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Premiere Pro CS6 and 15" Retina MacBook Pro
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Cool, thanks for your reply. Yeah, I'm thinking of using one of these for use at my home studio and one of these for work in the field.
I was also wondering about render/export speeds too. I'm trying to decide on wether or not to get a new 27" iMac or the 15" Retina Macbook Pro. Part of that decision making process is balancing the need of portability and the other part is how well Apple and Adobe Pro apps run on those machines. I'm leaning towards the notebook with a Thunderbolt display but I'm hoping they update them soon with USB 3.0.
I was also wondering about render/export speeds too. I'm trying to decide on wether or not to get a new 27" iMac or the 15" Retina Macbook Pro. Part of that decision making process is balancing the need of portability and the other part is how well Apple and Adobe Pro apps run on those machines. I'm leaning towards the notebook with a Thunderbolt display but I'm hoping they update them soon with USB 3.0.
Ah, good question. I'm working with DSLR footage from T2i's and 60D's. Shooting and editing a new kids TV show airing soon on Baby First. I try to ingest as much as I can in the field and then come to my home studio to edit/finish. Currently on an early 2011 15" Macbook Pro with dual SSD's, 16 gigs of RAM and the AMD Radeon 6750 GPU with 1 gig of vram. Not that it's not sufficient, but could sure use more power for render speeds and exports. I currently use both FCPX and Adobe Premiere Pro for projects. Mostly FCPX for the TV show but every now and then FCPX's bugginess shows itself and is really frustrating.
I like the Prelude/Premiere/After Effects workflow. I have even went the route of ingesting and making subclips in Prelude, rough edit in Premiere Pro, then export XML for FCPX for finishing. That actually seems to the best flow for me right now but again, just really looking for feedback on performance on hardware.
I like the Prelude/Premiere/After Effects workflow. I have even went the route of ingesting and making subclips in Prelude, rough edit in Premiere Pro, then export XML for FCPX for finishing. That actually seems to the best flow for me right now but again, just really looking for feedback on performance on hardware.
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Still looking for feedback. Also trying to decide between getting the 15" rMBP and a Thunderbolt display or go 27" iMac route. I do still have my early '11 15" cMBP as a portable workstation now but that Retina version sure is tempting.
I hate to tell you but the CPU and GPU isn't going to be that much faster to really make a major difference. The 15" retina is faster but not enough to justify the cost to upgrade. Even internal drive speed is going to be marginal since you already have SSD drives.
If you are doing extreme rendering with corrections in the field then you may be looking at about 20% to 30% faster. If all you are doing is ingesting and light cutting then I doubt you will even notice a difference.
The same goes for the latest top of the line iMac. They are definitely faster but still only about 30% compared to your current machine. To some people that 20% to 30% means a lot although I personally question if it really makes them more productive or if they just think they are.
Now since you are a CS6 user like myself do you have support for the OpenCL acceleration on your 15"? I have the 2011 17" and can use full GPU acceleration with the special openCL Mecury engine support Adobe created for these machines. If I recall the 15" wasn't supported for whatever odd reason. That may be different now. If that is the case then I doubt you will see a huge performance increase between the CUDA support and your current OpenCL support in CS6. A friend of mine just bought the 15" retina and CS6 allows him to use OpenCL or CUDA for acceleration so it appears the OpenCL is opening up a bit. Honestly though outside of bragging rights his machine isn't making him any more productive with CS6 then my machine.
Personally I would suggest holding off unless you honestly feel that 30% difference is going to affect your production.
If you are doing extreme rendering with corrections in the field then you may be looking at about 20% to 30% faster. If all you are doing is ingesting and light cutting then I doubt you will even notice a difference.
The same goes for the latest top of the line iMac. They are definitely faster but still only about 30% compared to your current machine. To some people that 20% to 30% means a lot although I personally question if it really makes them more productive or if they just think they are.
