New iMac Pro announced! $5,000 – Arrives December

It's fascinating to see this machine just to try and understand who Apple is targeting now with their "Pro" hardware.

 

For LPX, my old 2008 Mac Pro is still running well, with no hiccups. I'm slightly nervous now it's outside the support of the latest OS, but only slightly, since the machine is an audio only workstation.

Cheers to your 2008! I'm also beyond thrilled here with my early 2009 Octo 2,93GHz Mac Pro. 8 years and going on a computer, that to me is insane, only to be topped by my audio interfaces, Motu 2408mk3 and 24i/o, which I bought in 2002 and still use every day. Only had to get a newer PCI card for the system when changing from my 2002 MP setup to a newer one with newer PCI buses. At the same time, I am a little puzzled about what next, as due to my studio ergonomics and some other things I don't want an iMac, souped up or not. I would LOVE a SILENT Macbook Pro (which my 2015 def is NOT, when pushed even a bit) to be my computer both in and out the studio, that way no file transfers etc (even if I have Dropbox for that), just plugging in a USB/FW/TB hub with my external drives, big screen etc. That way I'd have a perfect small mixer/plugin window closer in front of me at an angle and a 21:9 big screen on the wall a bit further a way. One can dream.

PS. My machine is running Sierra with just a simple "hack", the only hack I've ever made, really. Only potential drawback is that it renders certain wifi cards useless, but I'm not using wifi on this machine. Dunno if it works on 2008 model, but perhaps worth a google search? #YourMileageMayVary "Mac Pro 2009-2010 Firmware Tool"

Looks smart, but personally I prefer separates,  computer and separate screen,  then if theres ever a problem with one you still have the other, and they can be replaced.

I use a Macbook Pro 2015, 15", 2.8 ghz, 16gb RAM, 17 Quad core with a  Thunderbolt 27: display,  doesn't sound as impressive as the iMac Pro spec!,  however, I have NO problems whatsoever, running Logic 10.3.1, over 50 tracks + many plug ins, on El Capitan 10.11.3.

If the display went down I could replace it, or just use the Macbook Pro screen!   if the Macbook Pro went down down, I use my Macbook Air, high spec, which runs Logic flawlessly also!

Computer AND screen in one is not for me, just my view, the new iMac pro does LOOK fab though!

From the specs, it seems to be aimed at the video pros.

Seems like that.

PS: Can I use all my Thunderbolt gear without hassles on the new iMac Pro anyway? Without having to spend again a lot of money to upgrade the external gear?

Gotta use the Thunderbolt to USB-C adapter.

Yeah, this is true, but only for Thunderbolt 1 & 2 devices. If its Thunderbolt 3, no adapter required.

Yeah, this is true, but only for Thunderbolt 1 & 2 devices. If its Thunderbolt 3, no adapter required.

Of course, the plug of Thunderbolt 3 is a USB-C plug. Thunderbolt 1 and 2 is the original plug.

A word of warning..  My trusty old 2008 make pro made it to October 2015.. 

Apple stores, Tekserve, and a 3rd apple authorized repair place here in NYC wouldn't touch it..  cause Apple stopped selling any parts for it, and I was told their policy was not to fix 2008 models anymore..  

While I'm certainly grateful the 2008 lasted as long as it did..  I felt ripped off that Apple wouldn't service their 8 year old computers.  

I don't know if they are still following that 'planned obsolescence' policy..  Many years ago, it used to be a law that manufactures had to carry parts and repair for 10 years, but .  But that fell by the wayside..  Computer have been the one thing that got exponentially faster and only linearly more expensive..  

I used to change Mac every other year or so but my cheese-grater Mac Pro is the computer I've kept the longest. Need to update very soon though. 

Yeah, you have the 2008 tower.

Find a 2009 8-core. It's worth it if you don't need Thunderbolt and you can add a USB 3 PCIe card. Works like a charm.

I have the early '09 2.93 8-core and it has been wonderful.  I see no official upgrade path though to Sierra or beyond so Apple is signaling the end.  Damned shame.  They never should have made these cheese graters so robust.  I still have an abandoned Mac Pro 1.1 with my Logic 9/Apogee FIrewire setup I'm trying to sell.   Great machine still but no support anymore for anything.  I suppose if you keep it off the internet (since Apple is no longer upgrading the OS) and don't try to upgrade anything on it there's some life left.  

I got the 2008 Mac Pro 8-core, 18GB and SSD - and sure it's quite a step down from the 2009 models.  But it still serves me so well.

So, it's almost a relief to know now that the furthest MacOS version that it will run is El Cap, i really like that i'm forced to draw a line with it in terms of OS revisions.

The way that i see it is that right now i have more on there than what i will ever use, and this includes many features of Logic which remain un-touched.  But more so, i have specific software that i use to manage my hardware (Librarians/Editors etc.) and some old hardware where Sierra support has not been forthcoming - So, it's nice to know that this is it in terms of the 2008 model, and i can hold my machine within it's own little eco system for many years to come should i chose to.

As of now it still runs the very latest version of Logic great.  Dare i say better than a far more modern i5 MacBook that i own, despite the single core performance to be much lower on paper.   I really see no reason why this can't do me for another couple of years at least, unless there's something truly ground-breaking in newer builds of Logic which will be 10.11 and upwards only.

Love those cheese graters!

Meanwhile new 'normal' iMacs are available now.

The 'normal' iMacs will outperform iMac pro in any realtime tasks because they have a higher clock speed.  iMac pros will mostly benefit video and graphics designers and even then, mostly when they do offline rendering and downsampling, not real time tasks.  So if you're like me and use lots of soft instruments and plug in effects, higher clock speed (not more threads) is what you need.

LPX has pretty good multi-core implementation and will benefit from more cores. 

Not for real time tasks. If you're into soft instruments, frequency is king.  If you're 50/50 on live vs soft instruments, you'll benefit from more cores, since you can/should only stick so many tracks into a project.  You, my friend, have the perfect machine.  Get inside it and show it a bit of TLC, you'll thank me later. 

Meanwhile new 'normal' iMacs are available now.

The 'normal' iMacs will outperform iMac pro in any realtime tasks because they have a higher clock speed.  iMac pros will mostly benefit video and graphics designers and even then, mostly when they do offline rendering and downsampling, not real time tasks.  So if you're like me and use lots of soft instruments and plug in effects, higher clock speed (not more threads) is what you need.

This is absolutely correct.

Look up "real time performance vs CPU performance" (YouTube) for an explanation.