iMac 2020 Review - Do You Even Need An iMac Pro

When it comes to using software that is optimized to take advantage of multiple cores, such as Final Cut Pro, there's an important lesson to keep in mind: not all apps are created equal when it comes to scaling with multiple cores. While some applications may be able to take full advantage of a machine with 10 or more cores, others may not scale as well.

In fact, if you're planning on using software that relies heavily on CPU and GPU power, such as video editing software or graphics-intensive applications, you'll want to look at the Imac Pro. This machine can be configured to have up to 18 cores, making it a powerful tool for demanding tasks. On the other hand, the standard Imac configuration may not offer the same level of performance.

One real-world example is exporting a 5-minute long 4K video from Final Cut with ProRes optimized footage. In this test, the export finished noticeably faster on the Imac Pro than on a 16-inch Macbook Pro that was maxed out. This highlights the significant difference in power between a desktop machine and a portable one like the Macbook Pro.

Apple has also listed Fortnite performance on their website, which can give you an idea of what to expect from this machine when it comes to gaming. While Fortnite may not be the most demanding game, it shows that the Imac is capable of handling more games in a decent and fun environment. However, if you're looking for a true gaming machine, this may not be the best option.

Another key feature of the Imac Pro is its Ethernet connectivity, which comes standard on the Imac Pro but is only available as an option on the regular Imac. This can be a major advantage when working from home and conducting video conferencing, as it reduces the risk of dropped connections.

In terms of specifications, the Imac Pro has double the amount of available memory compared to the previous model, and its SSD is much faster. These upgrades make it an attractive option for those who need a lot of power but want to save some money.

When it comes to who should buy this machine, it's worth considering your needs and budget. If you're a professional who relies heavily on CPU and GPU power, the Imac Pro is likely the better choice. However, if you can spec out the machine to meet your needs, the standard Imac configuration may be a more affordable option.

One potential consideration when buying an Imac is whether or not you want to wait for the new design with Apple Silicon. While Apple has committed to supporting the last batch of Intel Max processors for the full lifespan of a normal Mac, it's unclear when this machine will receive its own Apple Silicon upgrade. If you need it now, there's no reason to delay purchasing this machine.

Ultimately, the decision to buy an Imac Pro or wait for the new design comes down to your specific needs and priorities. While it may not be the most stylish machine, the Imac Pro is a powerful tool that can handle demanding tasks with ease. By considering your options carefully, you can make an informed decision about whether this machine is right for you.

In terms of aesthetics, some may find the bezels surrounding the display to be an issue. However, it's worth noting that these bezels are a nod to classic design and may not be a problem for everyone. The Imac Pro also has a gorgeous display, which makes up for any potential drawbacks in terms of design.

For those who need a machine that can handle demanding tasks, the Imac Pro is an excellent choice. With its powerful CPU and GPU, fast SSD, and double the available memory, this machine is well-suited for video editing, graphics-intensive applications, and other resource-hungry tasks. By taking advantage of the multi-core processor, users can take full advantage of the machine's capabilities and get more done in less time.

When it comes to daily use, the Imac Pro is a versatile machine that can handle everything from casual browsing to demanding creative tasks. With its powerful performance and range of connectivity options, this machine is an excellent choice for anyone who needs a reliable and powerful computer.

As with any major purchase, there are many factors to consider when buying an Imac Pro. By weighing your needs and budget carefully, you can make an informed decision about whether this machine is right for you. With its impressive specifications and powerful performance, the Imac Pro is an excellent choice for anyone who needs a reliable and powerful computer.

