Is Apple still serious about the professional market?

[disconap]

I'm a HD filmmaker and all of other offerings are not an option. Right now I'm still struggling with my 2x2Ghz G5 and am in desperate need for an upgrade. My G5 still works great and I can certain make due with it and get more creative with my workflow to accommodate the speed issue.

Agreed. Especially if you have a G5 render farm using Xgrid. I'm sure they've upgraded by now, but I remember reading a year or so ago that the majority of machines at the studio that does South Park were still G5s.

 

[VirtualRain]

I'm not sure you need a Mac Pro for anything, if you can do this on a MacBook Pro...

Made on a Mac: Toy Story 3

“Toy Story 3″ director Lee Unkrich gave something for his seat mate to gawk at as he sat at 36,000 feet editing the latest animated tale of plaything adventures.

With not a second to waste — the release date is June 18, 2010 – Unkrich worked on a MacBook Pro, with what looks like shortcut color codes for Avid Media Composer.

Link

 

[Eidorian]

I'm not sure you need a Mac Pro for anything, if you can do this on a MacBook Pro...

Bad example.

You can do a lot with less. You just make up with patience.

 

[grue]

I'm not sure you need a Mac Pro for anything, if you can do this on a MacBook Pro...

Made on a Mac: Toy Story 3

Link

I edit on my MBP 13" sometimes when I'm on the road, but I'm proxy editing: I'm editing on a standard-definition low-bitrate file, and then I transfer back to the real computer and reconnect to the proper data files.

 

[mrsir2009]

Ever since the iPod Apple has been focused a lot on the people who don't use Apple computers. Like tons of the iPhone and iPod users don't use Macs, and lots even hate Macs! Their mobile devices have become popular in the PC market so they're focusing on that now

 

[LethalWolfe]

I'm starting to wonder if there is a competition for knowing the least about post production but attempting to talk about it with authority anyway.



Lethal

 

[benzslrpee]

i'm a pro photographer by day, film editor during lunchtime and moonlight as a DJ in the night. on the weekends, i'm a IT manager who does CAD. sleep? everyone knows real pros don't sleep. we edit. as a pro, i don't edit on anything that has less than 8 cores. 4 cores? pfft. take that turd and go home son. i can smell that reek of noob wafting from your MBP with a paltry 4 gigs of RAM. what, Uwe Boll couldn't get the funding to get you some real hardware to work on?

i laugh at your real world expertise. real pros cut their teeth on internet forums

I'm starting to wonder if there is a competition for knowing the least about post production but attempting to talk about it with authority anyway.



Lethal

 

[LethalWolfe]

what, Uwe Boll couldn't get the funding to get you some real hardware to work on?

ROFL!

Holy cow, quote of the night, IMO.


Lethal

 

[grue]

I'm starting to wonder if there is a competition for knowing the least about post production but attempting to talk about it with authority anyway.



Lethal

I actually got into a heated discussion with someone once who took offense at my use of the phrase "proxy editing", it was possibly the most bizarre argument (not argument, I guess, btu you know) I've ever had happen with someone else in the industry.

 

[CCK]

i'm a pro photographer by day, film editor during lunchtime and moonlight as a DJ in the night. on the weekends, i'm a IT manager who does CAD. sleep? everyone knows real pros don't sleep. we edit. as a pro, i don't edit on anything that has less than 8 cores. 4 cores? pfft. take that turd and go home son. i can smell that reek of noob wafting from your MBP with a paltry 4 gigs of RAM. what, Uwe Boll couldn't get the funding to get you some real hardware to work on?

i laugh at your real world expertise. real pros cut their teeth on internet forums

Such a blanket statement to encompass all of the creative potential of the creative pro is a bit neanderthalian IMO. The biggest club does not necessarily have anything to do with the quality of the final product. I think this is the point of this thread. For many professionals they have overkill or underkill and there are also the high end users that don't have the options of what they need. Seems like most mac professionals love their macs, it's just that when you look over your options, it's like the restaurants in our little one light town - Mexican or country cooking - so we tend to not eat out much. IMO this digital age has in fact opened up the creative possibilities of the individual to make their own projects in their OWN way. The scope of a pro is limited/unlimited by their mind, not their hardware.

I'm looking forward to spending my hard earned $ on the next MP, just hope I won't have put off buying an 08 for nothing.

 

[parakiet]

dmnd it must be hard to be a 'yesterday pro'. none of the needed equipement available !

 

[benzslrpee]

it was satire. i wasn't serious. looking at your join date i don't know if you're really new or long-time-lurker-new.

i can't say diddly squat for video forum but if you wander to the photography one you can easily find numerous posters who all claim to be pro, know a pro or worked with one. a lot of these same posters also believe that everyone in the industry shoots with a D3/MKIII, post processing on $2k monitors married to spec'd out MacPros. i'm sure some do and i'm also equally certain many don't. the same crowd also worry about whether or not their MacBook Pro can handle CS4 without a dedicated graphics card...

i was poking fun at those posters, not the people who work in industry.

