iMac Pro Will Be Available at Apple Stores by Mid Next Week

[MacRumors]

Apple today made the iMac Pro available to order from its online store, with 8-core and 10-core models shipping in late December, but customers looking to see or purchase one at an Apple Store will have to wait a little bit longer.

MacRumors has learned from a reliable source that Apple will begin selling select iMac Pro configurations at its retail stores by mid next week.

We don't know if all of Apple's retail stores around the world will have in-store stock by mid next week, but it's safe to assume that many locations will have the iMac Pro both on display and available to purchase in limited quantities. We can't confirm when authorized resellers like Best Buy will have iMac Pro availability in stores.

Update: Apple confirmed the iMac Pro will be available at Apple Stores by mid next week at a private media briefing on Wednesday, according to iMore's Rene Ritchie, backing up the information provided to MacRumors.

Apple stated this outright during the briefings yesterday. - Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) December 14, 2017

iMac Pro is an expensive workstation aimed at professional users with demanding workflows, and it is also highly customizable, so many customers may prefer to order from Apple's online store, where exact tech specs, accessories, and software add-ons like Final Cut Pro X can be selected as desired.

iMac Pro starts at $4,999 for a base 8-core model in the United States, with 10-core models available from $5,799. 14-core and 18-core models start at $6,599 and $7,399, but they aren't estimated to ship for 6-8 weeks.

Every configuration has optional upgrades available for storage, memory, and graphics, with prices topping out at $13,199 for a maxed-out, high-end model with an 18-core Intel Xeon processor, 4TB of SSD storage, 128GB of ECC RAM, and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64 graphics with 16GB of HBM2 memory.

First impressions of the iMac Pro have generally been very positive. YouTube reviewer Marques Brownlee, for example, said the iMac Pro is very fast and even fairly priced, although he said its lack of upgradeability is a weakness.

Fortunately, for customers who want upgradeability, Apple today confirmed that it continues to work on a modular Mac Pro that will be released alongside a new Apple-branded high-end display. Apple hasn't provided a release date for these products, beyond noting that they won't be available in 2017.

In the meantime, at least the iMac Pro's RAM will be upgradable by Apple and Apple Authorized Service Providers. Still, we recommend future-proofing your iMac Pro by choosing tech specs that will meet your needs over the long term.

Article Link: iMac Pro Will Be Available at Apple Stores by Mid Next Week

 

[dannyyankou]

Just in time for Christmas, lol. For those with that kind of a budget anyway.

 

[SecuritySteve]

Coming from a pro, I believe most of us have a custom spec or configuration in mind, but I would love to hear if anyone is actually planning to go into the store to buy a default config.

 

[gugy]

Definitely want to check them out but I am holding any purchase until the Mac Pro is unveiled. I rather have the MP and buy displays separately. I keep them for many years.

 

[iBrooker]

Why would any pro user want to spend that much on a machine that they can't upgrade?

Roll on the proper Mac Pro next year! (Just don't rip us off!!)

 

[realeric]

$5k? $13k? It's too expensive. I have two MB cars of 10 times each and a house of 100 times in cash but $5k~$13k for a desktop computer or $1.2k for a phone with apple care+ is too much for me. I'm out.

 

[BJB Productions]

Apple today confirmed that it continues to work on a modular Mac Pro that will be released alongside new Apple-branded external displays.

Where did Apple today confirm a modular Mac Pro is still in the works? I seemed to have missed the news.

 

[SecuritySteve]

Why would any pro user want to spend that much on a machine that they can't upgrade?

Roll on the proper Mac Pro next year! (Just don't rip us off!!)

I did. I figure I can resell the machine if the Mac Pro is really that much better. Plus theres no guarantee that it is actually coming out next year, and I (amongst other pros) need it NOW.

 

[Bacillus]

Why would any pro user want to spend that much on a machine that they can't upgrade?
Roll on the proper Mac Pro next year! (Just don't rip us off!!)

Agree. Nice but slightly overpriced dustbins for the Apple stores...

 

[reden]

$5k? $13k? It's too expensive. I have two MB cars of 10 times each and a house of 100 times in cash but $5k~$13k for a desktop computer or $1.2k for a phone with apple care+ is too much for me. I'm out.

These machines aren't meant for Facebook browsing or editing instagram photos with Photoshop Elements. They're meant for true professionals who crunch large amounts of data may it be with graphics or video. While I'm not necessarily in the market for an iMac Pro, I'm always a Mac Pro user that spends $5,000 or more on Macs. I see it as a long term investment that will help me work faster and have quicker turnarounds for clients. You will never understand Specially making comments like these when Pro computers no matter if you go Mac or PC have always been expensive.

 

[Brandhouse]

Why would any pro user want to spend that much on a machine that they can't upgrade?

Roll on the proper Mac Pro next year! (Just don't rip us off!!)

Because the professional users just want a machine that gets the job done as fast as possible so they can move onto the next job quickly and efficiently and know that whatever gets thrown at it, that the machine can handle things. We don't care about the ability to upgrade, for the reason that when you spend the kind of money that it'll be held onto for a while, be it 3 years or more.

 

[ignatius345]

Looks great to me, but my current 5K iMac does everything I need. I do wish the black mouse was available tho!

 

[iBrooker]

I did. I figure I can resell the machine if the Mac Pro is really that much better. Plus theres no guarantee that it is actually coming out next year, and I (amongst other pros) need it NOW.

What do you 'need' it for Steve?

