“While the iMac Pro doesn’t launch for another six weeks or so, possible benchmarks for the computer may have already surfaced on Geekbench,” Joe Rossignol reports for MacRumors. “The results provide us with an early look at just how powerful Apple’s $4,999-and-up desktop workstation will be when it is released in December. ”
“Interestingly, the iMac Pro models benchmarked appear to have custom, downclocked Xeon chips that Intel hasn’t publicly announced yet,” Rossignol reports. “There is a benchmark result for a model with a 3.2GHz 8-core Xeon W-2140B processor, while a third listing exists for a model with a 3.0GHz 10-core Xeon W-2150B chip. All of the models are identified as ‘AAPJ1371,1,’ and unlike other Xeon chips, the processors have a ‘B’ suffix.”
“MacRumors spoke with Geekbench founder John Poole, who speculated that the iMac Pro may require chips with lower thermal design power, and thus lower frequencies, due to its all-in-one form factor,” Rossignol reports. “The multi-core Geekbench score for the 8-core model averages out to 23,536, which is the highest performance of any iMac ever… The higher-end 10-core iMac Pro has a multi-core score of 35,917… And that’s not even looking at the 18-core iMac Pro, which hasn’t been benchmarked yet and will surely blow every other Mac out of the water—at least until the modular Mac Pro is ready.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
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Well, it better be insanely fucking fast, since it is insanely fucking expensive.
Mac II ci would cost $7,217.70 in todays dollars. Was 4000 in 1991.
Now as then, you get what you pay for.
Don’t I know it I had one, around 2 years before we were quoted nearly twice that for a cx
“at least until the modular Mac Pro is ready.””
Ghost in the machine.
Yes – “$$$$ performance baked in for your non-upgradeable & desk-hogging peripherals protection!!” Who needs Nvidia, PCIe, etc. right? You know – pro customizable having nothing to do with Apple preferences.
Why do I feel this impending disappointment doom as we all look at each other next year when the 2018 Mac Pro FINALLY arrives saying with our eyes “We waited – for this?? Are they kidding!?? ARE THEY F*CKING KIDDING!!!!!?”
I have a friend who is unabashedly negative. He explained to me that he taught himself to expect the worst to avoid being disappointed. To me, that means that he spends most of his life in a state of preparing to be disappointed with occasional spikes of positive surprise.
Personally, I would rather expect a reasonably good outcome (not crazy, over-the-top optimism) most of the time and occasionally encounter disappointment. That just seems like a better balance to me. Realism and pessimism are not necessarily coupled except, perhaps, when it comes to U.S. politics.
My belief is that Apple learned from the failure of the trashcan Mac Pro. They learned that an elegant thermal design in the absence of practical, functional considerations does not result in an insanely great product. I also believe that key Apple personnel have read and considered the more cogent and in-depth evaluations of the Mac Pro and understand the reasons that it failed. As a result, I have confidence that the new Mac Pro will be much closer to the incredible, insanely great, powerhouse workstation that pros want and need. No doubt there will still be many who find flaws in it – nothing is perfect, after all, and some people just can’t be pleased. But I have optimistic expectations.
Apple learned from the failure….?
Well, time will tell.
But when I see ‘insanely thin’ products in products other than the MP … and the unintended consequences of thin as a design aesthetic that hinder the user experience … I’m not so confident.
Case in point – –
Regular user comments/complaints/angst about finite battery life in iPhones with every new hardware & OS release …
Laptop MBP keyboards made so thin that there’s now reports that mere “dust” can cause your spacebar to stick. Since it isn’t user repairable (or even Genius-level conventional means), it represents a catastrophic failure mode…
And, of course, the four year period of utter silence on the trash can Mac Pro’s upgrade problems – – followed by a “Maybe sometime before the end of 2018” vague promise…
Its a selective audience. It appeals to to people who love the iMac form factor and need the fastest machine possible. It appeals to Mac lovers who want “the best” iMac and money is no concern…and to those who just want to show everyone they got the money to buy the 15k iMac (and use it to check email).
Exactly, personally I won’t pay the money as I am semi retired these days but as a designer I would want nothing other than an IMac form factor now.
One thing I would love as an illustrator mind, would be to be able to connect an iPad to it mirroring the display but whereby I could zoom it in on any part of the image independently to work on the image by touch as I watch the effect zoomed out on the main computer and be able to work traditionally there as normal, both working seamlessly together. That would be massively more useful to me than for example the Microsoft Studio approach with its ‘either or’ approach compromise continually having to switch between the two swivelling the screen and zooming in and out, that would soon be one pain in the ass in practice for creative types like me. Dell actually do something that is half way there clearly the concept presents technical hurdles.
Some crystal ball you have there. Really, more predictable is someone having a rant about a product we know nothing about as yet. Meanwhile you will be surprised how many designers and others with cash will happily spend the dosh on these iMac Pro machines.
A $5000 glued shut iMac that will probably cook itself over time is not a Pro anything except a marketing title. Kinda like “Fox News” is not real news.
A guy can build a lot of hackintoshes for the price of an iMac Pro.
I definitely like the form factor of the iMac Pro but I am concerned the iMac Pro will likely thermal throttle under load which will really be a shame. I want an iMac Pro but if reviews show it thermal throttling under a mild load, then I’ll have to pass it up. They say it’s going to be downclocked so now I’m not sure if it’s going to be worth having. I’m only getting the base model as it is. I’ll wait for the benchmarks before making a decision. If Apple screws up on the iMac Pro, I’m going to be really disappointed in the company.
This article hints strongly that Apple hasn’t learned a damn thing from its trachcan debacle. To call a device a Pro and then forcing slow thermally constrained chips in order to please Jony Ive is stooooooopid.
This is Pro in price only. Benchmarks will show a exciting responsiveness but under sustained load this iMac will be just like every one before it, anemic.
A Pro iMac (or any iMac for that matter) does NOT need to be razor thin. My 27″ Mid-2011 iMac is not as thin as the current models and I hardly notice the difference sitting in front of it. That form factor seems fine. Use that space to make things user upgradeable, other than just the RAM, and to provide proper ventilation. The iMac doesn’t need to be 2mm thick Jony; that provides no benefit.