iMac Pro

[PB]

With Apple's latest announcements, what do you think of the proposed iMac Pro ?

':shock:'

[Karl Ottenstein]

Bump. Anyone have an iMac Pro?

Here's the link to the Apple forums with the reports of random crashing.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/desktop_computers/imac_pro

[Anonymous]

I am very interested in responses as I am contemplating purchase of an iMac Pro.
And, interested in how many cores should I buy.
As the cores go up 8 to 18 the clock speed goes down. What is the right combo.

Appreciate input

Jon

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the late reply, I'm not often on here.
I'm using a 10 core imac pro with no problems. It has the fastest single core speeds in the lineup and 10 cores is enough for rendering. A bonus is the 16gb Vega GPU which works a treat with even big models.
No kps or any other issues.
Archicad doesn't yet work on Mojave (they've depreciated open GL). But I'm sure that'll come right with later betas.

[Anonymous]

Duplicate post deleted by moderator. (Please do not post the same content in more than one place, or start a new topic when one already exists.)

[Anonymous]

I am posting this to hopefully help others avoid the nightmare I'm dealing with. I have been working with ArchiCad 21 for Mac on an old 2013 MacBook Pro with no issues for a year. In late April 2018 I purchased a new iMac Pro, 8 core, standard build with the exception of a 2T SSD HD added to the configuration.

I have owned and used Apple computers since 1983 and have migrated data many times from older Apple computers to newer ones. The new iMac Pro purchased in April has had issues since day 1. Migration failed. Restoring the lost files from Time Machine backups did not work.

I just lost 30 hours of work due to the ArchiCad project files not saving when commanded to. Graphisoft library files and logs show that I saved, however Time Machine backups have no corresponding saved files.

I have lost ArchiCad functions numerous times since trying to work on this iMac Pro. Orbit failed. There are 2 xyz vertices showing in 3D views. The renovation filter failed and all work saved under 'existing' in renovation disappeared. Dimensioning disappeared. Attempting to 'fix' the project files via manual 'open' did not work and resulted in error messages saying there was data loss.

I spoke at length and screen shared with a great ArchiCad tech and he cannot explain, nor fix, the issues I'm having.

I spoke with an authorized Apple tech and he told me he's seeing massive, hardware related issues with all the iMac Pros. He recommended I demand a full refund from Apple and buy a different computer.

So I'm posting this to hopefully help others avoid this type of nightmare.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Anna wrote:
I am posting this to hopefully help others avoid the nightmare I'm dealing with.

Thank you, Anna. Incredibly sorry to hear about your experience!

Since I started this thread, I broke down and purchased an iMac Pro and (knock on wood) have not had any issues running anything on it. ARCHICAD 21 and 22 run smoothly for me. I did purchase from the Apple Refurbished Store online, which may have resulted with me getting a machine that was more thoroughly tested in the US after return (as well as a hefty discount). I had one kernel panic the second day I had the iMac Pro and have had none since OS 10.13.5 was released 3 days after I received the machine, and may have something to do with the stability I've experienced.

Anna's experience - with heartbreaking loss of work and productivity - should serve as a warning though. I continue to follow the iMac Pro forums almost daily and there are dozens of people with a variety of problems. 10.13 5 has not solved things for any of them. Many of the problems are related to external storage devices. None of us know how many iMac Pros have been sold, so it is impossible to guess at the percentage odds of getting a bad machine when only 30 or so people are complaining online. Some people report having exchanged their machine several times, or having their logic board replaced multiple times. Some have sent theirs back for a refund, as Anna is considering. The overall sentiment in the forums at this point is that Apple has no clue as to what is wrong with the iMac Pros that are malfunctioning (or even if it is a hardware or a software issue).

I'm happy with mine at this point ... but given reported negative experiences, I could not in good conscience recommend a purchase at this time to anyone for whom this expensive machine would be the only one available for production. Definitely a gamble until Apple takes public responsibility for what is going wrong with some of these machines and offers a solution. Their silence is not surprising, but is really stupid customer relations.

[Ralph Wessel]

I follow a number of tech forums. Without fail, there are always a certain number of people who are experiencing weird issues with hardware/software (just look at this forum for example).

I haven't noticed an unusual level of problems with iMac Pros. Notable problems rise above a certain threshold and – if large enough – attract a response from Apple. A recent example is the more recent MacBook Pro keyboards, which can easily be crippled by a tiny piece of grit and can't be sorted out by the owner. Apple are now repairing them for free.

The problem is that current tech problems can be extremely difficult to diagnose. Component failures aren't necessarily a black and white "it either works or doesn't". Failures in RAM or storage devices can be like this, where even a single switch or block is intermittently failing.

A good technician can often narrow down the cause, but it can be time-consuming. Have you taken it to an Apple Store (or equivalent) for diagnosis?

[PB]

A brief update (it’s been hectic here):

iMac Pro is working very well - performance jump from the MBP retina is enormous.
For AC it works well for me, with the exception that sometimes the screen will not fully refresh and the view needs to be nudged over a little before being able to continue working (video driver issue?)
The ease with which numerous AC projects can be open at the same time is a real help (5 to 7 projects is not unusual).
3D output in AC is still slow - view generating seems to still be single thread, or feels like it !
Screen size and quality should not be ignored: it’s a genuine pleasure to work with: This alone has convinced a colleague and more than one client to migrate from their PC to an iMac.
Performance with Twinmotion is an absolute delight: high quality and very, very fast.
Purchased with Apple finance: As a monthly cost of doing our work, the decision was quickly made, and not regretted for an instant since...

[PB]

iMac Pro working very well for us (two of them), but I feel for Anna - a truly horrible experience.

[Stress Co_]

Karl Ottenstein:

Karl wrote:
I'm happy with mine at this point ... but given reported negative experiences, I could not in good conscience recommend a purchase at this time to anyone for whom this expensive machine would be the only one available for production.

PB:

PB wrote:
iMac Pro working very well for us (two of them).

Anyone have fresh input?