It might not be the latest and greatest, but I think the iMac Pro is low-key the best Intel Mac ever made. Do you agree? Also, thanks to Omaze for sponsoring! Enter now at www.omaze.com/lukemiani

Nothing beats the space gray colour and the Xeon’s and Vega 64 graphics in these things are still bananas fast compared to some M1 family chips… that’s incredible that prices are going down!

100% love your take here Luke. Can’t believe how good of value this is when you really break it down like you did in this video. And the speakers in this thing might just be one of the most impressive I’ve ever heard in a computer, aside from the new MacBook Pros (simply bc of their size-to-speaker volume/quality ratio). Thanks for taking the time to make this vid instead of just up and selling the iMac Pro.

Completely agree! You can score some killer deals on these (better than 2020 iMacs) so as long as you don't need really fast single-core performance these can do a great job. We just sold ours to a photographer for $2000 and it's going to do a great job for lightroom classic.

Every time I see the space grey and black accessories it makes me wish Apple brought them back. Hopefully they do so with the 202X iMac Pro.

Hi Luke, thanks for this fantastic video. I just recently bought an Imac Pro 8C with 64GB Ram, 2TB SSD and the Vega 58 for €2100 here in Hamburg, Germany. I am super happy with it, I mounted it to the wall behind my desk and I love the space grey colour of it. It still has enough power to run Battlefield V at 1440p, Anno1800 and even X-Plane 11 at decent settings via Bootcamp. The display is phenomenal and the webcam is fantastic. I wanted to replace my 16" macbook pro (2019) with it but sadly noone wants to buy that laptop for more than €1300. For that little money I will keep it, since that also is a very good machine. Keep up your very good work. Always looking forward to looking new videos. Best regards, Dominik.

I bought an iMac Pro base model 1,5 year ago but after about six months I noticed that the fans started spinning up a lot more (=more noise) and temperatures rising. First I thought it was because of recent MacOs updates but some months later just for fun I tried blowing condensed air into the vents and exhausts on the back and holy moly a ton of dust came out of it alongside big chunks of fluff. After that "cleaning" the temperature and noise has gone down a lot so I highly recommend this procedure if you like me don't have the skills to open it up completely. Also another thing I really like about this Intel based iMac Pro is that I can still use boot camp for gaming 😀

This is an outstanding post! When Apple, Inc. discontinued the 27-inch iMac Pro and their prices started to drop, I was saying to others ow appears to be the time to buy. Then after Apple, Inc. discontinued the last version of the 27-inch iMac and the prices of the iMac Pro's continued to drop, I said time to jog not walk and pick-up a used model. But, after the introduction of the new Mac Studio and Studio Display and the prices of the iMac Pro's kept dropping, I said from the "hill tops" ...time to buy a used iMac Pro. A few months ago, I had to decide between a $2,200 base 8-core 27-inch iMac Pro and a 2014, $1,200 trash can size 6-core D-700 Mac Pro. Only picked-up the 2014, Mac Pro because, I all ready had an Apple 27-inch Cinema LED (none thunderbolt) display. However, within the next three (3)-year's, I will be added for sure the 27-inch iMac Pro to my desktop collection (smile...smile).

I am not surprised this computer is still decent. These high end Macs do last a long time. I was shocked how many years I was able to get out of my 2010 Mac Pro. Good video Luke and see you at the next one.

The iMac pro is a wonderful package. Right now, there's nothing like it. Sure there is the smaller M1 iMac but I really prefer the luxury, throwing any peripherals I like. 4x USB-A's + 4 USB-C's + Card Reader + Headphone Jack on the back and all that with a beautiful 5K display. That alone makes it an absolute work horse. Performance wise it's more than enough for most 'PRO' use cases.

Hmmm, i would say that the 2020 iMac 27" 5K is the better deal as it outperforms the base iMac Pro in most tests while being cheaper. I bought one yesterday to upgrade my (similar) 2015 model.

The microphone on the iMac Pro is WAY better. Amazing!! It is actually something I am keeping my eye out for one of these. The only thing is the newest ones are now already 2-3 years young, how long will Apple keep supporting the Intel platform.... These are big unknowns. At some point they will optimize the OS to no longer have support for X86.

