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Why mac pro?

I

I'm a Mac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 5, 2007
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I feel like nowadays you can do almost anything on a high end iMac with upgraded HDD and memory?

So all you people who are looking to buy a mac pro, what can you do on a mac pro that you can't do on an imac/ maxed out imac? (Or even a macbook pro and a display)

Just curious, always wondered who buys them/ needs them. I know a few years ago when I bought the original imac g5 the pro was the only power option.
 
Internal RAID, far more processing power if needed, supports more than 4GB of memory, can power many more displays, more powerful graphics cards to name but a few things.
 
But for what real-life purposes are all of these extra specs needed for? Movie-making? Medical Stuff? Graphic Design? Do people use a macpro as a server for small businesses?
 
I'm a Mac said:
But for what real-life purposes are all of these extra specs needed for? Movie-making? Medical Stuff? Graphic Design? Do people use a macpro as a server for small businesses?
Click to expand...

Video editing, sound processing, image a editing, to name a few. Some of us use it as a home machine for heavy multi tasking, including the things i listed.
 
I'm no video expert, but if you take raw HD video and convert it to MP4 using h.264 compression you'll want as much processing power as you can afford.
 
But are there any specific things that you can't do on an imac or macbook pro compared to the mac pro?
 
I'm a Mac said:
But are there any specific things that you can't do on an imac or macbook pro compared to the mac pro?
Click to expand...

Well, if you're into serious audio, Digidesign's cards require a PCI or PCIe slot... which only the mac pro has.


I want a Mac Pro, mainly because of the time it will save while working on video. For now, though, I can make my MBP work. I think the extra cost would be worth the time gained from the sheer power of the machine.
 
I'm a Mac said:
But are there any specific things that you can't do on an imac or macbook pro compared to the mac pro?
Click to expand...

Same thing can be said about buying a BMW when other cheaper cars would do the same job.

I have a Mac Pro because i use it as a media hub, i have all my movies and tv shows on it. My Bootcamp partition is 200GB that with all my videos are around 500GB. I do a lot of video converting, most of the time i have VMWare on and that with everything i am doing takes a lot of power which the iMac can handle but would be a lot slower.

I also like to use a dell monitor that i cant with an iMac and the Mac pro has more ports that i am using.
 
I'm a Mac said:
But are there any specific things that you can't do on an imac or macbook pro compared to the mac pro?
Click to expand...

yes, you can't:

-have more than 4GB RAM
-have more than one external monitor
-have more than 1 internal hard drive
-have more than one internal optical drive
-have more than 2 processor cores

and as far as software, it will (i believe) run everything a mac pro would run (barring some high-end video stuff that needs special hardware connections, i think) but a pro will run them (in some cases) DRAMATICALLY faster. and when you use a computer to make money, faster can = more profit.
 
So if you need a really big hard drive, or to a lot of video editing with many hd projects, or if you want a really powerful computer, I guess the mac pro is for you.

Although, my 2.8 iMac serves me pretty well, even with my hd stuff.
 
Out of curiosity how long does it take to convert a movie on a nicely spec'd Mac Pro??

Say, a 90 minute movie (DVD) converted to h.264 MP4??

It's a four to five hour job on my 1.42 GHz PPC Mac Mini (1Gb RAM) using Handbrake.
 
Ummmmm

I am sure HD vs other stuff makes a difference. But if it helps, I converted a 45 min tv show from AVI to MP4 in 12 min.... on my mbp in my sig.

As far as the OP question.

Another thing is that the MacPro is much more upgradable then an imac is. My mom does a lot of graphics work. Photoshop, Painter, tons of plug ins and filters and huge files, all of which could be done easily on an imac or something of the sort, but aside from her hating the new screens, my dad and I are waiting for the new macpros to be announced (she has a 1.8 dual g4 that has been clearly upgraded for the last ohhh 6 years or more) to get her a new computer because as well as being able to add a bunch of interl drives for scratch and backup and such, we will also be able to do minor processor upgrades if need be down the line (depending on chip configuration ofcourse) but mainly keep upping the ram and adding drive and all in all getting a longer life out of the machine than you could with an imac, because really, after you up the hardrive and the ram on the imac, you are pretty much done.

The mac pro just lends it'self to much more expandability and a longer life for those like my mom who may not NEED the power now (although with filters and plugins and huge photoshop files i'm sure being able to fill it full of ram and have the extra power won't hurt! hehe), but will be able to get many more years out of it down the line. Although, my dad is a computer engineer and knows his way around upgrading pretty much everything, some people it's better to just update and buy a new computer every 2+ years :)

So plenty of reasons in addition to the ability to choose your own monitors/configuration and add more things with different inputs etc.
 
ktbubster said:
Ummmmm

I am sure HD vs other stuff makes a difference. But if it helps, I converted a 45 min tv show from AVI to MP4 in 12 min.... on my mbp in my sig.
Click to expand...

