Table of Contents
Introduction
iMac has a very special place in Apple’s history. Launched in August 1998, barely a year after Steve Jobs’ second term as CEO, the colorful all-in-one managed to stand out in a single PC market that was – and many would still say – dominated by “the non-innovative beige.” “As you may have already thought because of its name, the iMac Pro is an elegant and stylish all-in-one PC that offers a lot of power in the traditional iMac form factor.
Do not judge this monster on its cover: the iMac Pro demolishes the iMac 2017’s, and even the new iMac (2019), thanks to its superb PC components and features it has. Most powerful ever sold by the company and The Best computer equipment it has been offering to professionals for a long time.
Design
With all the power behind the iMac Pro, especially next to the standard iMac, Apple has outdone itself while preserving the look of the all-in-one machine. All of these powerful components are hidden behind the 27-inch screen, creating an elegant and minimalist device that looks great in an office or studio. The fact that Apple has kept the iMac body as thin as it was is a testament to the hard-work not to mention the careful design considerations – involved in creating the iMac Pro. At the edges, the iMac Pro only has a thickness of 5 mm (0.2 inches), which means it will not take up too much space on your desktop. It weighs only 0.7 kg, which means that you do not break your back if you move it from one office to another.
Yes, this computer will generate a lot of heat under pressure, but that’s the whole point of the cooling system. It’s also incredibly quiet. You do not want distracting fan noises while you work, especially on an all-in-one PC that is right in the front of your face, and the iMac Pro does a great job of reducing that noise. If you’re a fan of the iconic appearance of previous iMacs, but want a device with a severe juice for professional use and an incredibly efficient cooling system, then you’ll be pleased with the iMac Pro.
Display
The iMac Pro’s screen is identical to that of the standard iMac, but it’s not a hit for the Pro: it’s by far The Best non-touch screen you can see on an all-in-one -a. The 27-inch IPS panel provides 5,000-pixel resolution (5,120 x 2,880 pixels), 10-bit color support, and support for DCI P3 color gamut.
We also found an impressive brightness since this panel had an average of 458 nits during our tests, the center of the screen reaches 475 nits. This is about the same as what we saw on the standard iMac (463 nits), which was already among the brightest available. The clean details are crisp and clean, and the color quality is impressive, with vibrant hues and deep dark blacks.
Ports
On the back side of the iMac Pro, you’ll find perhaps The Best selection of ports ever offered on a Mac. The I/O panel features four USB 3.0 ports, 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an SDXC card slot, and a breathtaking 10 Gigabit Ethernet connection. These Thunderbolt 3 ports offer a wide range of options, with data transfer up to 40 Gbps, and support the connection of external monitors – as much as two additional 5K screens or four 4K displays, all at 60Hz. With the adapters, you can also connect an HDMI port, a DisplayPort port, a DVI port, etc., via the Thunderbolt port.
Performance
Performance testing and real-world testing confirmed it when we compared the entry-level iMac Pro to the high-end consumer-grade iMac 27-inch 2017 with a fourth-generation Intel Core processor at 4.2 GHz and i7 quad-core (Turbo Boost up to 4.5 GHz), 64 GB of DDR4 RAM at 24,000 MHz, a 2 TB SSD and Radeon Pro 580 graphics card with 8GB of video memory.
The iMac Pro (30,992) scored more than 50% higher than iMac (20,279) on the Geekbench multi-core test, but only 5,137, compared to 5,805 on the iMac. Applications that have been updated to generate multiple threads to effectively (predictably) use available processor cores have been released on the iMac Pro. In Final Cut Pro, for example, running “Export to Master” for a 9.5-minute 4K project with several transitions and effects takes 7 minutes and 8 seconds on the iMac, but the 5 minutes and 45 seconds on the latest iMac Pro.
Converting a 5.67 GB 4K H.264 video file with a duration of 5.67 GB to a 264 MB MKV H.265 MKV 1080p file took 15 minutes and 20 seconds with the iMac; a task that the iMac Pro managed in just 9 minutes and 17 seconds.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The iMac Pro comes with Magic Keypad, Magic Mouse 2 and optional Magic Trackpad 2, all available in the new Space Gray color (from the iMac range). Apart from this new nuance, these devices should be quite familiar. We’re happy to see the Magic Keyboard keypad with a keypad, as it is a handy addition to writing sums. Although we would not describe the typing experience as “magical,” despite its excellent touches and shallow course, it is comfortable enough to use. However, if you type a lot for the job, you may find a more tactile keyboard more appropriate.
In our opinion, Magic Mouse 2 is more successful in its work. The third device is the Magic Trackpad 2. When purchased with the iMac Pro (2019), you can get it for $50 more, but if you buy the trackpad separately, it sells for $149, provided you get it in gray. If you are not picky about the color, you can still get the white and silver model priced at $129. The 6.3×4.52-inch trackpad is a great device, in part because it offers all the same touch controls that the MacBook Pro offers, with gesture support and forced click function, but in a large size, with a desktop. User-Friendly design.
Audio
The audio quality is correct … for an iMac Pro. The internal stereo speakers are suitable for producing the right amount of volume, without much distortion at a medium size. Most music has been faithfully reproduced. The high peaks, the soft piano descendant and the cello of The Piano Guys’ Cello Ascends sounded clear, and the filthy guitar and percussive percussion of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box” looked good on all but the most ups.
You can always fill the sound of a desk or a small room, but you will need a set of speakers or headphones to get better sound, which is especially important for professionals. If you want an all-in-one with built-in audio of professional quality, discover the Dell XPS 27 7760, with ten built-in speakers and The Best sound we’ve ever heard on a desktop.
Graphics
The iMac Pro offers two graphics options, the Radeon Vega Pro 52 and the Radeon Vega Pro 64. These are workstation-level graphics cards, designed for significant workloads, such as real-time 3D rendering, work in virtual reality and work fast, even in 4K. Video. Apple claims these cards by offering big numbers, like the fact that it will handle up to 11 teraflops of 32-bit computing.
Conclusion
The latest iMac Pro (2019) represents an interpretation of the term “Pro Mac,” like the modern Apple, which involved itself in an all-in-one design. What you lose in terms of scalability is offset by a clutter-free design and a superb 5K integrated display. It’s clear that for Apple, the “Pro” refers to workstation-level components, not one of the things that’s associated with the tower-based Mac Pro.
If the iMac Pro was Apple’s only desktop computing vision, it could have been a problem because of the compromises that the all-in-one form factor implies. However, with a “modular” Mac Pro, this will be one of two options available for consumers, and those who prefer an integrated solution can opt for the iMac Pro.