2:12 Indeed, Luke. I'm watching this whilst playing modded Minecraft with 84 mods on my 2009 8-core, 14 gigs of ram Mac Pro. The machine is quite capable of gaming despite being close to a decade and a half old

Very informative video, Luke! Always enjoy the videos

I would get the same configuration as yours in a hearbeat. Great specs for the used price. And the look is phenomenal. It certainly looks better than both Apple Pro displays.

I bought my iMac Pro 14 core with 64gb ram vega 64x and 1 tb ssd for $2800 total after taxes in September of 2021 off ebay. fantastic deal. Its a juggernaut. Theyre even cheaper now, so i should have waited a little longer but theyre great computers.

Best deal is still modding the 2017 iMac so it can be used as an external display (around $550 refurbished), can plug anything into it and will never have to worry about it losing update support (since it’s just a display at that point) yet it has almost the exact same specs as the $1600 studio display. Pair that with apple silicon and you’re set for years.

I like this Channel exactly for that, Luke takes time to talk about all the products not only the high hand and most expensive one ! Like it Thanks

Backward compatibility is a concern. Ventura has dropped the highly valued pre-butterfly Macs. I lived through the PowerPC to Intel (PowerBook to MacBook / black polymer to aluminum) transition. That was jarring and yet it had better backward compatibility than we are seeing now. At least that is how I remember it.

Craziest part is that they're even cheaper in Belgium. I bought one with the same specs for 1675 euros (1704 dollars) and there are many of them for sale.

I did buy a 2020 imac from refurbished store in 2022😁, last month actually and it is a beast, super fast, any game works perfect, the display is just bananas, best overall package for 2k. Specs are i7 8 core with 32GB of ram (88 quid off amazon) 1TB apple ssd and xt5700 with 16GB of memory. I Do believe that I will need nothing more for at least next 4 years👍

I'm not a video editor and own a 2017 iMac Pro 10 core, Vega 56, 32GB, 2TB where the most demanding applications I use are Lightroom and Mathematica. The day the studio display was announced, I immediately checked whether Apple still sold the VESA mount conversion kit for the iMac pro. They did, and now I have the iMac pro and studio display both hanging over my desk on a 2-arm mount working great as a two 27" screen system. This cost me about $1,800. An equivalent Mac studio Max and two studio displays and a VESA mount would have cost me $6,100. It's a little lopsided with the iMac chin on one screen, but I'm very happy with this setup.

Still using my 2016 iMac With 32gb RAM and a 3tb Hard Drive, it's a fantastic machine

Not Luke trying to advertise for the iMac Pro he’s about to list on eBay😂😂😂 jkjk

I own a i9 vega 48 27" iMac with 128 GB RAM, works perfectly and is more than capable to run the SW I use. Since Apple does not sell an 27" Apple Silicon iMac, I do not see a reason to get rid of my iMac, the display is much more important to me than the processor speed. The 27" iMac was always a really great deal, because of that display. The studio display sells for 1.749,00 € here, thats 1781 Dollar (including Tax). You can buy an Retina 5K iMac with an i7 and an Radeon Pro 5500 XT 8 GB for 1.423,00 Euro on ebay So, I a good display is important to you, like for photo editing, this is a killer deal.

i just finished watching one of your vids and it was really interesting keep up the good work

I hope Apple will do one of two things: Release the next 24” iMac with M2 and higher RAM options (32gb minimum-64 to 128 preferably) and higher storage options (4TB minimum, 6-8 preferably). Release a new iMac Pro with M2/3/whatever and lots of customization options (doubtful since it will eat into Studio Display sales)

I can only see this as a viable option if you desperately need to replace your old mac (perhaps it's broken) but you use one of the few program that still don't play well on apple silicon. Of course this wouldn't be a long term investmebt but it could save you in a pinch.

how about.. a base model macbook pro, for 2000 dollars (maybe with the memory upgrade if needed) then for the rest of the money saved (1700) you could get a great display as well. and you'd be able to travel with it you'd have a built in trackpad and keyboard and you wouldn't have wasted your money on some 5 year old intel system that is essentially being phased out... (losing out of upcoming macOS updates, would also suck)

I have the 18c iMac Pro w/128GB RAM, 4TB, Vega 64, etc. and I've thought of selling it, but I go back/forth on it often. The biggest reason has been fear of not selling it before something going wrong with it becomes a bigger possibility, but that's just me being jittery I think. It'll likely be just fine for a long time, I just have to be willing to possibly sell for parts when/if something does fail on it. It's a risk, but is it a huge risk? Not really. For now, it's still a beast.

