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Why does my 2020 iMac Pro say 2017?

CMDPHOTOS

CMDPHOTOS

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 17, 2020
5
1
I recently purchased an upgraded 2020 iMac from Apple. I went to "About this Mac" and was shocked that it says 2017. Has Apple pulled a bait and switch or am I really just buying a 2020 old 2017 computer?

So far, I'm not at all impressed. My old 2009 Mac Pro died at the end of 2019 and I was holding out for the 2020 at the time. So I replaced it with the terrible trash can.When the 2020 iMac was announced I waited and waited for it. Now that I have bought the very expensive well upgraded 2020 iMac, I find it does not work much better than my old (upgraded) 2009 Mac Pro. I have had the new 2020 iMac loose my connection with the mouse twice and had to reboot just to get my mouse working. I still get spinning wheels on multiple things. If I have to much going at one time the fan starts screaming loudly at me. The picture isn't even all that much better than my OLD NEC monitor. Apples website said I was buying the new 2020 iMac so why does it say 2017???
 

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The iMac Pro was, as r6mile points out, not updated since its inception in 2017. The regular iMac was refreshed in 2020 but the only change that happened to the iMac Pro was that the base model was moved up from 8 cores to 10 cores, but is still the same as the 2017 with 10 cores. So in short, you did get the latest iMac Pro there is. The 2017 model
 
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You bought an iMac Pro, which was released in 2017. Actually, you bought a mid-range iMac Pro, which is still an extremely powerful computer and has much better thermals than the 2020 iMac so it can actually perform better. What are you doing on this that you are having spinning beachballs and your fans are going crazy? If you are having those issues I would suggest completely reinstalling macOS and don't restore from any backups. If you need a machine this powerful, you made the better choice to go with the Pro version anyway simply because of the better thermal design.
 
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You don’t just accidentally drop $7k on the wrong iMac...the Apple Store even has separate pages for ‘New’ iMac and iMac Pro.

if you have ‘just got it’ then return it and get the one you actually want.

C00474B8-25F3-44FE-9866-3D0EEA313DB9.jpeg
 
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You clearly purchased a iMac Pro that was released in 2017 not a iMac that was released in 2020.
 
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The OP clearly didn't realise that the iMac Pro (released 2017) hasn't been updated at all in the 3 years since, ie no RAM/processor etc has changed
 
I think a lot of people in here are ascribing motives to the OP never intended. I think the OP genuinely didn’t know that the year inside About This Mac represents the model year and not the year of manufacturing/purchase.
They knew they were buying an iMac Pro, but they saw 2017 and thought they had gotten an iMac Pro that had been originally purchased in 2017 and then resold to them, when in reality it’s just the model that’s from 2017 and has never been updated
 
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r6mile said:
Sorry is this a joke? You clearly just bought an iMac Pro (last updated in 2017), not the iMac that's just been released. I assume you would notice after dropping a few Gs on a new computer!
Click to expand...
I did think I noticed and yeah I dropped a few Gs. I checked all the specs and the specs check out. I'm pretty sure the 2017 didn't offer 14 core which I have. Just don't know why it says 2017.
 
csalm87 said:
You bought an iMac Pro, which was released in 2017. Actually, you bought a mid-range iMac Pro, which is still an extremely powerful computer and has much better thermals than the 2020 iMac so it can actually perform better. What are you doing on this that you are having spinning beachballs and your fans are going crazy? If you are having those issues I would suggest completely reinstalling macOS and don't restore from any backups. If you need a machine this powerful, you made the better choice to go with the Pro version anyway simply because of the better thermal design.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your kind answer!
 
casperes1996 said:
I think a lot of people in here are ascribing motives to the OP never intended. I think the OP genuinely didn’t know that the year inside About This Mac represents the model year and not the year of manufacturing/purchase.
They knew they were buying an iMac Pro, but they saw 2017 and thought they had gotten an iMac Pro that had been originally purchased in 2017 and then resold to them, when in reality it’s just the model that’s from 2017 and has never been updated
Click to expand...
Thank you for your kind answer. I was under the apparently incorrect idea that they updated the Pro when they did the regular 2020 iMac.
 
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CMDPHOTOS said:
Thank you for your kind answer. I was under the apparently incorrect idea that they updated the Pro when they did the regular 2020 iMac.
Click to expand...
That is understandable. Especially when there are articles like this that indicate a "processor bump":
www.macrumors.com

Apple Bumps iMac Pro to 10-Core Processor on Base Configuration

Alongside the launch of updated iMacs, Apple today also made a minor update to the iMac Pro, equipping the base configuration with the 10-core 3.0...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com

Are you going to keep it or return it? If you can afford it, it is a powerful machine
 
Is this threat real or is someone just taking up bytes to mess with us? I am assuming this is legit, in which case, the OP can simply return the machine he bought and exchange it for the regular iMac.

On the other hand, the Pro could be the right machine for his use, but that information has not been shared. I doubt anyone who needs an iMac Pro would not know the difference. I don’t know. It seems fishy.
 
The iMac Pro was first released in 2017, but the design hasn't been changed or updated since then. They are still building and selling the 2017 design.

You bought a computer that was probably assembled in 2019/20, but it's still known as a "2017 iMac Pro" because that's when it first came out, and that's how it will "identify itself".

Just as one can still buy a "2018 Mac Mini" from the refurbished store.

Use it and be happy...
 
As everyone else has mentioned you purchased an iMac Pro, a very different machine then an iMac.

If you want to know when your iMac Pro was actually assembled, you can download coconutBattery and it will tell you the manufacture date.
 
Should sometime tell him that last year he could have gotten a brand new 2013 Mac Pro?

Welcome to Apple 🤯 😂
 
CMDPHOTOS said:
I did think I noticed and yeah I dropped a few Gs. I checked all the specs and the specs check out. I'm pretty sure the 2017 didn't offer 14 core which I have. Just don't know why it says 2017.
Click to expand...

The iMac Pro has always offered a 14-core Xeon option, along with 8, 10 and 18 core options (with the 8-core option being dropped when the iMac was updated last month).

As others have noted, the iMac Pro is a 2017 Model Year product and that is what you are seeing in "About this Mac", but Apple is producing new machines today so your machine was assembled in 2020.

There have not been any hard rumors about Apple updating the iMac Pro, though there are update CPUs available (though they offer no real performance boost) and update GPUs due at the end of 2020 or early next year. And there was a supply chain rumor that the iMac Pro could get a MiniLED backlit display.
 
iMi said:
Is this threat real or is someone just taking up bytes to mess with us? I am assuming this is legit, in which case, the OP can simply return the machine he bought and exchange it for the regular iMac.

On the other hand, the Pro could be the right machine for his use, but that information has not been shared. I doubt anyone who needs an iMac Pro would not know the difference. I don’t know. It seems fishy.
Click to expand...
He has explained that he knew he was purchasing the iMac Pro, but that he mistakenly thought/assumed the iMac Pro had been updated at the same time the regular iMac was updated (2020). Which is not an unreasonable assumption, as Apple *should* have updated it by now, and you had to read all the news releases and articles carefully to realize it had not.
 
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