their own head gasket etc anymore, not on a new expensive high end car at least. The iMac Pro RAM can be upgraded, just not by the user. There’s probably enough that can go wrong that it isn’t a good idea, and how can we expect Apple to provide a warranty if users are mucking about inside the machine? I can see user upgrades on a modular machine, which the new Mac Pro should be, but not on a machine like an iMac. There’s a lot of advantages to the iMac form and it just isn’t practical to make it modular enough. It has to be idiot proof before you can let users muck about, as in extremely modular. You’d have to redesign the iMac radically to allow that.
“…and how can we expect Apple to provide a warranty if users are mucking about inside the machine?”
Then how did Apple provide a warranty for virtually every Mac since the Mac Plus? Relatively few of them had zero access to any components at all.
“There’s a lot of advantages to the iMac form and it just isn’t practical to make it modular enough.’
There is absolutely zero reason not to have an access plate to allow RAM upgrades.
“It has to be idiot proof before you can let users muck about, as in extremely modular.”
No computer is idiot proof. If you put that as a criterion for shipping any computer, that computer will never ship.
“You’d have to redesign the iMac radically to allow that.”
No you don’t. A few screws on the back and a plate to access limited components will work just as well with a mild variant of the current design.
“Then how did Apple provide a warranty for virtually every Mac since the Mac Plus? Relatively few of them had zero access to any components at all.”
They were more modular to begin with, much less of an integrated design and form factor. I would guess though that Apple has always had to deal with problems arising from users mucking about in their Macs.
“There is absolutely zero reason not to have an access plate to allow RAM upgrades.”
You don’t know that to be true, you’re making an assumption.
“No computer is idiot proof.”
True, it would be better to say ‘as idiot proof as is practical’.
“No you don’t. A few screws on the back and a plate to access limited components will work just as well with a mild variant of the current design.”
Unless you work at Apple on the iMac Pro you cannot know this. As much as people on comment threads like this complain, I think Apple knows their customers pretty well and likely knows there is almost no market for a user upgradeable iMac Pro, and that there are going to be more repair issues if users are mucking about in the machine. Maybe it has something to do with the display, which is very high end, or the way the iMac Pro has to deal with heat dissipation.
I doubt very much some engineers at Apple are sitting in a dark room tenting their fingers and saying “Screw those users, I won’t allow user upgrades for spite!” Apple tends to think these things through. You may not like their conclusion but it isn’t “zero reason” as you put it.
Case closed. Then redesign it. Case shouldn’t be closed.
$5k for no expandability. Not good.
My ‘93 Quadra 950 had 256mb of ram… Which back then was $20K. It wasn’t enough –
As Apple have already stated that the ram can be upgraded (by an authorised dealer) It would be much more effective for most people on a tight budget (musicians especially) to get the standard 32gig ram and used that extra ram money (you would have spent to upgrade the ram) for the 10 core upgrade.
The 10 core is by far the best bang for your buck in single speed and cores.
The 8 core is not really leaping and will be out of date very fast. Money on extra ram won’t help it long term compared to a 10 core you can add memory to later on. .
a year from now when money allows again, get the extra ram upgraded and the life of you computer will extend much further.
Reasonable, given the circumstances. People on a tight budget shouldn’t be forced to buy Apple’s super price gouged RAM prices either.
Or should one machine die, to be able to transfer that RAM to another….
Let’s not even get into ssds.
This iMac “Pro” will not sell. Get real.
“By consumer standards, 128GB is a truly ridiculous amount of RAM,” Caldwell writes.
Did he forget this is not a product for consumers?
By definition, any one who buys it is a consumer of this product.
He implies that “pros” are a separate class, a cut above “consumers,” amongst people who know and understand technology. You know that, so I wonder why you are humouring trondude, unless you too see the irony embedded in any discussion of Apple products named to attract pros but opposing pros’ expectations of upgradeability.