Now since you are a CS6 user like myself do you have support for the OpenCL acceleration on your 15"? I have the 2011 17" and can use full GPU acceleration with the special openCL Mecury engine support Adobe created for these machines. If I recall the 15" wasn't supported for whatever odd reason. That may be different now. If that is the case then I doubt you will see a huge performance increase between the CUDA support and your current OpenCL support in CS6. A friend of mine just bought the 15" retina and CS6 allows him to use OpenCL or CUDA for acceleration so it appears the OpenCL is opening up a bit. Honestly though outside of bragging rights his machine isn't making him any more productive with CS6 then my machine.
Personally I would suggest holding off unless you honestly feel that 30% difference is going to affect your production.
Words of wisdom...thank you. I agree, I'll wait out at least another generation and see what's next. I do have OpenCL support on my machine too and that really helps with Premiere Pro CS6. I was able to try a friend's 15" rMBP last night and believe it or not, my machine felt just as fast if not faster. Thanks again for your great feedback.
Follow up on the rMBP
A follow up question. I don't currently have any portable Mac laptop solution for editing and am trying to decided between the rMBP and regular 15" MBP.
One key difference is that on Apple's website, it says the rMBP have "turbo boost" up to XX speeds, but it does not give this feature to the non-retina MBP. Do the regular MBP's not have turbo boost? It seems like all MBP's have the exact same processors.
Also, the GPU in all the MBP's looks like its the same (NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB GDDR5 memory). Does anyone have first hand experienced if this GPU does CUDA acceleration? That's a huge need in any next Mac I purchase.
As for the difference in SSD in the rMBP, I'm planning to upgrade the HD and RAM if I purchase a regular MBP. Any suggestions/thoughts on cost comparisons of upgrading to SSD vs getting it in the rMBP would be helpful.
I think I want the rMBP for the thinner frame and gorgeous screen, but want to make sure I'm not missing essential features the regular MBP would have (let alone the regular MBP is less expensive)
Thanks for any tips ya'll can give, excited but nervous since I haven't purchased a new laptop in quite a while!
A follow up question. I don't currently have any portable Mac laptop solution for editing and am trying to decided between the rMBP and regular 15" MBP.
One key difference is that on Apple's website, it says the rMBP have "turbo boost" up to XX speeds, but it does not give this feature to the non-retina MBP. Do the regular MBP's not have turbo boost? It seems like all MBP's have the exact same processors.
Also, the GPU in all the MBP's looks like its the same (NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB GDDR5 memory). Does anyone have first hand experienced if this GPU does CUDA acceleration? That's a huge need in any next Mac I purchase.
As for the difference in SSD in the rMBP, I'm planning to upgrade the HD and RAM if I purchase a regular MBP. Any suggestions/thoughts on cost comparisons of upgrading to SSD vs getting it in the rMBP would be helpful.
I think I want the rMBP for the thinner frame and gorgeous screen, but want to make sure I'm not missing essential features the regular MBP would have (let alone the regular MBP is less expensive)
Thanks for any tips ya'll can give, excited but nervous since I haven't purchased a new laptop in quite a while!
I'm entry level where digital video production is concerned, but a guru of music production and mac configs/mods. With that said:
Yes, Cuda is supported on the rMBP, in fact Nvidia has their own preference pane for this. I've used Cuda while demoing Octane Render, which definitely prooves that the GPU can run laps on the CPU in rendering.
The CPU between the cMBP and rMBP are generally the same, though better thermal design of the retina helps it perform better.
I maxed out everything on my rMBP, most importantly the ram and cpu. You can change the SSD later if you want to save some bucks. I DO NOT regret spending more for the retina. Its lighter/thinner, has an extra thunderbolt port, and gets rid of the optical drive which serves better as external since rarely used. The main advantage of the iMac is double ram capacity, if that matters to you.
I use the Pegasus J4 with Crucial SSDs for audio-read purposes, really like it. I could add another when I get serious with video, but for now will suffice with a portable USB3 enclosure from Orico.
A good question is, can you hold out til september??