In conclusion, the Imac Pro is a powerful machine that can handle demanding tasks with ease. While it may not be the most stylish machine, its impressive performance and range of connectivity options make it an excellent choice for anyone who needs a reliable and powerful computer. By considering your options carefully and weighing your needs and budget, you can make an informed decision about whether this machine is right for you.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey it's chris apple just released an updated 2020 imac with lots of new features and a familiar design but it just might be the perfect work from home machine for most people so strap in this is going to be a detailed review for this review i got my hands on a config sporting the 3.6 gigahertz 10 core processor with 32 gigs of memory the one terabyte ssd with the gigabit and nano texture upgrades and in this video i'll be sharing my thoughts on the new webcam and the new mics my real world productivity and workflow experience gaming and also watching video content on this gorgeous screen as well as my thoughts on buying now versus waiting for an imac with apple silicon and lots lots lots more now i'm going to stick the time stamps for everything down in the description just in case you want to skip around although you shouldn't because it's all very interesting but we're gonna start things off by talking about something i've been asking about forever which is the new webcam the brand new 1080p webcam is anything but ordinary it's got baked in face detection and it uses the t2 chip inside to automatically tune things like exposure and tone mapping so basically it isn't just a dumb camera that's pointed at your face it's a smart camera that does everything that it can to make you look as good as possible now when you combine that with what apple calls a studio quality three mic array the results are pretty great for video conferencing hey it's chris and right now you're looking at my face and hearing my voice as it's being recorded from the brand new 2020 imac now this is a major massive super noticeable improvement as you might be able to tell right now you're looking at my face and hearing some audio as recorded straight out of the 16 inch macbook pro so you tell me can you see and hear any sort of a difference two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry i could not travel both and be one traveler long i stood and looked down one as far as i could to where it bent in the undergrowth then took the other as just as fair and having perhaps the better claim because it was grassy and wanted wear though as for that passing there had worn them really about the same another headlining feature that's brand new for the imac this year is the new nano texture glass which is designed to reduce glare while maximizing detail some manufacturers out there have coatings that reduce the glare that's very important here we're not just reducing the glare we're also keeping all that crispy detail now it is a 500 add-on and it's definitely not a must-have but having used it it's also definitely something i wouldn't want to now be without this technology first appeared as an option on the six thousand dollar pro display xdr and it really makes a massive difference in terms of making the screen more usable in difficult lighting situations now because the nano texture is etched right into the glass it can bounce light in a very specific way which is a much better way of solving the glare problem than using a matte chemical coating like other companies which actually scatters the light and reduces contrast the nano texture etching on the display does need to be cleaned by the included dry polishing cloth however so yeah you're not going to want to lose that but if for some reason you do you can actually get a replacement via apple care the screen itself here is a 5k display with 500 nits of brightness which isn't too bad and it includes true tone technology now to help it look as natural as possible in any lighting conditions and you guys know from past videos here on the channel that i'm a big fan of true tone it's really something that sets apple technology and their screens apart from other displays on other devices i can definitely notice the bump in quality over a similarly sized display that's only 4k especially when i'm pixel peeping or doing some photo editing if you want an example of what i'm talking about just go watch the last upload now the details and the colors really do pop off the screen here just like the website says so it's not just marketing hyperbole in my opinion it really does look excellent now technically speaking this isn't a true hdr display it is however an edr display which stands for extended dynamic range and honestly that is perfectly usable for the average consumer and even i would say for many pros you're still going to be getting 10 bit color depth per channel so yeah unless you want to upgrade to that pro display xdr for a lot more money then you're going to be very happy trust me and by the way it's pretty cool that this actually can power up to two external 6k displays for an insane three screen setup now as long as i'm talking about the screen this is a great time to just mention the updated speakers which really do sound great for things like music or watching movies you got this big screen sitting around i know there are people out there using this thing like a tv so if that's you then you should take comfort knowing that that's actually going to be a pretty good experience so without a doubt you're absolutely going to get room filling sound from these speakers and just to say that i threw it in here's a little demo although it's going to be hard to tell when you're watching a youtube video now when it comes to deciding which type of imac you should get whether it's a regular imac or some configuration of it or the imac pro you really have to think in terms of cores and more specifically which apps you're going to be using and how they utilize and scale for core usage so for instance if you're going to be using something like final cut pro that is optimized to take advantage of multiple cores in a way that certain adobe apps may not be so lesson of the day not all apps are going to scale for more cores now here's a good way to think about it there's actually really a split in terms of how many chords you can get on the imac versus the imac pro on the imac you can configure all the way up to 10 cores whereas the imac pro is really going to be 10 cores and up it goes up to 18 cores actually now in a real world test for me i exported about a 5 minute long 4k video from final cut with prores optimized footage and the export did actually finish noticeably faster than on my 16 inch maxed out macbook pro if you're trying to decide between going portable or getting a desktop you have to understand the 16-inch