adam venier

Q: Can the iMac Pro handle intense workloads?

While not typical, consider a 7x24 @ high CPU task.  Larger shops can farm tasks out to Linux farms but smaller ones like mine tend to distribute loads across development machines.  The cheese-grater Mac Pros remain excellent for this purpose with good internal cooling and easy upgradability (e.g. Mercury Accelsior).  The trash-can Mac Pros offer minor improvements in some areas but can be thermally limited -- for this reason the 2010 MPs are preferred.  The claim that the new iMac Pro can handle 500W is encouraging, but I remain skeptical that this workload can be sustained for several hours much less a day or more.

I've got my fingers crossed.  I'd much prefer to upgrade the older MPs to iMPs rather than waiting a year or more for a mythical next-gen MP.

Here's an alternative take.

If you can afford it, buy the Mac Studio w/ M1 Max and the upgrade to 64GB memory.  The memory cannot be upgraded so getting more future proofs the purchase.  The M1 Max is more than sufficient for most use cases.  There will be a minority of people who already know that they need the extra threads for rendering or other tasks.  Unless you can honestly say that 20 threads is too few for your tasks, it's pretty clear that the M1 Ultra version is overkill.  Keep working with the M1 Max until you can prove that your workload requires more threads and then upgrade the system.  By the time you are ready to make this decision, the Mac Pro will likely are released.

If the $2k entry point of the M1 Max is too high, buy the M1-based Mac mini and some external monitors (4k, 5k, or 2x 4k).  The monitors should last 8-10 years.  The money is better spend reusing them across systems.

Buy the iMac if cords drive you crazy and you're willing to pay a premium to have a few fewer.