If you going to build the same exact spec it's not that far off from the actual BOM for the parts, in fact going for the exact same build will cost you more that that what Apple is charging.
So Vega Pro 64 (Vega FE equivalent) 8 core Xeon-W build from Apple is $5599
If you would build the same PC it would be:
~$1200 for the CPU (Xeon W-2145, not available to the public yet)
~$400 for 32GB ECC 2666mhz RAM from a good vendor
~$500 for a Xeon-W workstation motherboard
~$480 for 1 TB PCIE SSD like the Samsung 960 Pro
~$1000 for VEGA Frontier Edition
~$250 for a good case
~$220 for a good power supply
~$120 for CLC water cooling for the CPU
~$100 for case fans
~$1300 for a professional 4K monitor
This comes out to the total of ~$6870
Sure you can build an almost comparable PC from other parts at a fraction of the price but if you want to replicate the build in the iMac it will cost you much more.
Also AFAIK you can connect a second screen the TB ports do support Thunderbolt displays and DisplayPort.
I didn't said you should, but in all honesty upgrade-ability is so overrated in the PC world.
Other than storage I haven't upgraded a single PC I've owned in the past decade if not more simply because at the point when upgrade was needed it was pointless.
Don't get me wrong I wouldn't buy this iMac, I don't need it, and I don't want it, and I would buy a PC, but Apple is pretty far from skinning people on prices this time around.
> I haven't upgraded a single PC I've owned in the past decade if not more simply because at the point when upgrade was needed it was pointless.
Maybe it's becoming less common to upgrade, but it doesn't mean people don't still do it. I've upgraded several machines in the last decade, for myself and others. Not everyone can afford to just chuck out an upgradeable PC and buy a new one.
> I didn't said you should, but in all honesty upgrade-ability is so overrated in the PC world.
You can keep a screen for example longer than the internals of the PC. Macs are just a waste in general because they are not made to be taken apart and to be serviced. And certainly NOT by the user.
> Other than storage I haven't upgraded a single PC I've owned in the past decade if not more simply because at the point when upgrade was needed it was pointless.
Me neither, but for a different reason: I moved over to the Mac ecosystem 6 years ago, and haven't been able to upgrade since then. Except for adding some memory to a mac mini.
I'm holding out for the new Mac Pro. If it's upgradable in a meaningful way, I'll snap one up.
High end case which is similarly visually pleasing, $250 is actually fairly cheap I could've suggested a custom case :)
With a Xeon-W and a Vega64 ~200$ for a decent power supply isn't that far fetched, you'll be looking at 850W with preferably 1000W+ PSU so it could stay cool under pressure.
And no the iMac doesn't have a CLC but it has a cooling system you cannot replicate, and if you haven't noticed an air cooler that can keep a socket 2066 CPU sufficiently cool would cost you about as much as a CLC
$100 buys you a few maglev low noise fans nothing too fancy.
VEGA64 has a 300W TDP and can pull over 400W underload.
The Xeon-W has a TDP of 140W and can pull 200W under load.
Add in cooling, most radial fans are 4-6A @ 12V which means they can pull upto 80W.... The Delta radial fan on the Vega 64/56 air pulls 60W on it's own at full speed.
High end motherboards consume 40-80W, memory also will consume about 5W per DIMM.
And you have the built in screen which can easily consume 200W or more at peak brightness.
So I hope you have a tasty hat, because there is no way that the iMac Pro isn't coming with a near 1kW PSU.
I have a 2017 loaded iMac, i7 (TDP 90W), Radeon 580 (TDP 150W). Fans etc, abound.
It's certainly not the same, but the built in screen definitely does not consume 200W, and though I can't determine the raw number, going from 'dimmest' to 'brightest' increases power draw 70W.
Guess what size PSU all of the above comes with? 310W.
We shall see. I actually really like the iMac Pro, and would enjoy having one, I don't want to see it fail, I'm just struggling to see how you're getting more than three times the heat dissipation load in what they say is the same 'body size'.
Same thing there: to get the actual thing: a 5120 x 2880 IPS LED screen you have to pay a pretty hefty premium. Quick search shows the LG is around $1300-$1500. (?)
You can get a computer with "80-90%" the specs of this, and pay 50% the price. But the point is if you want to match 100% of the spec you'll likely pay 100% if not 110% of this price too.
Yep 70-80% for 50-60% of the price is about right, you can replace the Intel Xeon for a cheaper i9 or even cheaper AMD TR or even cheaper Zen if you don't care about matching the performance.