Such a blanket statement to encompass all of the creative potential of the creative pro is a bit neanderthalian IMO. The biggest club does not necessarily have anything to do with the quality of the final product. I think this is the point of this thread. For many professionals they have overkill or underkill and there are also the high end users that don't have the options of what they need. Seems like most mac professionals love their macs, it's just that when you look over your options, it's like the restaurants in our little one light town - Mexican or country cooking - so we tend to not eat out much. IMO this digital age has in fact opened up the creative possibilities of the individual to make their own projects in their OWN way. The scope of a pro is limited/unlimited by their mind, not their hardware.

I'm looking forward to spending my hard earned $ on the next MP, just hope I won't have put off buying an 08 for nothing.

 

[disconap]

it was satire. i wasn't serious. looking at your join date i don't know if you're really new or long-time-lurker-new.

i can't say diddly squat for video forum but if you wander to the photography one you can easily find numerous posters who all claim to be pro, know a pro or worked with one. a lot of these same posters also believe that everyone in the industry shoots with a D3/MKIII, post processing on $2k monitors married to spec'd out MacPros. i'm sure some do and i'm also equally certain many don't. the same crowd also worry about whether or not their MacBook Pro can handle CS4 without a dedicated graphics card...

i was poking fun at those posters, not the people who work in industry.

I know big name folks who use old TV station news cameras from the 80s and dump tape to digital after shooting. It's all about the look you want, not the price tag on your gear.

 

[hugodrax]

Well Ask The folks who colo at the NYSE if the price you pay has nothing to do with getting better performance

I would figure for Video editing, more power means less time waiting and Time is money.

 

[VirtualRain]

Apple Reportedly Lays Off 40 Final Cut Employees

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/866809/

That's about 39 more than I thought they had!

Hopefully this is a logisitical change and has nothing to do with their commitment to the product or the pro market but it's hard to imagine this kind of news being perceived as a positive endorsement of Apple's continued commitment to the pro market.

 

[CCK]

it was satire. i wasn't serious. looking at your join date i don't know if you're really new or long-time-lurker-new.

i can't say diddly squat for video forum but if you wander to the photography one you can easily find numerous posters who all claim to be pro, know a pro or worked with one. a lot of these same posters also believe that everyone in the industry shoots with a D3/MKIII, post processing on $2k monitors married to spec'd out MacPros. i'm sure some do and i'm also equally certain many don't. the same crowd also worry about whether or not their MacBook Pro can handle CS4 without a dedicated graphics card...

i was poking fun at those posters, not the people who work in industry.

Sorry, I've been at DVinfo.net for about 7 years, New here looking for a few months for info on the 2010 and learning a lot about the internal tech end of things as that is my weak point. DVinfo/mac is mostly software talk.

Have just heard way too many folks that equate hardware and specs as the benchmark for what's professional as more megapixels can not make a bad photo good

 

[Topper]

Apple Reportedly Lays Off 40 Final Cut Employees

That's about 39 more than I thought they had!

It's very worrisome to me.
I thought that after the release of Snow Leopard, Apple would have it's pro-apps and QT Pro upgraded to 64-bit.
I hear people say how hard it is to program these apps for 64-bit.
Apple's solution? Layoff people.

 

[Nostromo]

A professional is defined by his work and not his hardware. That being said, It's nice to have options in your hardware and especially not to lose options.

Agreed.

And yes, we want more options.

And it wouldn't hurt to give us a 3 year warranty without paying for an "extended warranty" (even if it has the nice name of "Applecare").

 

[CCK]

I can't see them not keeping up FC, it's simply too big a player. FCE would also start to decline because it would begin to loose it's pro tag. Then what need would many people have to stay with mac.

 

[CCK]

I think you left out a word, Does Applecare

 

[afrowq]

No.

 

[hugodrax]

Build a comparable Dell Precision (2 cpus) The dells are actually more expensive than the equivalent Mac Pro.

 

[eelpout]

Build a comparable Dell Precision (2 cpus) The dells are actually more expensive than the equivalent Mac Pro.

from the Dell site:

Congratulations! Your system is ready to be built.We have some recommendations for you highlighted in green below.

