At the risk of creating some sort of space-time-link paradox, here’s Joe Rossignol at MacRumors:
Shortly after the Pro Display XDR became available to order this week, Stephen Hackett of Relay FM noted that the iMac Pro was not included in the list of Mac models compatible with the display on Apple’s website.
Fortunately, video editor Thomas Grove Carter has since demonstrated that the iMac Pro can in fact drive the Pro Display XDR, but only at a 5K resolution. This is likely because the iMac Pro uses Intel’s older “Alpine Ridge” Thunderbolt 3 controller without enough bandwidth to drive a 6K display.
Of course, we had Thomas on Mac Power Users this week to talk about the Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR, but this topic didn’t come up, as the final list of supported Macs was still unknown when we recorded that episode.
I feel like this really starts the clock running on the future of the iMac Pro. It’s an amazing machine — my base model is fantastic — and I hope Apple and Intel can manage to get another one out the door soon. I expect there are people in the Pro Display XDR’s possible user base who are frustrated by this lack of compatibility.