A first look at Apple’s R85k iMac Pro

If you’re wedded to Apple, love the iMac, and need to edit 4K HDR video on a beautiful 5K display, the iMac Pro is here to give you sleepless nights. It goes on sale at iStore today for R85,000. Nope, that’s not a typo. There’s only one hardware configuration available at launch (details below), so if you want to boost the already impressive specs — or get Apple’s Magic Trackpad instead of its Magic Mouse — you’ll need to place a special order… and steel yourself for an even more substantial price tag and a bit of wait.

Though Apple offers iMac Pros with up to 18 cores, 128GB of RAM and a 4TB SSD, the local launch model is a far tamer beast. The model that goes on sale in SA today includes a 3.4GHz quad-core processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a Radeon Pro Vega 56 graphics card. [UPDATE: The iStore has told Stuff the spec sheet pictured below is wrong and should read as follows: 8-Core, 3.2GHz Intel Xeon W Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz and 19MB cache.]

All models include a 27in 5K Retina display with 5120×2880 resolution and are packed with I/O options, including four Thunderbolt 3 ports, four USB-C ports, a 10GB Ethernet port, an SD card slot and a headphone jack. Those Thunderbolt ports mean you can connect two 5K monitors, and that Ethernet jack means network transfer or storage should handle even the largest files without breaking a sweat.

Apple’s iMac is arguably the world’s most iconic and instantly recognisable all-in-one desktop computer with it’s slim profile, rounded edges and (usually) silver finish. Apple’s not done much to the exterior design in recent years — aside from releasing an updated wireless keyboard, mouse and trackpad — but it has bolstered the innards of regular iMacs to help them keep up with contemporary users’ demands… and with the iMac Pro it’s made the most potent Mac yet. The Space Grey exterior isn’t just a fetching departure from the norm, it ensure passersby know your iMac is the Pro version. Which means you’re doing serious work, right? Right.

So, who’s the iMac Pro aimed at? Video professionals, scientists, architects, game designers, virtual reality professionals and anyone else who needs to do complex 3D modelling or wrangle multiple streams of high-res video. It could also grab the attention of trust-funders who love Apple and want to play all of their games with the settings maxed out.