Is the 27-inch iMac a Good Alternative to the iMac Pro?

Question

I have been thinking of getting an iMac Pro, but a friend said I should consider the 27-inch iMac. Is he right and what is the reason?

Answer 1

Yes, according to a thoughtful analysis, the 27-inch iMac is much more effective than the less expensive version of the iMac Pro which is the base iMac Pro. Even though the iMac Pro has been a beast since launch in 2017, there has not been much change or noteworthy consumption. A carefully designed 27 inch iMac can do better than the entry level iMac Pro in screen size with better graphics, a faster processor and higher storage at a cheap price. If only configuring the right customizations were all that was necessary, then it would be possible to have a 27 inch iMac that is more powerful than the iMac Pro but at $1,100 lower cost, such a move would be clear for most people.

Comments

I edit 4K content on the iMac 3.6 10-core with the Radeon 5700XT very smoothly. After Effects post effects as well.
It's a slick machine. I'm really glad I specced it out.

---

Cue the pros returning their 2020 iMacs when they realise how loud they are all the time, how unreliable they are on long renders without Xeon chips and the bottle necked single TB3 controller. Pro stuff isn't about specs and tests it's about real world heavy use and for that the 2017 iMac Pro is still better because no amount of mild increase in speed is worth the sacrifices you have to make for it. For hobbyists it's a different situation.

---

The iMac Pro was introduced at a time between the  two generations of the Mac Pro. Apple simply needed to offer a “Pro” desktop which eventually became available last year. Now in the twilight of the Intel era on the Mac, the iMac Pro as a product line is simply redundant.

---

Actually the iMac Pro has two TB3 controllers so it has more lanes on TB3.  It’s not just ports.

---

I had the iMac Pro 10-core and it sucked. I got lots of lag and skip with rendering.

---

Belated feedback if this hasn't been commented previously. A "ton of external..." devices daisy-chained to a single Thunderbolt 3 port is just a slight generalization.

First, as most are aware, iMac TB ports are limited to one controller for both TB ports. Depending on the external configurations, devices, etc. TB3 device linear progression ("daisy-chain") could and does result in throttling by placing heavy demands on the ONE iMac TB controller. Some have commented on bandwidth latency using less than the 6 maximum recommended daisy-chained external TB devices with large redundancy configurations and requirements (one professional videographer commented that using only two, multi-bay enclosures containing large 4K files, he experienced some sporadic but consistent latency).

Conversely, we can go over to the base Mac Pro (2019) and, with a far-greater price than the 27-inch iMacs, also only have one controller for the USB ports (referring to the back-plane of the Mac Pro only).

Just a word of caution for those of us still considering the Intel-base Apple line-up (listen up Cook) for their compatibility with not-so-legacy applications. If looking at these "little" iMacs consider your external device needs, configurations, etc. and possibly consuming large bandwidth for these single controller TB ports.

---

Didn't apple update the iMac Pro to a 10core I would like to see a comparison with the newer iMac Pro not a 3 year old computer. by the way the thunderbolt ports on the iMac Pro have two buss so each pair of ports are one there own buss that could be important if you have two really fast hard drives.  I do think the new iMac is a great deal but I think that you didn't review the iMac Pro I'd  like to see it against  the new iMac Pro

---

iMac Pro can do 18 cores and 512 GB of RAM and would eat the i9 for lunch especially at rendering.

---

People don't understand what a Xeon 8 cores CPU is - how many desktops comes with this CPU? That's a CPU you find in rack servers!! It's have 10 gig ethernet, 4 thunderbolt ports and 4 USB 3.1 port without the need to connect a display. If you consider that Thunderbolt 3 ports can be daisy-chained, that's up to 12 devices (!!!) + SD card and headphones that you can connect to this computer at a time... Why would you ever need more? Plus it comes with a 5K display, which in itself, cost around 2 grands. The GPU is 1500, the CPU is still going for 700... you don't have to troubleshoot HDMI/DisplayPort issues, which might actually save me from suicide. You don't have to buy any dongle, external GPU, or whatever. It you consider the separate cost of workstation with the same CPU + 5K display + PCie extensions to get to the same number of ports + having to deal with a massive tower and tons of heat... that's a no brainer. They discontinued the iMac Pro because it's too good and people who got it won't have to switch for the next 5-6 years at least.

---

THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME  MONEY I WAS GOING TO BUY THE I MAC PRO

---

To be honest, a base iMac Pro is a bad comparison.   If it was maxed out and the price reduced close to that 5K then it would be a better deal for professionals.   Having said that, I wish the iMac Pro can be upgraded to 256 GB instead of paying for 5K for memory from Apple to get that memory.  That is robbery.

---

Thank you, Andrew, for the great review!...Was planning to purchase an iMac Pro; however, by Apple NOT upgrading like the iMac, decided to purchase a Mac Pro instead!...Goodbye, iMac Pro!

---

iMac pro is only worth of you need 18 Core version. Even 14 core isn't worth

---

Its not the iMac Pro killer. I sent back my Mac Pro last week for an iMac Pro after this announcement. While their are benefits to the new iMac, real professional workflows would fry it. The iMac is good for most people, but cant handle real workloads.