Launched back in 2017, the Apple iMac Pro is what most analysts would call a halo product. It won’t sell millions, but it represents a powerful statement from the Cupertino-based company, which has shown it can single handedly create a new market category: high-end all-in-one workstations.
More people search for the iMac Pro than for “all-in-one PC” by a very wide margin, which shows the extent to which the machine has captured the imagination.
Apple's device is certainly expensive, but at less than $5,000 for the entry level model, it offers a staggering amount of oomph for the money - we just wish it featured an AMD Threadripper CPU.
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Microsoft’s Surface Studio 2 (powered by an antiquated Core i7-7820HQ processor) is probably the machine that comes nearest to the iMac Pro. It has a stunning design and resolution that goes beyond 4K (with a more designer friendly 3:2 aspect ratio and touchscreen), but that’s about it. The discrete GPU, onboard storage and CPU cannot compete with the Apple device.
Both Lenovo (with the Lenovo Yoga A940) and Dell (with the Optiplex 7780) have AIO models, but they are featherweight in comparison to Apple’s behemoth. These are more suited for light creative design work than for compute-intensive tasks.
As for HP, the Envy AIO 32-a1055 has a massive 31.5-inch display with a 4K resolution and an Nvidia Geforce GTX 2070 GPU, but the rest of the specification is far less enticing. Windows 10 Home rather than Professional is also not exactly what you’d expect from a top tier workstation.
If you can stomach the outlay, the Apple device head and shoulders above the competition.
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Bear in mind
- If the iMac Pro is unavailable from Amazon in your region, you may need to purchase from Apple directly, or use a specialist parcel forwarding service.
