Quote:
Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm
Well there can be a noticeable difference in performance, for the right definition of noticeable  Easy to show in a micro benchmark that looks at memory bandwidth. But for real world Pro Tools use... I would not worrying about that specifically, well not compared to all the other stuff... the iMac is kinda a laptop architecture systems shoved into an all-in-one desktop package. It's larger performance issues for Pro Tools may be thermal management performance limits/throttling... which is what you touch on with your Mac Mini. While I expect the i9 in an iMac to outperform an i7 in a mac mini for lots of workloads, comparing Mini and iMac performance differences under heavy load/CPU throttling is an interesting interesting question and I'd not want to guess how they perform in that situation. You really want both side by side running the same workload to see.
The iMac Pro has a Xeon W CPU and it does have quad memory channels and a lot higher-end thermal design. On memory: it's a PITA as there is no memory access door to allow easy memory DIMM upgrades. That's likely becase there are more DIMMs supported and you would gave to have to gave large access doors, and the heavier end cooling heat pipes and venting for the Xeon get in the way more (and you also need more cooling airflow for all those DIMMs). The Xeon has ECC and that and the extra cores on the higest end Xeon Ws really the only benefit, otherwise these core for core are just equal to desktop Core i9/i7 processors... but more to the real desktop versions of those Core i7/i9 CPUs with higher TDP that the near laptop ones used elsewhere. And at the very high end can a iMac Pro really keep all those cores running and the cool enough, the thermal design in the iMac Pro looks pretty light for a high-end system, so I'm dubious, but don't have one to try. Basically I'm just opposed to the design tradeoffs of jamming all that heat in either an iMac or iMac Pro into a compact all-in-one computer and really really wish Apple would finally deliver a serious Mac Pro computer for you know, actual professional users.
The Mac Mini finally got an upgrade and is a nice little box, but still expensive. It's also a close to laptop design, personally I'd stick with it and wait and see if Apple is able to deliver a decent new Mac Pro and a non-totally-obscene price. Apple keeps screwing up the high end, other folks will step in. Dell announced pretty impressive looking Precision 7000 workstations this week, maybe time to wake up Apple (not that I actually would buy anything from Dell).
Editorial over |
This fellow is comparing video benchmarks between the iMac i9 8 core and the iMac Pro, and is very complimentary to the i9 iMac. He states that heat and throttling are NOT issues. The tradeoff is the graphics card and the number of thunderbolt ports. Others seem to recommend the 2019 i9 iMac 8 core for audio. They claim that this is the only "bone" Apple is throwing to users like us. As I'm sure you're aware now, the Mac Pro comes in at 6 grand. Both the iMac i9 8 core and the iMac Pro (base model, 32 gb RAM and 1tb ssd) seem to be compelling choices. But the i9 is a bit cheaper. Yet even though he is animate regarding the heat and fan noise of the iMac i9 being excellent; the iMac Pro's heat dissipation just seems to be more robust...industrial strength. The Mac Pro at $6,000 grand is an engineering marvel, if the claims are true-maxed out processors running indefinitely at full capacity with no thermal issues. If Apple let go of it's neurotic obsession with "thin", and refocused their efforts on quiet and cool, well we'd have nothing to complain about other than price, would we? Oh, and their ridiculous obsession with making us all buy dozens of adapters and port bays...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X40N0HSm6Yw
By the way, my 2011 17" i7 MacBook Pro is getting long in the tooth. It ALWAYS had heat issues, and Apple actually replaced the graphics and motherboard (out of warranty-free of charge--class action lawsuit). Any ideas on replacing? My reading of the reports shows that the 2019 i9 isn't AS HOT as the 2018. Are there any MacBook Pros that can handle on-the-fly, portable, untethered editing, both Pro Tools and video? The lack of ports and MagSafe is distressing. Not to mention the fact that my UAD Laptop solo express card SHARC won't be usable; AND I'll miss having 2 internal 1tb SSD's. But the UAD Arrow is thunderbolt bus powered. I digress. But the heat thing with Apple is getting to be a boring story at this point; not to mention the lack of ports on their pro laptops...
Oh, and the iMac i9 8 core does NOT use the T2 chip, for whatever that's worth. And the RAM is EASILY upgradable...
Here's the thermal test on the i9 iMac...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXIaSXU99-k