Apple Tries Again To Sell Professionals An All-In-One Mac
Summary
Apple launches iMac Pro.
Apple needs more than a stopgap for pro users.
Apple’s T2 chip slaps a band-aid on Intel.
Rethink Technology business briefs for December 14, 2017.
Apple launches iMac Pro
Today, Apple (AAPL) began sales of its iMac Pro, a more powerful version of iMac aimed a professional users. The new iMacs feature a new space gray finish, and powerful hardware in the form of Intel (INTC) Xeon W Skylake processors and AMD (AMD) Vega graphics processors.
The iMac Pro also features the ports it would have been nice to see on the MacBook Pro: Thunderbolt 3, USB 3, 10 Gigabit ethernet, and an SD card slot. The iMac Pro is available with 8 to 18 core Xeon processors, Vega 56 or 64 graphics, up to 128 GB of memory, and up to 4 TB SSD.
The lowest end “standard configuration” (available now) lists for $4999, while the highest end (available in 6-8 weeks) maxes out at $13,199. Certainly, the pricing is “professional,” but I find myself wondering how many professionals will be drawn to the iMac Pro. Apple seems once again to be telling professionals that they only need an all-in-one Mac.
Yet there are many professionals who would have no use for the iMac Pro. Most machine-learning researchers would prefer to run their software on an Nvidia (NVDA) Tesla V100, or the new Titan V. These have become the standard platforms for AI development.
Scientists and engineers who need supercomputer capability on a budget would also be inclined to look at the Titan V, which lists for considerably less, at $2999, than an iMac Pro. Since modern supercomputers increasingly rely on GPUs such as the Nvidia GV100 for most of the numerical heavy lifting, a professional user could combine one or more Titan Vs in a relatively cheap PC platform for much greater computational capability than is offered by the iMac Pro.
Source:- https://seekingalpha.com/article/4132009-apple-tries-sell-professionals-one-mac