I’d make pretty much the exact same arguments for the last i9 MacBook Pro, I started using one after I returned my 14” MacBook Pro and my 16” M1 Pro MacBook Pro and I always came back to the machine that did everything I needed it to… except battery life. To be fair though I drained an almost brand new 16” M1 Pro MacBook Pro battery in like 2 hours, so it’s only about double the battery life and I don’t think I could give up x86_64 compat and Windows 10 compat for that.

I really agree with what you said that something doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest to be great. I found a 27” Cinema Display at a thrift store for 15$ and it’s a great pair for my M1 MBP a 2k monitor, webcam and speakers? Yes please and it’s $1,585 cheaper? Yep I’ll take that

I thought about this very thing myself but felt that the studio with ultra was better in the long run. I did talk to Apple about using my old imac as a monitor and they did seem to indicated that this was possible. So buying a iMac pro with a Studio would be a great idea if it actually works. Maybe you should test that.

Love my 27" 2019 iMac 8 core i9 with 2TB storage. My 2010 iMac is still going well but has problems with video creation! Currently being used to digitise all my old VHS videos.

It still sure is a powerful machine. My concern would be dropping 3 grand on a computer that won’t get macOS updates in about a year from now

Unfortunately $3000 to $4000 is Still way too high for me to afford. I'm like dirt poor.

I have the iMac of the same year model as the iMac Pro but it is a CTO model with a 4.2Ghz Quad i7. I love it.

This video is proof that we still need a new 27 iMac. I want a big screen to play some casual games or play movies. I don’t need the performance of a Mac studio.

I am seriously considering getting the iMac Pro as my first desktop computer. I have been using Mac computers since college and have enjoyed them ever since. I also prefer the x86 architecture over the ARM architecture, just because I run Windows 10 on my Mac. So I just like how I’m getting the best of both worlds in a single machine.

Those bezels are amazing! They're even bigger (or seem like it because of the smaller screen) on my 21.5" iMac. 😁

I'm a freelance video editor and colorist, so I mainly work in Adobe and Davinci Resolve. I have a 16 inch MacBook Pro, the 8 core i9 version with 64 gb of ram and 8gb of video ram. Works well for a mobile machine. But my desktop was getting pretty weak, its just a normal 5k iMac from 2017, quad core i7 with 32 gb of ram and the graphics isnt too bad with the radeon 580 also with 8gb of video ram. I was considering the Mac studio and getting a separate monitor. But ultimately for various reasons and the price, I felt it best to skip it for now. I had considered the iMac Pro, as it felt like a solid middle ground between the Mac Pro and what I have now, especially with the machine I needed basically being the holdover until my next big upgrade. But admittedly with iMacs, I don't like buying used. Never know how well someone cared for it, mainly in regards to utilizing fan speed apps to keep the cpu as cool as possible (apple allows CPU temps to get way too high), and also dust build up. I thought about refurbished from apple, but it was still very expensive. So I did some digging, and OWC is selling refurbished iMac Pros right now, for less than half the price. Some of the specifics confuse me, but OWC is obviously very reliable so I trusted them, and I don't regret it. What it seems is that I got refurbished unit, sealed by apple, but then upgraded by OWC, so it's as close to a new machine as possible. All of these refurbished models come with the 10 core xeon(my personal favorite since it has the highest turbo boost and still above 3ghz base clock) and the radeon Vega 56 graphics card, and 1tb of storage. This tells me these are base model machines from 2019 when apple cut off the 8 core model. The nice part however is OWC will open the machine up and upgrade the ram for you. So I put in 128gb of ram. Buying this exact model from apple wouldve cost nearly $7000, I got it for $2500. It runs very well, installing a fan speed app and setting it to max speed when it begins to heat up keeps temps below 75C under load, and ultimately it just works great for what I do👍🔥