It's difficult to say what the second hand market will be for these, I would guess most in the second hand market might prefer to get a 'new' Mac Pro as it will be cheaper (since they generally don't have a built-in display).

 

[bladerunner2000]

The most expensive Mac ever is also soldered inside and destined to be obsolete real fast?

Why would ANYONE pay that much money for something that's guaranteed to be doomed.

 

[dutchyonabike]

Earlier in the year when I saw the $4,999 US price tag, I was was really concerned what the price would be by the time it got to Australia....$7,299!! Sorry that is just mental. I assumed is was going to be very expensive. As a Mac user for 25 years, and a self employed video producer I decided to jump ship to a 16core Threadripper PC, w 64GB Ram, GTX1080ti 11GB video card, M.2 boot drives. Fully maxed out was $5000 AUD, and the best part, it has no built in monitor. I can plug it in to my 3 displays, and have a 4th "40" Sony Bravia sitting on the wall as a playback monitor. If Apple had released a MacPro in 2017, I might have bought that, but my old 5,1 is already 7 years old. I've got work to do. I can't wait forever for a proper Pro machine. And a tip for anyone jumping to Windows, remap the Alt key to a Control key, now muscle memory is not a problem. It's what I had to do stay in businees, don't flame me

 

[superduperultra]

Build a PC with the same display and specs and let us know what the price ends up being.

 

[iBrooker]

We don't care about the ability to upgrade, for the reason that when you spend the kind of money that it'll be held onto for a while, be it 3 years or more.

I think you are very wrong about this. It's why the Mac Pro failed and why it was lambasted so much - pro users WANT to upgrade their machines, because like you said they often need the most powerful GPUs, etc.

 

[BigJohno]

While I love this iMac pro, I just can't justify it in my workflow. I work with large PS files and render 100-200 gb worth of Timelapse stills quite often. I already made the mistake of going with a 2015 5k imac. I ended up building a Ryzen 8 core PC because I couldn't for Apple to figure out they head a lemon of a Mac Pro. Maybe I will switch back when this mythical MP comes out. Until then I'm a windows user

 

[Ds6778]

$5k? $13k? It's too expensive. I have two MB cars of 10 times each and a house of 100 times in cash but $5k~$13k for a desktop computer or $1.2k for a phone with apple care+ is too much for me. I'm out.

What are you complaining about? Your post made my head hurt.

 

[SecuritySteve]

What do you 'need' it for Steve?

It's difficult to say what the second hand market will be for these, I would guess most in the second hand market might prefer to get a 'new' Mac Pro as it will be cheaper (since they generally don't have a built-in display).

Couple of things. If you broke it down, I technically have two jobs that apply to this purchase. I develop software for an aerospace corporation, and this software performs tasks such as two dimensional kinetic analysis, particle physics, etc. To test that code, I need a computer capable of running it. The second job I need this computer for is that of a vulnerability researcher. I need tons of RAM to mass-virtualize systems and probe software / the kernel for vulnerabilities. The first requires a ton of CPU usage in parallel, which means more cores is better, and the second requires so much RAM and a moderate amount of CPU (though with 128GB the CPU may bottleneck instead, but we'll see after actual testing).

Frankly there hasn't been a mac that has been ready for this workload for years, and I've been making due with a laptop that pegs it's CPU all the time under the stress and can only run a few VMs. This has seriously slowed me down, but it will no longer.

 

[seeforyourself]

I have the budget to buy it, yet I will stick to the IMac. Why? Because I’m afraid Apple will forget about it like they did with the Mac Pro.


Apples reputation on this is terrible

 

[Jbusick7944]

It doesn’t seem like a good habit to get into. Releasing products that don’t exist for 6-8 months.

 

[superduperultra]

It's why the Mac Pro failed and why it was lambasted so much - pro users WANT to upgrade their machines, because like you said they often need the most powerful GPUs, etc.

There are many shades of PRO.

The basic iMac has always been successful, and it eventually cannibalized the Mac Pro due to similar performance. The iMac Pro is a stopgap on the way to the modular Mac Pro, but for many pros Apple hopes it will be enough.

Either way, my late 2009 27" iMac lasted almost 8 years until I replaced the graphics and sold it off.

Best computer I've ever had.

YMMV

 

[iSee]

I have the budget to buy it, yet I will stick to the IMac. Why? Because I’m afraid Apple will forget about it like they did with the Mac Pro.


Apples reputation on this is terrible

That makes no sense.

Once you buy it -- whether iMac, iMac Pro, Mac Pro or anything else -- it doesn't much matter if Apple continues to develop followup machines in the line. Whether they do or not, you're still going to have the computer sitting on your desk.

 

[mikethemartian]

Couple of things. If you broke it down, I technically have two jobs that apply to this purchase. I develop software for an aerospace corporation, and this software performs tasks such as two dimensional kinetic analysis, particle physics, etc. To test that code, I need a computer capable of running it. The second job I need this computer for is that of a vulnerability researcher. I need tons of RAM to mass-virtualize systems and probe software / the kernel for vulnerabilities. The first requires a ton of CPU usage in parallel, which means more cores is better, and the second requires so much RAM and a moderate amount of CPU (though with 128GB the CPU may bottleneck instead, but we'll see after actual testing).

Frankly there hasn't been a mac that has been ready for this workload for years, and I've been making due with a laptop that pegs it's CPU all the time under the stress and can only run a few VMs. This has seriously slowed me down, but it will no longer.

I'm curious what programming language you use? Matlab, Python or C/C++, etc. I write code for optical wave simulation in Matlab.