macbook pro is as pro as it gets it's as good as it gets in the portable lineup on the mac side of things but while it does have some desktop components and parts it's just dabbling in the desktop world whereas a desktop is fully desktop and the difference in power is actually pretty real now apple did list fortnite performance on the website so i did decide to give it a try just because and while there was some screen tearing initially at the default settings once i turned on v-sync then fortnite was very fun and perfectly playable at 60fps is this gonna be your dream gaming machine well no especially for the price but can you play some games even some aaa titles in a decent fun environment yeah absolutely we've got a 10 gig ethernet connection now that's something that comes standard on the imac pro i believe and it's nice to have that as an option at least on the regular imac that's particularly useful if you're going to be working from home and you got to do a lot of video conferences and you're tired of your connection dropping out we've also got double the available memory now versus the last model and the ssd is also much faster all right let's talk a little bit about who this is for and who should buy it especially with apple silicon looming on the horizon so first things first if you're a pro and you know it then you already know that you're looking at an imac pro or a mac pro again it's all about the cores and just to tack onto that if you're a person who's going to be relying on the cpu and the gpu all day consistently every day then you also are probably going to want to be looking at the imac pro on the other hand if you need a lot of power but need to save some money you can spec this thing out pretty impressively and get a lot done i mean i'm able to chew through pro res 4k multi-cam clips just fine in final cut on this machine and i suspect that there's going to be plenty of musicians photographers and designers who are also going to love this machine now in the looks department in the aesthetics department this is the same old design emphasis on old now is that really a real problem in the real world well no i mean this thing has a gorgeous display it's just that it's surrounded by those extra chunky and thick bezels which is unfortunate why don't we say instead of looking bad it just looks classic at the very end of the day i would say it comes down to what you can do with this machine rather than how it looks and with this machine you can do a lot at this point i would all but guarantee that apple's saving the new imac redesign for when apple silicon actually hits and when will that be i don't know your guess is as good as mine and that's part of the problem here when you're trying to make a buying decision which really begs the question should you buy this now or should you try to hold off and wait for an imac with apple silicon inside well here's the thing if you need it now i would say don't hesitate to actually pull the trigger and get it purchased why because apple has committed to fully supporting this machine and all intel max the last batch for the full lifespan of a normal mac all right so that's it for this video hope you enjoyed it leave your questions down in the comments don't forget to check out at daily tech spell daily tekk on instagram and twitter check out the after party that's our podcast it's usually out on fridays that's linked up down below and lastly i have to plug applehype.com also linked up because it's the best place for you to check in the mornings for an app an accessory and the one apple headline that you have to care about every day monday through friday i'll catch you guys in the next video laterhey it's chris apple just released an updated 2020 imac with lots of new features and a familiar design but it just might be the perfect work from home machine for most people so strap in this is going to be a detailed review for this review i got my hands on a config sporting the 3.6 gigahertz 10 core processor with 32 gigs of memory the one terabyte ssd with the gigabit and nano texture upgrades and in this video i'll be sharing my thoughts on the new webcam and the new mics my real world productivity and workflow experience gaming and also watching video content on this gorgeous screen as well as my thoughts on buying now versus waiting for an imac with apple silicon and lots lots lots more now i'm going to stick the time stamps for everything down in the description just in case you want to skip around although you shouldn't because it's all very interesting but we're gonna start things off by talking about something i've been asking about forever which is the new webcam the brand new 1080p webcam is anything but ordinary it's got baked in face detection and it uses the t2 chip inside to automatically tune things like exposure and tone mapping so basically it isn't just a dumb camera that's pointed at your face it's a smart camera that does everything that it can to make you look as good as possible now when you combine that with what apple calls a studio quality three mic array the results are pretty great for video conferencing hey it's chris and right now you're looking at my face and hearing my voice as it's being recorded from the brand new 2020 imac now this is a major massive super noticeable improvement as you might be able to tell right now you're looking at my face and hearing some audio as recorded straight out of the 16 inch macbook pro so you tell me can you see and hear any sort of a difference two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry i could not travel both and be one traveler long i stood and looked down one as far as i could to where it bent in the undergrowth then took the other as just as fair and having perhaps the better claim because it was grassy and wanted wear though as for that passing there had worn them really about the same another headlining feature that's brand new for the imac this year is the new nano texture glass which is designed to reduce glare while maximizing detail some manufacturers out there have coatings that reduce the glare that's very important here we're not just reducing the glare we're also keeping all that crispy detail now it is a 500 add-on and it's definitely not a must-have but having used it it's also definitely something i wouldn't want to now be without this technology first appeared as an option on the six thousand dollar pro display xdr and it really makes a massive difference in terms of making the screen more usable in difficult lighting situations now because the nano texture is etched right into the glass it can bounce light in a very specific way which is a much better way of solving the glare problem than using a matte chemical coating like other companies which actually scatters the light and reduces contrast the nano texture etching on the display does need to be cleaned by the included