Yes I would. And this type of video is classic Luke Miani; Providing a valuable resource to his subscribers to become better educated and informed shoppers for their Apple products 😎

Hey @lukemiani is there a chance you could do the iMac Pro vs Mac Studio editing video but concentrate on timeline smoothness and how they both handle effects etc. I’ve been super curious how both the iMac Pro or Mac Studio handle real world edits full of effects and different speed ramps or noise reduction. Keep Up the solid work 🤙

I am still very much considering this now in jan 2023 honestly - the recent release of m2 pro mini though is enticing, and part of me wants to hold out to what the m2 or m3 version of this larger imac will be. But i've been using a late 2013 imac for photo work, so im certainly not as 'needy' as many creators and anything will be an upgrade

I’m still owning the iMac Pro 2017 and now added the MacBook Pro M1 Pro to the family! The iMac Pro is a monster of a machine to these days!

Love these videos. Thanks for making them. You are in the real world and are conscious of value like me.

Luke, great video as usual. I am thinking of upgrading my 64GB 8-core trashcan for an iMac Pro with a Vega 64. For single core performance, is the 8-core better than the 10 core? I found one on eBay for $1400.

I rewatched your video from last year of how you edited videos on the new 24" iMac and found it faster in many ways and I'm a bit confused now. I've had 27" iMacs since 2013 and despite the value proposition of a used 2020 5k or 2017 iMac Pro model for close to the price of an M1, I still think I would go for an Apple Silicon model as right now i need it for 4k multicam video editing and some light photo work. If I was doing music production with orchestral soft synths i definitely would go with an iMac that supports far more Ram, 64gigs or more would be better suited for that task and far more affordable than a comparably equipped Mac Studio or MB Pro.

Hey luke you make the best vids Keep it up! Quick question do you think I should buy a 2018 15-inch MacBook pro because the price has gone wayyy down

I use a CAD software for 3D modeling on a 2017 iMac 3.0 GHz Quad core with dedicated graphics with no problem, I bought it cheap on ebay before swapping for an SSD, it runs very well.

From my perspective, the microphone definitely sounded better on the 5 year old iMac Pro. I'm on my iPhone, perhaps that's why idk... Thx for all your great videos.

Comparing at price also gets us a better comparison at performance. However, how does your iMac Pro compare to a buffed up m1 iMac?

I upgraded my 2019 i5 based 27inch iMac (non-Pro) to a 9900K, 128Gb RAM and a sick NVMe SSD; Windows 10 on another SSD in a TB3 external enclosure; and a Radeon 6800XT as an eGPU. It smashes more or less anything - awesome

This week I had the harddisk exchanged for a 1TB SSD in my 2017 27" iMac. Great, feels like a new iMac.

I bought a refurbished iMac Pro w/ Vega 56 & 10-core three months ago from some IT guys out of a school near me. The speakers sound bad and even have a delay, but I paid $1350 for it and can spend that saved money on speakers if I cared. Best machine you can have from Apple that runs Bootcamp.

Hi Luke, great video and overview about difference between apple silicon and this last high power intel machine. Since 3 years i have moved from windows based Thinkpad workstation to an Macbook pro 15" both are using Intel technology, but MACOS is much efficiently and the windows 10 bootcamp was used less and less. Can you tell which wallpaper to you use at you PC comparison ?

Yes. Thanks I’ll look into one.

Good points you made. But one thing needs to be considered: Apple´s Update policy. Since Apple announces that the new OS is already no more available for anything older than some Late 2016 models, it s a question of time since all INTEL Macs won t get the MacOS ...and what this means you can count on one hand. You have to stick with what you have....esp. when it comes to Adobe products, that s a critical point.

I just found your iMac Pro listing on eBay. I wish I could afford it 😩 I really want a Mac Studio with M1 Max but I feel I’d be just as happy with this iMac Pro 🤩 especially since I’m currently using a 2015 base MacBook Pro with updated ssd. I hope you find a good buyer soon!

Already bought one and checked your video out for a second opinion. You confirmed my choice was right. Absolutely beast machines!