Thats quick.

Sorry but I meant using Handbrake from an original DVD.
 
Ok... well here are some comments, I think on what you were asking, from another thread I found via google :)

"
posted September 18, 2006 at 11:26 am
Handbrake is an OS X application that will, among other things, rip DVD video to a files that will play on an iPod (how to). However, I've found that this takes an absurd amount of time...2.5 hours for a 1.5 hour-long movie (on a 1.67 Ghz Powerbook with 2 GB RAM). Are there faster options out there?

Reader Comments
37 comments
Michael Ströck says:
Get a better Mac with more cores. Video encoding is insanely expensive, I'm not aware of anything that will get the job done much faster. The encoders are very well multi-threaded, so my 2.16GHz MacBook Pro can encode a DVD to H.264 of the same resolution in a little bit faster then real-time, with both cores at 100%. Getting a Mac Pro is probably the best solution :)
» by Michael Ströck on Sep 18, 2006 at 11:38 AM
jake says:
my mac pro at work did gandhi, a 3 hr movie, in about 45 min.
» by jake on Sep 18, 2006 at 11:42 AM
Steven Blumenthal says:
iGandhi ?
» by Steven Blumenthal on Sep 18, 2006 at 11:53 AM
Joshua Schnable says:
Perhaps this is obvious, but you could just let it run while you sleep. Unless you're worried about your battery exploding overnight.
» by Joshua Schnable on Sep 18, 2006 at 12:00 PM
Mitch Groff says:
My MacBook (of the 2GHz variety) encoded four hourlong episodes of Grey's Anatomy is just under 2.5 hours last night. This was using Instant Handbrake to go straight to the fiancee's iPod.
» by Mitch Groff on Sep 18, 2006 at 12:07 PM"

They were from this http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cach...o+time&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us&client=safari

hope that helps... looks like.. A LOT faster :)
 
MacPro - Handbrake

Ninja Dom said:
Out of curiosity how long does it take to convert a movie on a nicely spec'd Mac Pro??

Say, a 90 minute movie (DVD) converted to h.264 MP4??

It's a four to five hour job on my 1.42 GHz PPC Mac Mini (1Gb RAM) using Handbrake.
Click to expand...

Hi. I have never used Handbrake before so i just downloaded it and set it to go with default settings on the latest Billy Connolly DVD which is 1 hour 54 minutes long (114 minutes). The conversion took 22 minutes and 42 seconds to complete. Average frame rate was 128fps. Format is MP4 using the AVC/H.264/AAC Audio Codec

My MacPro is an 8-core 3.0Ghz with 5GB of RAM and X1900XT Graphics Card. It has BT and AE, twin Superdrives and built in IR*. I have a pair of 23" Alu Displays connected to it.

* I installed an Apple IR card from an iMac by soldering on a USB cable and connecting it to the internal USB port of a PCIe USB card.

More than anything else, i like having multiple displays connected. That is the big benefit of the MacPro.

The other good thing about owning the Daddy MacPro is you can embarrass Windows using friends by running XP faster than they can.... mwuahahahahahahahahaha!!!!
 
the macbook pro in my sig took about 50 minutes to rip "Surf's Up" (which has a runtime of about 85 minutes) from DVD to MP4 on "iphone/ipod touch" setting in handbrake, with about a 43 fps average render rate. thats with only 2 cores, i assume a quadcore or the ocho mac pro would be significantly faster.
 
I'm a Mac said:
So if you need a really big hard drive, or to a lot of video editing with many hd projects, or if you want a really powerful computer, I guess the mac pro is for you.

Although, my 2.8 iMac serves me pretty well, even with my hd stuff.
Click to expand...

I personally prefer not to be restricted by an all-in-one. I want expandability and power. The iMac does not offer enough power for me.

Also, what exactly is the point you are trying to make?
 
I'm a Mac said:
So if you need a really big hard drive, or to a lot of video editing with many hd projects, or if you want a really powerful computer, I guess the mac pro is for you.

Although, my 2.8 iMac serves me pretty well, even with my hd stuff.
Click to expand...

I take around 30 to 35 mins for a typical movie, and another 20 mins to convert it via Visual Hub.

EDITED: I am running a 10.5 OS X, 2 x 3GHz Quad-core intel Xeon, 10 GB ram Mac Pro.
 
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