iMac Pro, current iMac, future Mac Pro for Xcode Developer
i'm long term mac developer , have been on mac pro when called powermac g4. in recent years, however, apple has failed deliver new mac pro every 3 years , i’ve been forced try lots of different strategies: have 2014 imac in office, 2013 hex-core mac pro in home office , late 2016 macbook pro 15” roam around with.
i’m working on macbook pro @ moment, later in summer new home office ready , i’ll go working on desktop. i’m 3 big screens kind of developer, laptop not great fit me.
new kaby lake imac out, imac pro due in december , new mac pro time off, i’m trying figure out do.
on 1 hand, new imac 27” specced out fantastic machine trouncing of current macs 5,692 single , 19,478 multi-core performance, 74% faster on single, , 5% faster on multi-core mac pro.
on other hand 18 core imac pro few months away, , new mac pro go further, though it’s eta in clouds.
i’m interested in xcode (and appcode) performance , hard predict performance on different architectures. know xcode cpu bound, point disk , ram can’t shovel data in , out enough. found old benchmarks online, there aren’t enough clear picture.
specced out skylake macbook pro 15” 4-core smidgen faster mac pro already. macbook pro has 16gb of memory v. mac pro’s 12gb, ssd twice fast, 20% faster on single core tasks 28% slower on multi-core tasks. spec new imac @ least 16gb of ram , disk supposed 50% faster previous generation, @ least on par 2x of macbook pro.
question amount to?
far can see imac pro ships @ least 32gb of memory, quite possible has same ssd speed. starting @ 8 cores, i’m wondering whether base model can shovel data in , out fast enough keep cores working. likelihood of 2 or 8 additional cores being used @ all?
looking @ intel’s range, clear more cores, less highly clocked cpu can be. means 8-, 10- or 18-core xeon machine near i7’s single thread performance.
amount making i7 imacs faster xcode mac pro? if so, there’s no point in waiting till december , beyond. if i’ve learned 20 years mac users prices don’t fall before new machine goes out, you’re best off buying released life out of it.
make things worse, coffee lake due out later year , said offer around 30% increase in performance @ same clock speed.. apple update imacs again before long? or leave imac pro in clear air while longer?
thoughts appreciated.
i don't think know specifications of xeon cpu use yet, desktop xeons tend feature plenty of internal pcie lanes, keep cores fed data 2 internal pcie ssd blades. however, sort of data flows involved in development chicken feed c.f. sort of 8k video or pro audio pro aimed at, doubt current bottleneck. so, i'm sure great development if cost no object - unless you're developing 3d/vr or video editing software there's no justification.
...and 18 cores, you've found mac pro - single-core performance good, nothing write home about.
1 thing should (and may have done) fire big xcode build of sort you've been working on while watching cpu activity window in activity monitor. if isn't pegging 8 virtual cores of current macbook pro - or @ least 4 "real" cores - adding more cores not going make night , day difference c.f. faster cpu you'd in regular imac.
imac pro $5000 8-core - no info on price of 18-core version if need ask price can't afford it. forthcoming mac pro unlikely under-cut (i.e. cost less imac pro comparable spec plus decent screen) , may pitched higher (maybe higher entry-level spec... or plain higher: apple aren't nonprofit organisation!)
reality apple's new "real pro" range (the imac , forthcoming mysterious mac pro) aimed firmly @ video/audio/3d "professionals" want xeon, ecc ram , compute-optimised workstation gpus. better fit general developer mac mini decent quad-core i7 - or straightforward microatx i7 mini-tower (which make most people happy except, possibly, apple's shareholders). don't hold breath.
Forums Macs Buying Tips and Advice
- iPhone
- Mac OS & System Software
- iPad
- Apple Watch
- Notebooks
- iTunes
- Apple ID
- iCloud
- Desktop Computers
- Apple Music
- Professional Applications
- iPod
- iWork
- Apple TV
- iLife
- Wireless
Comments
Post a Comment