New iMac Pro Has Up To 18 Cores

5k Retina screen, 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports   06-Jun-17

Yesterday's WWDC, traditionally the event where Apple state their intent for future hardware and software developments, saw the introduction of new specifications for the iMac range, with improved graphics and retina displays, as well as a new 10.5 inch iPad Pro, iOS 11, a home speaker system to compete with Amazon Echo etc called HomePod, but the biggest news for creators was the introduction of the  27 inch iMac Pro, with up to 18 Cores and a 5K display its got plenty of grunt for video and audio capabilities - though you'll have to wait until December - which in itself is a new thing - Apple don't usually announce that far in advance.

Its not the Mac Pro many content creators were hoping for. Why? The Mac Pro is a more modular user configurable ( PCI slots, four HD caddies) - we still have three of them put to good use here. Some schools of thought say that with the new native power of modern processors, there's no need for the PCI bus any more, though folks with lots of $$ invested in hardware will no doubt think differently.

But as Apple say, this is the most powerful Mac ever, with a new dual fan super cooling

Its not going to be cheap though, prices start at a whopping $4999.

iMac Pro Specs:

• 8 Core, 10 Core and 18 Core Xeon Processor models with Turbo Boost up to 4.5gHz
• AMD Radeon Pro Vega Graphics  - three times faster than previous iMac GPU, 8 or 16GB options
• 5K retina display with support for an additional 5k Display via TB3
• Up to 128GB ECC memory
• Up to 4TB SSD
• 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports
• 4 USB 3 ports
• 10GB Apple Ethernet
• New speaker system