I did in fact purchase one a month ago. 3.2GHz 8-core with 64GB of RAM, 2TB SSD, and Radeon Vega 64 Pro 16GB graphics card. This was a much needed upgrade from my long-in-the-tooth late 2012 3.2GHz 4-core Mac Pro with an added 8GB Radeon RX-580 and 16GB of RAM. Did what I could with that machine to speed it up, but I have been seen exponential performance gains from the 2017 iMac Pro. Very happy with this purchase, of which I believe I paid $3,100 for on eBay. I added an external PCIe breakout box with 500W powersupply and a non-pro version of the Radeon Vega 64 8GB graphics card. This thing smokes through the heaviest Photoshop workloads as well as video editing and rendering. Worthy investment. Grab yours today before the prices go up again (because hoarders- toilet paper, US minted coins, etc.).

I'm debating whether I should get an M2 Macbook Air with 16gb ram and 512gb hd for $1690 or a base M1 Macbook Pro with 16gb ram and 512gb hd for $1978. Any recommendations?

One benefit of getting the Mac Studio and the Studio display is that the Studio Display can be easily used as a secondary monitor or you can switch out the computer that is attached to it. The iMac display is not as easily converted

I think a key selling point is the universal compatibility with apps that have not yet been adapted to Apple Silicon which makes it very good for developers or people who still want to work on cyber security and other stuff

just picked one up for $940!!! very capable and fast machine also with a beautiful 27in 5k

How long do you think this will get MacOS software support for?

This is one (or maybe THE) most sexy imac ever released... I expend more than a year dreaming about this computer but went for a maxed out macbook pro 16" i9 instead because I needed the portability.. but these cheap Imac Pros maybe it's a great buy at this point

Great video! For someone like me who almost never crunches video, a good intel iMac would be great and throw in a nice m1 MBA for mobile stuff and I think you'd have a great pair complementing each other.

Great video wow. Can you list the hardware you use on this iMac so I can look at prices? Please. I have one and is running slow so I would like to update mine. I love the screen size and is 5k so not sure I’ll get used to anything else 😊 Thank you very much

I miss the 27" iMacs so much....In the summer I move to my terrace with my iMac and that is really a pain with a Mac Studio and all the additional components. A MacBook or even the 24" iMac is no alternative for me because I need the screen size...

the fact that there's no Apple Silicon 27" iMac basically saves this machine haha

Just snagged a 8 core, 1 TB, 64gb, and Vega 64 for under $1500. I am happy to have this as my last intel mac.

Still using my late 2015 iMac 27" - but needed an upgrade so went for a 'as new' second hand iMac Pro 2020. This will do all I need for a few years, while I wait for 'M' technology to be fully optimised and my app developers to no longer need Rosetta to run their apps but native on Apple Silicon.

the other big plus for iMac Pro is upgradability, of course it's a quite finicky process, but it's worth the effort.. up to 512GB memory+8tb internal storage+18core cpu👀..

and I did that just a few months ago - got a "like new" iMac Pro for a price similar to that of just a new Studio Display. For privat use it's got all the power needed, and I prefer the all-in-one design of the iMac Pro. I'm not a fan of the Apple Studio box design, the space grey iMac Pro looks so much cooler on my desk. Beauty over power :-)

Hey Luke, do you think it would make sense to go with a refurbished imac pro vs M1 mac mini? I can get a imac pro with better specs at a better price once the monitor is included, but I wanted to ask your opinion.

Got two iMac pros on eBay each less than $1000. These things rock. Duel boot, and a 5K monitor with plenty of horsepower. It don’t get no better.

I’ve been looking at buying a refurbished iMac Pro. It’s a 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56. It’s the exact same price as the current brand new M3 iMac base model. I’m looking at doing some audio recording in Logic, some video editing either in Final Cut or DaVinci. Any advice on which would be best? Thanks.

Yes, you are right. But - if you rendering or gaming on your iMac Pro you have a "Jet-Fan-Plane" on the desk. And if anyone buy a used iMac Pro jet, what is in the next year when the m2 and m3 released. Next point is energy consumption, what is getting more importent.

If Apple doesn't phase it out very quickly in terms of software, then it'll surely be my next upgrade!

I not only would, but very close to, I did! Not your speced-out 27" model, but I paid £1,000 ($1,299) in October 2021 for a re-furbished iMac Pro: iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017) Processor 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Memory 16 GB 2400 MHz DDR4 Graphics Radeon Pro 560 4 GB For me and my business (publishing) this has been an excellent choice. It does everything I need, including normal HD video work, with ease. Macs last a long time, which is what makes them such good value. Thanks for another excellent video, Luke.

