Apple finally unveiled the fabled retina iMac. It’s the iMac with Retina 5K display, featuring a 5120x2880 resolution. It’s insane, and it starts $2499. $500 less than the Mac Pro’s starting price.

Along with the amazing display is the iMac many of us know and love. I have a 2011 base 21.5" model and it’s the best computer that I’ve ever owned. I’ve always felt that the 27-inch display was a little too big for me, so I went with the “small” one and I couldn’t be happier.

On today’s 5by5 Special, Dan Benjamin, Victor Agreda Jr. and Adam Cristianson discuss the newest iMac, and ponder why Apple didn’t come out with a new Retina Display alongside the all-in-one. One argument centers around the fact that Apple has a lot of Mac Pro owners clamoring for precisely that, but for whatever reason, it’s not available. There’s a group of customers standing with their wallets open, ready to throw money at the company, yet Apple is still holding off.

I think Apple’s reasoning fairly simple. It probably costs a lot of time, money and resources to make this display. Apple wanted to get it to market as soon as possible, and the tech was there at a price they could handle; but at 27-inches, they probably had to choose between putting it atop the iMac lineup, or ushering in a new era of killer external displays.

My theory, based on absolutely nothing, is that Apple engineers and executives faced on simple question: How best can we show this amazing display to the world for the first time?

Have you ever seen a Mac Pro sitting inside an Apple Store? It looks amazing, for sure, but it’s usually setting there alone while a huge crowd pokes around on iMacs and MacBooks. They’ll marvel at the sheer size of the 27-inch iMac before they even notice the little black trashcan. They’ll also marvel at the Macbook Pro with Retina Display. They might even pick it up to marvel at how Apple could possibly fit so much power and beauty in such a small and light package.

Now, those same people can walk up to an unassuming 27-inch iMac at the corner of the display table. They’ll turn it on, and suddenly this incredible Retina 5K display lights up in front of them. They may not buy this particular model. Not yet. But now, it’s on their mind. And it will stay there, because as David Sparks said a time or two, if you look at a Mac with a Retina Display, it could very well spoil every display you’ll ever lay your eyes on. It really is that good (I’m clearly paraphrasing).

If Apple would have first shipped a 27-inch Retina 5K Display and plugged it into a display Mac Pro, a vast majority of current and existing customers simply wouldn’t notice. It would have never piqued their interest.

Now obviously, a $2,500 computer is clearly marketed for power users. Apple surely knew this. They probably also thought, Why have a $3000+ computer alongside an approx. $2000 display, when we can make a separate $2500+ computer that fits nearly every need of nearly every customer on Earth?

The Mac Pro is great and all, but why buy it when you can spec out a killer iMac with a 27-inch Retina 5K display. Mac Pro users have their needs, and they will surely get an Apple display of their own someday. For now, there’s far more business that can be done with a killer iMac.