TBH most of the savings are from the CPU/motherboard once you drop the Xeon.
You quickly get into the whole "It's definitely not professional without ECC" and the stupid intel market segmentation. Intel makes it really hard and expensive to build quick (as in single core quick) workstations with ECC. If you are absolutely hellbent on 5K and a 4Ghz+ with ECC then it's going to cost a bit. So while you could get a lot of the performance at a lower price point, things like the ECC makes it hard to compare in some aspects.
Really good doesn’t mean professional. Reference monitors are well over 10k dollars and the factory calibration on Apple screens is fairly close. Certainly better than you’d get on a < 1000 dollar monitor.
Nope, the closest thing you can get to the iMac Pro display is likely something like a the Dell PrimeColor UP2718Q which costs about $1500 or the UP2715K which goes for around $1300.
I specifically didn't suggest it because you can't connect it to anything that doesn't supports Thunderbolt 3 monitors since it doesn't have a display port connection, so you can't use that with a PC in any reliable way.
Yes, that's what I said. Parent price breakdown comment had "~$1300 for a professional 4K monitor" but I'm assuming you meant 5K monitor instead of 4K.
There aren’t good 5K monitors really for the PC they are either 30hz or requir 2 display port connectors which means you see 2 screens and there are calibration and sync issues the LG ones simply don’t work.
So my closest thing would be a 10bit calibrated 4K professional monitor which is well over $1000.
It's for people who don't want to run 2 screens. I know a couple people who ordered one this morning and do no intense editing whatsoever. They just like having the latest and most expensive toys from Apple.
I bought the 27-inch iMac in 2011. I don't mind the single screen, it helps focus actually.
I think it was the last version before Retina screens and SSDs, and that's why it's really heavy: 30.5 pounds (13.8 kg)! When I moved abroad, it was a massive pain to transport.
The video card gave up last year, and now I can't be bothered to repair it.
A laptop is just so much more convenient. And they're not as expensive and underpowered as their desktop counterparts anymore.
I'll probably never gonna by a desktop PC or Mac ever again.
A $100 video card would make a desktop PC usable. High-Sierra bricked my 2010 27" iMac. Not sure whether it's worth fixing.
Not as pretty but I miss PC hardware. I'd leave the case open so I could save a few minutes when I'd add/change memory, hard drive, video card, CPU... For me, a 7 year old PC would be turned into a Linux box.
I guess it is a glass half-full/half-empty situation but I see a high-spec workstation that you can easily move and is about the same price (compared to other high-spec workstations).
$5000 is the base price. Fully specced it's north of $13,000. I can't imagine who would consider that a good deal, especially with the release of the new Mac Pro expected early next year.
Those users are likely to be disappointed since Apple did not commit to shipping it in 2018. All they said was that the new Mac Pro would not ship in 2017.
Exactly. Early 2018 is insanely optimistic, since we've heard nothing about it since the pre-announcement. If I had to bet, I'd say 2nd-half 2018 at the absolute earliest.
I think it'll either start at a slightly lower spec or a slightly larger price so not to cannibalize too much of the iMac Pro. I suspect it'd be a dual socket machine, so Xeon W is not an option, leaving E5 or E7 as possibilities.
It'd be awesome if Apple pulled off the technically amazing feat of having a Xeon Phi as the only CPU, but I am not sure it could even be done (and with no virtualization support for it, if it's even desirable). Still would be cool to a level only Apple uses to do.
The price, compare with a similar PC, is quite competitive. But that other systems are modular, no need to buy all the RAM at the same time for example. I will pass and continue waiting for the Mac Pro.
So Vega Pro 64 (Vega FE equivalent) 8 core Xeon-W build from Apple is $5599
If you would build the same PC it would be:
~$1200 for the CPU (Xeon W-2145, not available to the public yet)
~$400 for 32GB ECC 2666mhz RAM from a good vendor
~$500 for a Xeon-W workstation motherboard
~$480 for 1 TB PCIE SSD like the Samsung 960 Pro
~$1000 for VEGA Frontier Edition
~$250 for a good case
~$220 for a good power supply
~$120 for CLC water cooling for the CPU
~$100 for case fans
~$1300 for a professional 4K monitor
This comes out to the total of ~$6870
Sure you can build an almost comparable PC from other parts at a fraction of the price but if you want to replicate the build in the iMac it will cost you much more.
Also AFAIK you can connect a second screen the TB ports do support Thunderbolt displays and DisplayPort.