My System Details
BASE Dell Precision T3500, CMT, 85 Percent Efficient Power Supply
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Professional Bonus- Windows XP Professional downgrade
ENERGY STAR No Energy Star
PROCESSORS Quad Core Intel® Xeon® W3520 2.66GHz, 8M L3, 4.8GT/s, Turbo
CHASSIS CONFIGURATION Mini-Tower Chassis Configuration
MEMORY 3GB, 1066MHz,DDR3 SDRAM, ECC (3 DIMMS)
WARRANTY & SERVICE 3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD On-Site Service
VIDEO CARD 256MB ATI FirePro™ V3750, DUAL MON, 2 DP & 1 DVI
HARD DRIVE/RAID CONFIGURATION C1 All SATA drives, No RAID for 1 Hard Drive
HARD DRIVE INTERNAL CONTROLLER Integrated Intel chipset SATA 3.0Gb/s controller
750GB SATA 3Gb/s with NCQ and 16MB DataBurst Cache™
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD-ROM with Cyberlink Power DVD™
MONITOR No Monitor
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER No Floppy Drive and No Media Card Reader
RESOURCE DVD Resource DVD - contains Diagnostics and Drivers
My Accessories
SPEAKERS No Speaker option
KEYBOARD Dell QuietKey Keyboard
MOUSE Dell USB 2 Button Optical Mouse
SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION Documentation, English, with 125V Power Cord
My Services & Warranties
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Quick Reference Guide Quick Reference Guide, English
Shipping Packaging Options Shipping Material for System
Windows 7 Upgrade Program Info Windows 7 Upgrade Web Site

Starting Price $1,864
Instant Savings $241
Subtotal $1,623

 

[eelpout]

and the a Dell with Dual Quad core:

PROCESSORS Dual Quad Core Intel® Xeon® Processors E5520 2.26GHz,8M L3,5.8GT/s,turbo
CHASSIS CONFIGURATION Mini-Tower Chassis Configuration
MEMORY 6GB, 1066MHz, DDR3 SDRAM, ECC (6 DIMMS)
WARRANTY & SERVICE 3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD On-Site Service
On-Site Service after Remote Diagnosis: for issues covered by Limited Hardware Warranty, technician and/or part will be dispatched, if necessary, usually within 1 business day following Remote Diagnosis. During Remote Diagnosis, you may be asked to access the inside of your system (where safe to do so) or to participate in troubleshooting until a cause can be isolated.
VIDEO CARD 256MB ATI FireMV® 2260, 2MON, 2 DP w/ 1 DP to DVI Adapter
RAID CONFIGURATION C1 All SATA drives, Non-RAID, 1 drive total configuration
HARD DRIVE INTERNAL CONTROLLER Integrated Intel chipset SATA 3.0Gb/s controller
HARD DRIVE 750GB SATA 3Gb/s with NCQ and 16MB DataBurst Cache™
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW, Data Only


Starting Price $3,291
Instant Savings $367
Subtotal $2,924

 

[grue]

from the Dell site:

Congratulations! Your system is ready to be built.We have some recommendations for you highlighted in green below.

My System Details
BASE Dell Precision T3500, CMT, 85 Percent Efficient Power Supply
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Professional Bonus- Windows XP Professional downgrade
ENERGY STAR No Energy Star
PROCESSORS Quad Core Intel® Xeon® W3520 2.66GHz, 8M L3, 4.8GT/s, Turbo
CHASSIS CONFIGURATION Mini-Tower Chassis Configuration
MEMORY 3GB, 1066MHz,DDR3 SDRAM, ECC (3 DIMMS)
WARRANTY & SERVICE 3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD On-Site Service
VIDEO CARD 256MB ATI FirePro™ V3750, DUAL MON, 2 DP & 1 DVI
HARD DRIVE/RAID CONFIGURATION C1 All SATA drives, No RAID for 1 Hard Drive
HARD DRIVE INTERNAL CONTROLLER Integrated Intel chipset SATA 3.0Gb/s controller
750GB SATA 3Gb/s with NCQ and 16MB DataBurst Cache™
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD-ROM with Cyberlink Power DVD™
MONITOR No Monitor
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER No Floppy Drive and No Media Card Reader
RESOURCE DVD Resource DVD - contains Diagnostics and Drivers
My Accessories
SPEAKERS No Speaker option
KEYBOARD Dell QuietKey Keyboard
MOUSE Dell USB 2 Button Optical Mouse
SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION Documentation, English, with 125V Power Cord
My Services & Warranties
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Quick Reference Guide Quick Reference Guide, English
Shipping Packaging Options Shipping Material for System
Windows 7 Upgrade Program Info Windows 7 Upgrade Web Site

Starting Price $1,864
Instant Savings $241
Subtotal $1,623

On the other hand:

Processor Dual Intel(R) Xeon(R) X5570 2.93GHz/8MB L3 Cache/6.4GT/s

Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 32 bit Downgrade to Win XP

Chassis Oriention Minitower Orientation without 1394 Port

Display Dell (TM) Entry E1910 WideScreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor (VGA, DVI-D with HDCP)

Memory 6GB (6x1GB) DDR3 RDIMM Memory, 1333MHz, ECC

Hard Drive 750GB SATA (7200RPM) Hard Disk Drive

Hard Drive Configuration All SATA drives, Non-RAID, 1 drive total configuration

Optical Drive 16X max SATA DVD+/-RW with Dual Layer Write Capabilities

Video Card Dual 256MB PCIe x16 nVidia NVS 295, Quad Monitor DisplayPort DVI Capable

$8,746.70





Better video card, and includes a display, but I don't think those are worth $2,600 together.