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What do you use your Mac Pro for?!
- Thread starter Adamo
- Start date
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recording and mixing music
- soooooo much headroom for plugins and endless tracks
- Silence is golden - quiet computing is invaluable
Video editing / processing / converting / burning
- The best part is that with 4 cores, i can do all those things at once!
- I love being able to load 3 or 4 processes in to ffmpegX, not even maxing out the CPUs, and still being able to work on other things.
Photoshop / Lightroom
- Gotsta edits my photos.
Gaming
- Only good use for windows.
- soooooo much headroom for plugins and endless tracks
- Silence is golden - quiet computing is invaluable
Video editing / processing / converting / burning
- The best part is that with 4 cores, i can do all those things at once!
- I love being able to load 3 or 4 processes in to ffmpegX, not even maxing out the CPUs, and still being able to work on other things.
Photoshop / Lightroom
- Gotsta edits my photos.
Gaming
- Only good use for windows.
mine will be for Final Cut Studio, photoshop, mathematica, and developing applications. Going from a dual 1.8 G5 to an octo what ever I can afford with 8gigs of ram. 
[rant] My MBP Rev a. doesn't count, cuase those bastards at apple keep making it slower and slower[/rant]
[rant] My MBP Rev a. doesn't count, cuase those bastards at apple keep making it slower and slower[/rant]As long as you're not buying the RAM from Apple, then great.mine will be for Final Cut Studio, photoshop, mathematica, and developing applications. Going from a dual 1.8 G5 to an octo what ever I can afford with 8gigs of ram.
Anyways, so far, it's mainly video editing, photo editing, a small amount of gaming and web-surfing/porn.
A MacBook Pro is tempting me as well, gah!
I don't have one yet, but I will be getting one after WWDC! I'm waiting for the whole line to be upraded to 8 core machines and hopefully a bigger hdd stock. Better video cards is also a must. I'll use mine for video editing.
When I get my Mac Pro, I will use it for the usual e-mail and internet stuff. But, I also am looking to get back into playing Sim City and Civilization, both of which can't run anymore on my desktop and are painfully slow on my PowerBook.
In addition, I do a lot of photography editing which taxes my RAM, so the expandability there is nice. And I do web design stuff so having PhotoShop, Dreamweaver, and Safari open and running smoothly would be nice.
And for work/projects. I had a final project where I was simulating convection in Earth's mantle. It took 3-4 hrs to run one simulation on my 1.67 GHz PowerBook. On the computer my advisor bought me for work, a dual duo 2.0 GHz Mac Pro, I was able to run 4 simulations at once, they only took an hour each, and so multiplied my productivity (and decreased the time it took) by a factor of 12.
So the raw speed and the amazing expandability are what I need.
In addition, I do a lot of photography editing which taxes my RAM, so the expandability there is nice. And I do web design stuff so having PhotoShop, Dreamweaver, and Safari open and running smoothly would be nice.
And for work/projects. I had a final project where I was simulating convection in Earth's mantle. It took 3-4 hrs to run one simulation on my 1.67 GHz PowerBook. On the computer my advisor bought me for work, a dual duo 2.0 GHz Mac Pro, I was able to run 4 simulations at once, they only took an hour each, and so multiplied my productivity (and decreased the time it took) by a factor of 12.
So the raw speed and the amazing expandability are what I need.
I have a 500gb bay for my movies. I rip them to half size and play them on my Creative Zen Vision W 60G (been waiting for WS ipod) and ipod 80G and PSP. Have about 200 movies, a few TV shows and short films, and several music videos so far. I watch a lot of stuff on my computer. I also make home movies of my pets. I'm slowly getting better at editing. I have a 500gb bay for my music which I rip at 320 AAC. Only around 6000 songs so far but I expect to double that by the end of the year. I have a 500gb bay for programs and games. And the final 500gb bay I have free at this time but I think I'm going to put XP and Linux on it but that will come later. Who would have know that 2 terabits of storage would fill so quickly. I also have external storage. I'm thinking I scanning all my Tax forms and other important paperwork. I have already finished the family photos. I'm going to have to have transfered the old 8mm film I have that my father made over 30 years ago. I already finished most of the VHS transfers of family movies. It never ends. My MacPro is kept busy without being used by a professional.
