iMac Pro Compared to 5K iMac and MacBook Pro

by

MacRumors videographer Dan recently got his hands on the new 8-core iMac Pro, and he decided to compare it to his other machines, a 2015 5K iMac and a 2016 MacBook Pro to see how it measures up when it comes to his everyday video editing workload.

In the video below, Dan takes a look at how well the iMac Pro performs on tasks like editing video, exporting video, and reading and writing data. If you're wondering whether the entry-level iMac Pro is worth the $5,000 price tag when you've already got hardware on hand like an iMac or a MacBook Pro, this video is worth checking out because it might help you make a decision.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

Dan compared the entry-level 8-core iMac Pro with a 3.2GHz Intel Xeon W processor to a late 2015 iMac with a 3.2GHz 6th-generation Intel processor, 24GB RAM, 1TB Fusion Drive, and AMD Radeon M390 graphics card and a late 2016 MacBook Pro with a 2.7GHz 6th-generation Intel processor, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, and AMD Radeon Pro 455 graphics card.

Unsurprisingly, the iMac Pro was much faster when it came to benchmarks and performance tasks, and compared to the iMac and the MacBook Pro, the overall experience is smoother due to the sheer power of the processor and the GPU. It's ultra quick when editing video, even with multiple system intensive apps open, and it's quiet as a mouse with no loud fans.

The 5K iMac did win out slightly on video exporting time over the iMac Pro, but the iMac Pro wasn't far behind and it came out on top in all other tests.

Pricing on the iMac Pro starts at $4,999 for the entry-level 8-core model with 32GB 2666 MHz ECC RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a Radeon Pro Vega 56 graphics card, but goes up to $13,199 depending on the upgrades you choose. Even at $4,999 it's a couple thousand dollars more expensive than an iMac or a MacBook Pro, but it has the potential to be fully worth the asking price if you do system intensive creative work like video editing.

For more details on the iMac Pro, make sure to check out our iMac Pro roundup.

Popular Stories

streaming black friday 2025

Black Friday Streaming Deals Include Big Savings on Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV, and More

Monday November 24, 2025 8:03 am PST by
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...
Read Full Article • 26 comments
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These New Features to Your iPhone

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by
iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date. Keep reading...
Read Full Article • 27 comments
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

iOS 27 Will Reportedly Have Two Key Upgrades

Sunday November 23, 2025 8:48 am PST by
iOS 27 will reportedly have two major elements: quality improvements and new AI features. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that Apple is focused on improving "quality and underlying performance" over adding new features. Gurman said there is one exception to this rule, though, as he expects...
Read Full Article • 173 comments
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Looks Like a Huge Upgrade

Friday November 21, 2025 9:10 am PST by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the new features and improvements expected to come to next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's next-generation iPhones are less than ten months away and we already have a good idea about what to expect based on corroborated leaks, rumors,...
Read Full Article • 47 comments
General Black Friday Deals 25 Red

Apple Black Friday Deals Available Now on AirPods, iPads, Accessories, and More

Friday November 21, 2025 8:48 am PST by
We're only a few days away from Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
Read Full Article • 4 comments
Apple Shopping Event 2025

Apple Announces 2025 Black Friday Event, Here's What You Can Get

Thursday November 20, 2025 6:28 am PST by
Apple's annual four-day Black Friday through Cyber Monday shopping event is returning on Friday, November 28 through Monday, December 1 in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, and others. During the shopping event, customers can get an Apple gift card with...
Read Full Article • 41 comments
hikawa phone grip stand apple%402x

Apple Launches Second Limited-Edition iPhone Accessory in a Month

Friday November 21, 2025 3:53 am PST by
Apple has begun selling the Hikawa Phone Grip and Stand, a new limited-edition iPhone accessory designed with accessibility in mind. Designed by LA-based Bailey Hikawa to celebrate the 40th anniversary of accessibility at Apple, the grip uses magnets to securely snap onto any iPhone with MagSafe. Apple says it can be removed with ease, and doubles as a stand with two different viewing...
Read Full Article • 135 comments
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone to Debut These Two Breakthrough Features

Wednesday November 19, 2025 7:26 am PST by
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include two standout features that could set it apart from the competition. The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That...
Read Full Article
amazon black friday

Amazon Kicks Off Black Friday Sale With Major Discounts on Apple Accessories, TVs, and More

Sunday November 23, 2025 7:12 am PST by
Black Friday deals have begun, and Amazon is one of the best places you can find steep discounts on numerous products this week. We've already collected all of the best Apple-related deals you'll find at Amazon (and other retailers) in our Apple Black Friday Deals post, so below you'll find other discounts on devices like Anker accessories, Beats headphones, video games, TVs, and more. Note:...
Read Full Article • 2 comments

Top Rated Comments

AcesHigh87 Avatar
AcesHigh87
103 months ago
It’s weird that a 2 year old iMac handled the video export better... encoding is almost all CPU based on this Xeon should be far stronger.
[doublepost=1516315801][/doublepost]
...but goes up to $13,199 ..

"So honey, we have a chance to buy a new small car for our daily tasks in the city, or we can buy an overpriced garbage that has apple logo on it and it'll be outdated in about a year?"
No one in the market for an iMac Pro would ever be having this conversation though. These are workstation machines, not consumer machines. People that need workstations will easily make up the cost with a few projects.
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CWallace Avatar
CWallace
103 months ago
Nobody should ever be jealous at anybody who pays 13.000$ for a computer that isn't light years ahead of competition and brings nothing new to the table.
An HP Z4 with an 18-core W-Series Xeon, 128GB of ECC RAM, a 1TB M.2 drive (largest available) and Quadro P2000 GPU (best available) is $12000. So for $1000 more, you get a 5K display, 3TB more SSD capacity and a better GPU.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JimmyBanks6 Avatar
JimmyBanks6
103 months ago
...but goes up to $13,199 ..

"So honey, we have a chance to buy a new small car for our daily tasks in the city, or we can buy an overpriced garbage that has apple logo on it and it'll be outdated in about a year?"
Any new car for 13k is truly garbage, and a car is outdated each year as well.

I can read the jealousy in this post.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kylelerner Avatar
kylelerner
103 months ago
The gentleman in the video incorrectly stated that the disk speeds were measured in megabits per second rather than megabytes per second. Just to clarify, Disk speeds are almost always measured megabytes per second, including in this video. There is a huge difference.

100 MB/s (megabytes per second)
100 Mbps (megabits per second, which is 12.5 MB/s)
There are 8 bits in a byte.
Usually only networking speeds are measured in bits.



Sorry - just a pet peeve.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ignatius345 Avatar
ignatius345
103 months ago
...but goes up to $13,199 ..

"So honey, we have a chance to buy a new small car for our daily tasks in the city, or we can buy an overpriced garbage that has apple logo on it and it'll be outdated in about a year?"
Given that the iMac Pro is clearly a tool for doing paid professional work, let's talk about how many billable hours (say) a video editor could rack up in a day with this machine, vs how many hours... you could drive for Lyft in that hypothetical cheap car?

Great comparison though, please keep posting.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Smartass Avatar
Smartass
103 months ago
...but goes up to $13,199 ..

"So honey, we have a chance to buy a new small car for our daily tasks in the city, or we can buy an overpriced garbage that has apple logo on it and it'll be outdated in about a year?"
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments