Newbie (type) User Asking for Advice re Mac Pro vs iMac Pro

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Hello All.

I've tried to search for an answer to this question, but I could not find anything directly responsive. My 2012 rMbp died recently; so my partner has agreed to let me buy a new computer and I have a good budget. The iMac Pro fits in that budget (as does the Mac Pro). I recognize that the Mac Pro is old hardware - and I know many of you pros do not hold it in high regard, but I love the (mid-2010) Mac Pro I keep in my office, so I'm partial to the so-called "trash can" Mac Pro.

I'm not a creative professional. I use a lot of productivity apps simultaneously (MS Office, Adobe Acrobat, DevonthinkPro), but I also frequently (every day or other day) do things like make iMovie movies and slideshows while I'm working. I use Adobe Photoshop a lot. I copy, compress, and move files all day. I also run Windows 10 in a virtual machine. (All of that is on my Mac Pro.) I find that I consistently use all 24GBs of available RAM. I run a 3 monitor setup (1 2560x1600, 2 2560x1440 - all extended desktop, no mirroring).  I checked my wife's (she works with me) 2012 rMBP to see how much RAM she uses, and her computer seems to page out frequently. 

Tl;dr (sorry) - a MacBook Pro has long been my go to, but the RAM limitation means it's out of consideration. (I also find the rMBP does not enjoy pushing 3 external monitors.) So I feel like I left with the iMac, iMac Pro, and Mac Pro.

If I went with an iMac, I'd want to spec it to the max. A max spec iMac is $4,200.00 and is limited to 2 TB3 ports. The price difference compared to the iMac Pro's performance and I/O improvement makes the iMac Pro look like non-brainer vs. the iMac. But I don't like the way iMac or iMac Pro looks - I've become accustomed to super thin bezels. But the iMac Pro's performance increase over the Mac Pro is so dramatic, I'm wondering whether it would be foolish to buy a Mac Pro rather than an iMac.

I guess all the apps I mentioned are single-threaded, but I'm wondering what kind of "multi-tasking" benefits from more cores. If I'm doing all the things I mentioned above simultaneously (which I normally do), would that be considered the kind of multi-tasking that would benefit from more cores? I know clock speed is important, but I'm confused because the benchmarks seem to show that for single-core tasks, the 3.5Ghz 6-core Mac Pro outperforms the 3.7Ghz 4-Core, and the 3.0Ghz 8-Core outperforms the 6-Core. Even more confusingly, I read somewhere that there is 10-Core Mac Pro that outperforms them all (I know OWC does some 10-Core upgrades) in single core benchmarks. 

I'm also wondering whether a low-end user like me would even notice the difference between the performance of a Mac Pro and an iMac. Finally, I'm wondering whether the Mac Pro is so old that Apple is going to drop support with the next 5 years. 

I would appreciate any thoughts any of you might have.  Thank you in advance.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,524moderator
    Dudleigh said:
    But the iMac Pro's performance increase over the Mac Pro is so dramatic, I'm wondering whether it would be foolish to buy a Mac Pro rather than an iMac.

    I'm also wondering whether a low-end user like me would even notice the difference between the performance of a Mac Pro and an iMac. Finally, I'm wondering whether the Mac Pro is so old that Apple is going to drop support with the next 5 years. 
    It's not an easy choice with the Mac Pro being so old now. It's cheaper than the iMac Pro but the parts are already 4 years out of date and using less efficient hardware. The base $5k 8-core iMac Pro is faster than the highest end 12-core 2013 Mac Pro, which currently costs $6200 and doesn't have a display and has Thunderbolt 2 ports (no 5K resolution support). Given that you don't need this level of performance though, you can pick up the older Mac Pro cheaper, especially refurbs:

    https://www.apple.com/shop/product/FE253LL/A/refurbished-mac-pro-37ghz-quad-core-intel-xeon-e5
    https://www.apple.com/shop/product/G0P82LL/A/refurbished-mac-pro-35ghz-6-core-intel-xeon-e5
    https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/mac_pro

    CPU comparison is here:
    http://barefeats.com/tube08.html
    https://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/topic/101339-imac-pro-8-core-cinebench/
    12-core 2013 Mac Pro (22nm CPU) = 1533 Cinebench
    8-core 2017 iMac Pro (14nm CPU) = 1684

    For the GPUs, the highest-end Mac Pro D700s are 3.5TFLOPs each (7TFLOPs total when you can use both together), the iMac Pro Vega 56 is 9TFLOPs, Vega 64 is 11TFLOPs. In cases where you can't use both Mac Pro GPUs at once, the iMac Pro GPU is around 3x faster and you get HBM memory up to 16GB.