Yes, Cuda is supported on the rMBP, in fact Nvidia has their own preference pane for this. I've used Cuda while demoing Octane Render, which definitely prooves that the GPU can run laps on the CPU in rendering.
The CPU between the cMBP and rMBP are generally the same, though better thermal design of the retina helps it perform better.
I maxed out everything on my rMBP, most importantly the ram and cpu. You can change the SSD later if you want to save some bucks. I DO NOT regret spending more for the retina. Its lighter/thinner, has an extra thunderbolt port, and gets rid of the optical drive which serves better as external since rarely used. The main advantage of the iMac is double ram capacity, if that matters to you.
I use the Pegasus J4 with Crucial SSDs for audio-read purposes, really like it. I could add another when I get serious with video, but for now will suffice with a portable USB3 enclosure from Orico.
A good question is, can you hold out til september??
Thanks for your reply jblongz. Helpful to hear, glad you like your rMBP! I used a friends last month for a week and am equally tempted by the thinner/lighter design... My issue with waiting till September is that Macmall is having a big sale of rMBP and cMBP right now, looking at getting this model.
I understand the new models in September will be pretty nice, but the cost savings right now on the sale are tempting. This also wouldn't be an everyday PC, just an in the field or as needed mobile setup.
Another question, I've heard minor concerns about all the read/write video editing does to be problematic to a SSD down the road. Something to be concerned about?
I understand the new models in September will be pretty nice, but the cost savings right now on the sale are tempting. This also wouldn't be an everyday PC, just an in the field or as needed mobile setup.
Another question, I've heard minor concerns about all the read/write video editing does to be problematic to a SSD down the road. Something to be concerned about?
SSDs do have shorter write cycles than HDDs. So I'd recommend editing your video on external HDD drives, not SSDs. I only use my SSDs for reading, and the default rMBP SSD for running the system. I DO record to one of the SSDs in my Pegasus, but only because I'm experimenting with it's lifespan (and also not wanting to have the odd HDD among 3 SSDs). I wouldn't recommend the same testing for video since that involves much more write and deleting, which SSDs don't specialize in. You can get 2.5" 750GB drives @ 7200rpm pretty cheap these days.
As for cost savings, the deal will only get better the more you wait..I paid $3600 after tax for mine, and its already $700 cheaper. I don't regret not waiting, because it makes me money, but you already have a mbp that could survive until the next refresh, especially considering the new wireless standard recently updated.
As for cost savings, the deal will only get better the more you wait..I paid $3600 after tax for mine, and its already $700 cheaper. I don't regret not waiting, because it makes me money, but you already have a mbp that could survive until the next refresh, especially considering the new wireless standard recently updated.
I've started using a 2012 cMBP (15", 2.3GHz, 512MB 650M, 16GB RAM, dual internal SSDs and media on an external via USB3 for three disks total) for my CS6 Premiere / AE work when away from my Mac Pro. I've been quite impressed, and CS6 uses OpenCL hardware acceleration very well. I just finished a project using all DSLR/H.264 footage from my D7000 and GoPro Hero3 Black, and was amazed at how smooth and easily it was to edit in CS6.
The only time I used Thunderbolt was to attach to a second monitor, which was pretty cool.
In regards to turbo boost, my CPU was running at 3.1GHz most of the time. I used Intel Power Gadget to watch the performance, and was pleased to see the boost being applied near-constantly. I suppose if you had the 2.6 or 2.7, it would be higher than 3.1GHz while editing.
I know this thread is for retina, but thought I'd share my happy experience with my non-retina.
The only time I used Thunderbolt was to attach to a second monitor, which was pretty cool.
In regards to turbo boost, my CPU was running at 3.1GHz most of the time. I used Intel Power Gadget to watch the performance, and was pleased to see the boost being applied near-constantly. I suppose if you had the 2.6 or 2.7, it would be higher than 3.1GHz while editing.
I know this thread is for retina, but thought I'd share my happy experience with my non-retina.