I do a bucket load of video editing... on my last geration PB G4
I'm over it. With the amount of video crunching I've been doing, and the more i get into MOTION... the more this current computer is just upsetting... having to wait for a render everytime I make the slightest change because it is not optimized for Real Time processing, and the time it takes to compress video...
Im getting a top end mac pro as soon as wwdc comes around. and I am soooo excited.
But most importantly, I think in the next couple of years that computer video access and the living room media hub (things like itv)... will be getting so married, that having a kick ass machine will keep you capable of managing the web and its contents as it becomes media-centric. Just watch prime time tv for a couple of hours now and you'll notice how many ads contain some kind of referrence to special web media content. The whole thing is headed in that direction.
Just some thoughts...
I hear you on that. Having to re-render simple clips in FCE HD can be very annoying and can take up a lot of time. I also use a PowerBook G4, but I may be selling it very soon and use the money towards a Mac Pro. I've used the new Macs in Apple Stores and the performance boost is incredible, especially when working with video editing.
I really hope Apple makes the 2.66 GHz model the base configuration. If not I'm going to go with the 2.0 model, which will still be plenty of power. And plus aren't the chips swappable?
GOD I hope you're right. I've been just itching to by a Mac Pro, and because I'm a grad student, I'll take that free Nano now too.
seriously fast games of spider solitaire via xp/parallels.
oh, and 'work' when someone catches me playing spider solitaire.
oh, and 'work' when someone catches me playing spider solitaire.
It is not worth it to swap the chips now. You will lose your warranty and possibly risk breaking the machine.
The 2.66 ghz model is the best Bang For Your Buck configuration. I'd recommend going ahead with the 2.66 ghz model. The processor is the last thing you will upgrade in the future.
With an update coming soon, all this information may just be useless.
I plan on getting the Mac Pro but I plan on swapping chips in 3 years when AppleCare runs out.
The price difference between the 2.0 and 2.66 is what gets to me, though.
If it's truely worth the difference, then I will most likely go for it. And if I ever did swap out chips, it wouldn't be for at least a couple years. I was just asking in terms of keeping the machine up to date later down the line.But like you're saying, hopefully all this talk is pointless come Monday.
Multi-Spectral Imaging
I moved to the Mac Pro when my AMD dual-core WinXP system could not keep up with the file sizes. I shoot mulitple exposures through different UV-IR filters from 300-1000nm on a modified Canon 5D, convert them to B&W and stack them in Photoshop. To that stack, I add a visible light layer shot with a Canon 1Ds MkII. The 16-bit file sizes range from 300MB to nearly 1000mb.
I use PS CS3 Extended to auto-align the layers so I can drill down through them to see how each pixel reacts at different wavelengths. On the WinXP system, this process took 2-4 minutes depending on the number and complexity of layers. On the Mac Pro, it takes from 10 to 55 seconds.
The Mac Pro has 8GB RAM and 2TB of disk. It is network attached to 6TB of Buffalo TeraStation RAID-5 arrays, which are used for image backup, and an assortment of USB attached 250GB hard drives which were used for off-site backup. I moved the WinXP system off-site and it is now my off-site backup.
The computer is a tool, not a toy. I don't even own a video game. After working on it all day, and much of the night, playing games on it would be like a mechanic playing with his wrenches at home after working with them all day.
Same thing with my Jeep Rubicon. It gets me into the back country where I work and brings me out again. When you spend all day in low-range 4WD to get to the end of a 50+ mile Jeep trail, from where you backpack your equipment to shooting locations, you find quickly that four-wheeling ain't fun--It's work! While I have a very rough-country capable Jeep, I ain't no "Jeeper."