    The wildcard would be the next version of the Mac Pro, which could arrive late next year. If it has the same base spec as the iMac Pro then it will start at $5k without a display but it does mean getting updated parts in a headless form factor and they will have a 5K or 8K display to go with it.

    The iMac Pro and Mac Pro options would be excessive for what you're using it for but if you want one of them then I'd say the iMac Pro would be the better option and will be supported longer.

    The standard iMac would suffice and if you decide to go for that, I would suggest the highest end 27" iMac with the i7 upgrade (it has 8 threads vs 4 on the i5), 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD and it comes with an 8GB Radeon Pro 580 5.5TFLOPs for $3700. But once you are spending this much, an extra $1300 to get close to double the CPU/GPU performance, two extra TB3 ports, extended keyboard, is a reasonable amount extra for what you get.

    Ultimately you have to decide if it's worth spending that much for what you will use it for but always keep in mind the resale value and the length of time you will use it. The iMac Pro costs more but will also have a higher resale value so the cost difference long-term isn't as much as the difference in the purchase price. Also keep in mind that you can upgrade your computer any time after you buy it. If you buy a standard iMac (or old Mac Pro) and feel like it's not enough, you can upgrade to an iMac Pro or refreshed Mac Pro in a year or two.
    SpamSandwichDudleigh
     1Like 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 2 of 5
    Thank you very much for your considered response. I think I'm going to go with a refurbished Mac Pro. The 6-Core with 1TB and 32GB Ram looks like a winner. Again, thank you very much for taking the time to give such a thorough and helpful response. Best regards,
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  • Reply 3 of 5
    thttht Posts: 5,814member
    I’m confused to how your described usage maxes out (page outs) what I presume are a 16 GB 2012 rMBP and a 2010 Mac Pro with 24 GB of RAM. What is being run inside the Windows 10 VM?

    It sounds like you need a lot of RAM or are concerned with RAM, but you want to drive 3 monitors as well with your desktop machine, maybe laptop machine. What resolution monitors you want to use will be important here.

    if you stick with the 2560x1600 type resolutions, a modern MacBook Pro, iMac will drive 3 monitors like that a lot better than your 2012 and 2010 hardware. A 2017 MBP can drive 4 4096x2304 monitors, as well as its native display. An iMac 2 4096x2304 monitors as well as its native display. An iMac 5K with 32/64 GB with 2 external 27” 4K monitors will be a very good machine and can be had for less than an iMac Pro, including the 2 external monitors maybe.

    But, if you want 3 5K (5120x2880) monitors, your only choices will either be the Mac Pro and the iMac Pro. And I can’t see how the 2013 Mac Pro is worth the value. Beautiful system that you drive 3 5K monitors off of, but the iMac Pro gets you faster components and more for cheaper.

    But if you want 3 monitors that look the same, the Mac Pro or MacBook Pro are your only options. So, figure out your monitor and RAM requirements first?



    Dudleigh
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  • Reply 4 of 5
    Thank you Tht. I just run a lot of apps at the same time - the biggest memory hogs seem to be Path Finder and Parallels. I'm not sure what my wife has been doing with her rMBP, but when I checked her Activity Monitor, it showed she'd paged out about 1GB. I do know that she is not doing anything like what I'm doing. 

    I priced a 5k iMac with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD and the price was about $3,700.00. An extra $1,300.00 bucks for the iMac Pro isn't a tough call, but, man, I just love(d) the Mac Pro. I can't justify it unless I can find a great deal on one (like Marvin suggested). So, I'm going to buy an iMac Pro, but I resent apple for not updating the Mac Pro. The iMac's display is undoubtedly great, but I hate those bezels and I hate the bottom - it just doesn't look symmetrical. I'm hoping I get accustomed to it. 

    Frankly, if I hadn't convinced my clients to switch to Macs, I'd buy a PC. 
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  • Reply 5 of 5
    thttht Posts: 5,814member
    You can always wait. 

    Put in 32 GB RAM, a PCIe SSD, and a modern GPU into the 2010 Mac Pro and call it a day. This could be a $1000 outlay versus $6000 for an iMac Pro, or $4000 for an iMac 5K. 

    As far as the 2013 Mac Pro and getting a used one or a good deal on a new one, the next 3 months is when good deals will be coming. A lot of people will be selling their 2013 Mac Pros as their iMac Pros get into their hands. 
    edited December 2017
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