dry polishing cloth however so yeah you're not going to want to lose that but if for some reason you do you can actually get a replacement via apple care the screen itself here is a 5k display with 500 nits of brightness which isn't too bad and it includes true tone technology now to help it look as natural as possible in any lighting conditions and you guys know from past videos here on the channel that i'm a big fan of true tone it's really something that sets apple technology and their screens apart from other displays on other devices i can definitely notice the bump in quality over a similarly sized display that's only 4k especially when i'm pixel peeping or doing some photo editing if you want an example of what i'm talking about just go watch the last upload now the details and the colors really do pop off the screen here just like the website says so it's not just marketing hyperbole in my opinion it really does look excellent now technically speaking this isn't a true hdr display it is however an edr display which stands for extended dynamic range and honestly that is perfectly usable for the average consumer and even i would say for many pros you're still going to be getting 10 bit color depth per channel so yeah unless you want to upgrade to that pro display xdr for a lot more money then you're going to be very happy trust me and by the way it's pretty cool that this actually can power up to two external 6k displays for an insane three screen setup now as long as i'm talking about the screen this is a great time to just mention the updated speakers which really do sound great for things like music or watching movies you got this big screen sitting around i know there are people out there using this thing like a tv so if that's you then you should take comfort knowing that that's actually going to be a pretty good experience so without a doubt you're absolutely going to get room filling sound from these speakers and just to say that i threw it in here's a little demo although it's going to be hard to tell when you're watching a youtube video now when it comes to deciding which type of imac you should get whether it's a regular imac or some configuration of it or the imac pro you really have to think in terms of cores and more specifically which apps you're going to be using and how they utilize and scale for core usage so for instance if you're going to be using something like final cut pro that is optimized to take advantage of multiple cores in a way that certain adobe apps may not be so lesson of the day not all apps are going to scale for more cores now here's a good way to think about it there's actually really a split in terms of how many chords you can get on the imac versus the imac pro on the imac you can configure all the way up to 10 cores whereas the imac pro is really going to be 10 cores and up it goes up to 18 cores actually now in a real world test for me i exported about a 5 minute long 4k video from final cut with prores optimized footage and the export did actually finish noticeably faster than on my 16 inch maxed out macbook pro if you're trying to decide between going portable or getting a desktop you have to understand the 16-inch macbook pro is as pro as it gets it's as good as it gets in the portable lineup on the mac side of things but while it does have some desktop components and parts it's just dabbling in the desktop world whereas a desktop is fully desktop and the difference in power is actually pretty real now apple did list fortnite performance on the website so i did decide to give it a try just because and while there was some screen tearing initially at the default settings once i turned on v-sync then fortnite was very fun and perfectly playable at 60fps is this gonna be your dream gaming machine well no especially for the price but can you play some games even some aaa titles in a decent fun environment yeah absolutely we've got a 10 gig ethernet connection now that's something that comes standard on the imac pro i believe and it's nice to have that as an option at least on the regular imac that's particularly useful if you're going to be working from home and you got to do a lot of video conferences and you're tired of your connection dropping out we've also got double the available memory now versus the last model and the ssd is also much faster all right let's talk a little bit about who this is for and who should buy it especially with apple silicon looming on the horizon so first things first if you're a pro and you know it then you already know that you're looking at an imac pro or a mac pro again it's all about the cores and just to tack onto that if you're a person who's going to be relying on the cpu and the gpu all day consistently every day then you also are probably going to want to be looking at the imac pro on the other hand if you need a lot of power but need to save some money you can spec this thing out pretty impressively and get a lot done i mean i'm able to chew through pro res 4k multi-cam clips just fine in final cut on this machine and i suspect that there's going to be plenty of musicians photographers and designers who are also going to love this machine now in the looks department in the aesthetics department this is the same old design emphasis on old now is that really a real problem in the real world well no i mean this thing has a gorgeous display it's just that it's surrounded by those extra chunky and thick bezels which is unfortunate why don't we say instead of looking bad it just looks classic at the very end of the day i would say it comes down to what you can do with this machine rather than how it looks and with this machine you can do a lot at this point i would all but guarantee that apple's saving the new imac redesign for when apple silicon actually hits and when will that be i don't know your guess is as good as mine and that's part of the problem here when you're trying to make a buying decision which really begs the question should you buy this now or should you try to hold off and wait for an imac with apple silicon inside well here's the thing if you need it now i would say don't hesitate to actually pull the trigger and get it purchased why because apple has committed to fully supporting this machine and all intel max the last batch for the full lifespan of a normal mac all right so that's it for this video hope you enjoyed it leave your questions down in the comments don't forget to check out at daily tech spell daily tekk on instagram and twitter check out the after party that's our podcast it's usually out on fridays that's linked up down below and lastly i have to plug applehype.com also linked up because it's the best place for you to check in the mornings for an app an accessory and the one apple headline that you have to care about every day monday through friday i'll catch you guys in the next video later\n"