I moved to the Mac Pro when my AMD dual-core WinXP system could not keep up with the file sizes. I shoot mulitple exposures through different UV-IR filters from 300-1000nm on a modified Canon 5D, convert them to B&W and stack them in Photoshop. To that stack, I add a visible light layer shot with a Canon 1Ds MkII. The 16-bit file sizes range from 300MB to nearly 1000mb.
I use PS CS3 Extended to auto-align the layers so I can drill down through them to see how each pixel reacts at different wavelengths. On the WinXP system, this process took 2-4 minutes depending on the number and complexity of layers. On the Mac Pro, it takes from 10 to 55 seconds.
The Mac Pro has 8GB RAM and 2TB of disk. It is network attached to 6TB of Buffalo TeraStation RAID-5 arrays, which are used for image backup, and an assortment of USB attached 250GB hard drives which were used for off-site backup. I moved the WinXP system off-site and it is now my off-site backup.
The computer is a tool, not a toy. I don't even own a video game. After working on it all day, and much of the night, playing games on it would be like a mechanic playing with his wrenches at home after working with them all day.
Same thing with my Jeep Rubicon. It gets me into the back country where I work and brings me out again. When you spend all day in low-range 4WD to get to the end of a 50+ mile Jeep trail, from where you backpack your equipment to shooting locations, you find quickly that four-wheeling ain't fun--It's work! While I have a very rough-country capable Jeep, I ain't no "Jeeper."
Web surfing.
Photoshop CS3. I do lots of photo editing and have a few thousand photos, I'm always wishing I had more drive space. Mac Pro is easy to upgrade there.
3D graphics. I'm just a beginner here, Bryce, Poser, Carrara, nothing professional. My PB would take an hour or more to render what my Mac Pro can do in about 20 min or less. Wish I had enough $ for an Octo Mac Pro.
Photoshop CS3. I do lots of photo editing and have a few thousand photos, I'm always wishing I had more drive space. Mac Pro is easy to upgrade there.
3D graphics. I'm just a beginner here, Bryce, Poser, Carrara, nothing professional. My PB would take an hour or more to render what my Mac Pro can do in about 20 min or less. Wish I had enough $ for an Octo Mac Pro.
Mine is used mainly for mundane tasks, but it does house my ever-growing media library for streaming to my Apple TV.
Sometimes I feel like my MBP is "snappier"
Sometimes I feel like my MBP is "snappier"
Web surfing and email. I have all the above mentioned programs just dont know how to use them yet.
I use my Mac Pro for CAD, mostly in windows XP and Vista
I use Solidworks 2007 and 2008, some Rhino 4 and Lightwave and Maxwell Render!
Maxwell and Lightwave is the only OS X app's so I get to enjoy the full power of my MP a few day´s per month.
Only problem right now is that I cant find a QFX4500 to replace the GF7300 I ordered her with. Visit ebay almost every day, have done so now for a few weeks
I use Solidworks 2007 and 2008, some Rhino 4 and Lightwave and Maxwell Render!
Maxwell and Lightwave is the only OS X app's so I get to enjoy the full power of my MP a few day´s per month.
Only problem right now is that I cant find a QFX4500 to replace the GF7300 I ordered her with. Visit ebay almost every day, have done so now for a few weeks
I use my Mac Pro for CAD, mostly in windows XP and Vista
I use Solidworks 2007 and 2008, some Rhino 4 and Lightwave and Maxwell Render!
Maxwell and Lightwave is the only OS X app's so I get to enjoy the full power of my MP a few day´s per month.
Only problem right now is that I cant find a QFX4500 to replace the GF7300 I ordered her with. Visit ebay almost every day, have done so now for a few weeks
My guess is that you'll have a very difficult time finding a QFX4500 on eBay. There is nothing to upgrade to, so the likely reasons to ditch it are if you need the money or the card is dead. Is it possible to buy a non-Apple one and flash it to work? I think this has been done with the ATI-X1900XT, but not sure about the QFX4500.