Can the iMac Pro Handle Modern Creative Workloads?

Question

Given the nature of my work as a professional, I require a powerful desktop computer. Is the iMac Pro still relevant?

Answer 1

Certainly, the iMac Pro is still able to manage modern creative workloads efficiently. It is equipped with a robust display and excellent embedded audio-visual components which can be advantageous to creative practitioners. While it does not surpass the latest Apple silicon across the board in terms of performance metrics, it still functions adequately in numerous real world scenarios. Those seeking a high-powered machine at a reasonably low price point will find it does an excellent job. Depending on how specific your requirements are, and the software employed, the iMac Pro may actually be quite a powerful machine for creative endeavors.

Comments

I did in fact purchase one a month ago. 3.2GHz 8-core with 64GB of RAM, 2TB SSD, and Radeon Vega 64 Pro 16GB graphics card. This was a much needed upgrade from my long-in-the-tooth late 2012 3.2GHz 4-core Mac Pro with an added 8GB Radeon RX-580 and 16GB of RAM. Did what I could with that machine to speed it up, but I have been seen exponential performance gains from the 2017 iMac Pro. Very happy with this purchase, of which I believe I paid $3,100 for on eBay. I added an external PCIe breakout box with 500W powersupply and a non-pro version of the Radeon Vega 64 8GB graphics card. This thing smokes through the heaviest Photoshop workloads as well as content editing and rendering. Worthy investment. Grab yours today before the prices go up again (because hoarders– toilet paper, US minted coins, etc.).

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Something I found out is that the 2020 Intel iMac with the i9 and 5700 xt is actually faster than the maxed out imac pro for stuff like 3d rendering, gaming, editing. So now the question is, can the maxed out 2020 imac beat the maxed out m3 imac?

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If you do content needed things, get rid of the Imac pro fast. It's deprecating so quickly and a studio will help you.

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I revisited your content from last year of how you edited on the new 24" iMac and found it faster in many ways and I'm a bit confused now. I've had 27" iMacs since 2013 and despite the value proposition of a used 2020 5k or 2017 iMac Pro model for close to the price of an M1, I still think I would go for an Apple Silicon model as right now I need it for 4k multicam editing and some light photo work. If I was doing music production with orchestral soft synths I definitely would go with an iMac that supports far more Ram, 64gigs or more would be better suited for that task and far more affordable than a comparably equipped Mac Studio or MB Pro.

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How well does an iMac Pro run Windows? I have plenty of M1 Macs, but need a new Windows machine.