Jeff Benjamin

After a bit of a delay, the 18-core iMac Pro should be arriving to most customers sometime this month. Jonathan Morrison got his hands on the top of the line iMac Pro and put it through the obligatory benchmark tests to see how it stacked up. Right off the bat it’s evident that the 18-core iMac Pro is a multi-core performance monster, racking up a GeekBench 4 multi-core score of nearly 50,000.
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The iMac Pro and its new space gray chassis gives us a good excuse to outfit the machine with color complimentary accessories. In this first edition of our new Back to the Mac video series, we discuss some of our favorite peripherals for the iMac Pro.
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Last week, Universal Audio announced a new entry-level audio interface, the UA Arrow, that’s positioned just below its popular Apollo Twin interfaces. The UA Arrow, like other interfaces that the company makes, can provide your recordings with the tone and feel of a traditional analog recording. The Arrow is an interesting product for several key reasons, headlined by its support for bus-powered Thunderbolt 3, a first for Universal Audio.

Is the Arrow worth considering if you’re in the market for a portable audio interface for your iMac or MacBook Pro? Watch our hands-on video for our first impressions.
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Good news for those of you who already use or have been considering an external GPU for your Mac: Apple has enhanced support for eGPU setups in macOS 10.13.4 beta.

Ahead of Apple’s promise to bring better eGPU support to the Mac by spring 2018, the initial beta release for 10.13.4 brings several noticeable changes and enhancements to the fore.
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After previewing iOS 11.3 early this morning, Apple has released the highly-anticipated update to developers. Included with iOS 11.3 are a lot of new changes, headlined by new Animoji for iPhone X and multi-room audio AirPlay 2 support. Watch our hands-on video for a look at these and other changes and features in iOS 11.3 beta 1.
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Although it’s likely that no deal will ever surpass Micro Center’s ridiculous $1000 off it recently ran for the iMac Pro, this one comes closest. B&H is offering $500 off any available iMac Pro SKU. That means that you can potentially score a base model 8-core iMac Pro, for $4494.00 out the door.
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Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to decide whether to keep the iMac Pro or go back to the 5K iMac. On the surface, both machines look almost identical outside of the Pro’s space gray exterior. And depending on the type of tasks you regularly engage in, performance differences can vary widely.

But the more that I use the iMac Pro, the more that I come to appreciate how good it really is for my workflow. In this post and hands-on video, I consider five reasons why I’ve decided to stick with Apple’s professional-grade all-in-one.
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A few weeks ago I purchased a base model iMac Pro in store, so of course it came without a space gray Magic Trackpad 2. In my excitement to get the new machine, I totally forgot about the Magic Trackpad 2, and it didn’t fully dawn on me until later that there was no real way to acquire one from Apple after purchase.

In fact, Apple explicitly states on its website that space gray accessories [including the Magic Trackpad 2] are available only at the time of your iMac Pro purchase. So what’s a person who bought an iMac Pro without a Magic Trackpad 2 supposed to do? Does it mean that you’ll have to go through the annoying process of returning it and buying it again online in order to get one? Apple’s excellent customer support may be able to help…
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The human eye is amazing, but it’s limited as to what it can see. That’s where imaging tools like thermal cameras can come in handy, allowing you to see and diagnose problems that are normally invisible to the eye. This thermal, or infrared energy, is present in all matter, but because its wavelength is beyond the scope of what the human eye can discern, it’s invisible to us without the necessary tools.

Thanks to modern-day smartphones like the iPhone, these tools are now a lot more accessible to the everyday person. One such example is the Flir One Pro — a portable thermal camera attachment that connects directly to an iPhone’s Lightning port.

If you’re a homeowner, or just someone who’s curious about the type of technology that allows you to see through walls and identify heat signatures like you’re in the movie Predator, then Flir’s One Pro is a mighty-impressive, if not tiny, piece of kit. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough inside for a look at how it works.
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We’ve reviewed several Ugreen products in the past, but this is probably the most useful one that I’ve seen thus far. It’s a huge 20,000 mAh MFi Power Bank, which is capable of recharging your iPhone five times over. That in and of itself is nice, but the real benefit of this particular USB power pack is its built-in Lightning cable, which easily tucks away inside the unit for storage.
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Nomad, known for its popular line of leather smartphone cases, has just launched a new charging hub to accommodate all of your power-hungry devices. The Nomad Wireless Hub is capable of charging up to five devices at once, thanks to four USB charging ports, and a 7.5W wireless charging top surface. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for more details.
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With NAMM 2018 fast approaching, Universal Audio just launched its new Arrow audio interface, and it looks to be quite compelling. Featuring a design that’s similar to the company’s higher end Apollo series of interfaces, the Arrow comes with a simple and clean all-aluminum chassis.

The Arrow is Universal Audio’s most affordable audio interface, coming in at only $499. That’s a not so insignificant price difference between it and the Solo — the entry-level interface from its Apollo line that starts at $699.
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After initially planning to support CarPlay, and then later backtracking on those plans, Toyota has had an interesting relationship with Apple’s in-car interface.

Today, however, marks a notable change in the Japanese automaker’s stance. During the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Toyota officially announced that CarPlay will appear in its upcoming 2019 Avalon sedans.
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Slowing down footage is something I tend to do on a regular basis when editing video in Final Cut Pro X. Slow motion footage can be used to lend a dramatic effect, better highlight a particular area of a scene, or to simply smooth out your footage. In this hands-on video walkthrough, I showcase how to improve slow motion video in Final Cut Pro using some of the app’s built-in toolset. 
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I’ve long been a big fan of Matias, a Canadian-based company that makes excellent third-party keyboards for Mac. In fact, I’ve been using its space gray wireless aluminum keyboard for over a year, and it’s been excellent.

Instead of continuing on the wireless route, yesterday during CES in Las Vegas, Matias added a new $99 wired aluminum keyboard to its repertoire. But this particular keyboard has a special trick up its sleeve — RGB lightning. 
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The original Akitio Node was the first external graphics box that came with a Mac-compatible Thunderbolt 3 chipset. Hence, it was recognized by macOS without needing to rely on hacks like previous eGPU boxes. Needless to say, the Akitio Node was and continues to be popular among Mac enthusiasts looking to drive external graphics.

Recently, Akitio launched the latest product in its external graphics Node line — the Akitio Node Pro (currently sold out on Amazon). The result is a more refined external graphics box with a built-in DisplayPort connection, and a second Thunderbolt 3 port for daisy-chaining to other Thunderbolt 3-enabled devices. Watch our hands-on video for a first look the at $360 Node Pro.
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As expected, iFixit has performed a thorough tear down the iMac Pro. This teardown comes on the heels of another look at the machine’s internals by third-party Mac accessory maker OWC. That initial look provided us with a great idea of what to expect from the iMac Pro’s internals, but in traditional iFixit fashion, the San Luis Obispo-based company provides us with a more nuanced glance inside Apple’s professional all-in-one.
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If you’re interested in picking up a new iMac Pro today, check your local Apple Store. Units of the base model 8-core iMac Pro are now available for in-store pickup at US-based Apple Stores.
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It was only a matter of time before the iMac Pro teardowns begun to surface. The first team up to bat is Mac component upgrade provider OWC. The Woodstock, IL-based company is keenly interested in the just-launched iMac Pro, since it features a different internal configuration and layout compared to standard 5K iMac models.

OWC produces memory and storage upgrades for Mac computers, so this first foray inside the iMac Pro chassis is a way for it to scope out the territory, as it were. Have a look at the teardown inside, and learn some of the details about the base model iMac Pro.
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