That iMac Pro microphone sounds *way* better than the Studio Display's. Much more bass comes through, much better EQ overall.

I would be concerned about how long Apple will support it and provide major version OS updates. It’s one of those things that sticks in my head when I shop for even slightly older Macs these days. That’s one thing that would push me towards Apple Silicon. Great video, keep it up.

(Dreamy sigh) My last 24" iMac literally exploded when the power supply went out, and destroyed the GPU and Logic Board along with it. And at the time, I didn't have the money to replace all of the components, it was out of warranty, so I ended up falling back on a cheaper Windows pc. The iMac Pro is an amazing system, and definitely worth the money. I imagine by the time I can afford one again though, they won't hold a candle to whatever is currently on the market at the time :) I loved mine for photo & video editing.

I’d totally get one of these purely because of the Space Grey design

I think the 2019 27" i9 iMac was an insane deal. Fastest single-core performance at the time. Eight cores. Vega 48 8GB, 64GB Ram, etc. and can be had for $1200. Not too shabby.

I have one since early 2018 and it’s my daily day work computer and have the same one at work I have not seen any reason to update a new computer as I get the stuff done without sacrificing performance.. I believe it amazing computer to have

One reason I don't hear often enough: The screen! The blacks are so much better and the viewing angle is so much better than that of the M1 iMac.

Non-pro here. I bought a 2017 iMac 27" with 16 GB and 512GB SSD for $650 this spring. I got that same screen, but a 720p webcam.

I just got a very old 27’ iMac second hand for £75 and use it as a DVD / media player as chrome runs on it so it can use Disney plus / Netflix :)

Weather you like it or not x86 intel macs are compelling for a lot of people even in the upper midrange to high end, we are still waiting for duel m1 ultra Mac pros apple

So you buy a 27” Intel iMac/Pro, use it for a few years, then turn the display into an external monitor for your future M chip device. 😎

Is it possible this will increase in price (or hold persistently) since it's going to be nearly the best/performant way to keep a Mac while still being able to dual boot Windows?

Would it be possible to use the iMac Pro as a display for iMac mini m2 pro eventually some time in future ? Kind of an investment protection when upgrading to a second hand Mac mini avoiding to buy a separate display

The big problem I have with folks like Luke recommending machines like this, is the fact that Apple is dropping support for Intel based hardware for upgrades to MacOS. This will shut people out of a lot of the Apple software (final cut pro, for example) and features of MacOS that only run on Apple silicon.

I have a built-out MacPro circa 2010 (my "hackintosh"), and it still does okay for basic Adobe Suite apps -- I don't use it for intensive video work. The components in these older systems are insanely robust, which is why it's lasted so long. I worry that Apple's tendency to orphan older systems means at some point it will cease support for all Intel based Macs -- which is why my new system won't be an IMac Pro 😞

I got the latest iMac 2020 with i9 10-core and radeon 5700 xt 16 gb 2 years ago. Bought it with 1 tb ssd and upgraded the ram to 128 for ultra cheap price by myself. Actually it is a steal with 5k display and keyboard/mouse. But the best thing with the intel imac is bootcamp for me. I’m not playing game for years. I missed to play so decided to got a gaming pc. I was about to build a gaming pc but gave a try to bootcamp before doing it. I was really shocked, because I got 150 fps with on battlefield 3 at 3k resolution ultra details. Tried metro 2033 redux and got 100+ fps with aa off. Team fortress 2 150+ fps with full details. FPS games damn smooth with my 34 inch 165 hz external monitor. So I can use it as a gaming pc as well and I’m really happy as a casual gamer. I can play most games that I like with ultra details. Maybe you can do it with m macs by softwares like parallels desktop but I’m not sure it will handle the games like bootcamp.

That upgraded Plaid in the Omaze commercial looks good! I don't want one, but it sure does look nice. An iMac Pro could be a very good deal and a very good machine for the right folks.

Just bought the base model for 1200$, amazing deal!

Easy buy. Lots of firepower to run virtualization using Fusion. Very interesting machine.