Contemplating a switch from Mac to PC?

[Chris Cea]

Hi Keith,

I have the 12 core 2.66 ghz with 24 gigs of RAM running CS5.5. As for the Hard drives… 4 internal drives, 1 for the applications and the other 3 are configured as a RAID 0. For the video card, I run the Quadro 4000.

I can’t say I’m unhappy with the Mac Pro or Premiere Pro at this point. The software runs quite well and besides some of the minor issues (some lag when switching between Premiere and other programs), I have little negative to say. I do think that looking back on my system purchase … If I would have known Apple was going to do with FCP what they did, I would have gone with a PC. I feel that I could have gotten a killer system for less money and had more options (like video cards for example) for upgrading. Again though, My machine and PP runs great.

Sorry for any confusion
Chris

[Keith Moreau]

Thanks for the reply, Chris. If anybody else has had good results from their Mac Pro and CS.5, I’d like to hear it. As is the case, usually these forums are chock full of people having problems, not the ones that are actually happy, so it is easy to get an unrealistic opinion of how well or badly a system works in general. I have yet to talk with ADT regarding the 30% “Mac Tax” because of the Mac OS’s bad architecture, but given that the Windows and Mac Hardware, when Mac Pros are newly released, are relatively equivalent for me this would be the biggest inherent drawback to me, if it’s true.

The ‘killer deal’ factor has a lot of other issues to go along with it, such as other issues perhaps not related to Premiere Pro, such as ease of use, the Apple ecosystem (which is pretty powerful and convenient for me.) Sometimes a good deal from a base hardware point of view can really be just part of the overall cost of operating the machine. For me, I would have to re-invest in a whole new set of Windows-based software at least, plugins, tools, etc.

Along with my Creative Cow Magazine was a whole other ‘magazine’ which was actually an HP advertisement, which extolled the virtues of getting an HP Z800 and the disadvantages of Macs, especially when producing video so there seems to a trend, at least in sponsorship and promotion, of moving away from the Mac.

Again, thanks for the info and others, please feel free to chime in. I am so interested in this subject and having an open and honest discussion about it.

[Tom Daigon]

Keith, actually my system (listed below my signature) works really well. Im just looking for even better performance and want to break away from Crapple ASAP.

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
https://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

[Chris Cea]

Keith, I see exactly what you mean and why you would be concerned. Very few things in this industry are cheap and when someone tells you that you should consider changing platforms it’s only natural for you to question why. I agree with you that there definitely seems to be a shift away from Apple (at least in our industry) these days. Apple of course put that into motion with the new FCP. You add in the recent talk of the discontinuation of the Mac Pros and you have a group of loyal Apple pro users who start to question if they can trust Apple anymore. I think that’s why you are hearing so much about PC’s these days. I of course could be wrong 🙂

[Pat Defilippo]

Thanks for the posts on this link – very informative!

I am currently a Final Cut Studio user since FCS1 and am switching to both Avid and PPro (and Production Premium). I bought the CS 5.5 upgrade just before their 30% off deal expired last week, so I have the Mac software here in a brand new box all ready to install.

I am currently looking at the latest and greatest Mac Pro and adding 32gbs of RAM from OWC to it.

A primary consideration for me for staying on Mac is that I have 5+ years of Final Cut Pro projects that I may need to revisit down the road. It doesn’t happen often, but being able to keep on the Mac OS and now that Wes Plate from Automatic Duck is now with Adobe, I know that I can convert my old projects to/from easily (and even Avid projects).

Another consideration for me is that I’ve seen first hand Windows and Windows manufacturers follow Apple since when Windows 3.1 came out in 1993. Even small things like Apple not shipping with a 3.5″ floppy in the mid ’90s and instead only CD drives, and everybody in the Windows market reacting negatively to that only to do exactly the same a few years later. There have been many things like this that Apple has done and other companies have followed – including Windows itself! So, if Apple is really going to do away with the Mac Pro, there is good reason to believe that Windows hardware manufacturers will do the same a few years later. Apple may be believing that their Thunderbolt IO will take hold and that will soon make the iMac a viable professional tool for video professionals, and perhaps that’s where the talk of the Thunderbolt-less Mac Pro is stemming from. Again, if that’s the case, I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see other companies do the same 1-2 years after Apple leads the way. Several other companies have already been cloning the all-in-one look of iMacs for years and adding Thunderbolt connectivity to Windows hardware could soon follow. So, I’m really not phased by the possible phasing out of the Mac Pro. There is already a Thunderbolt enabled box that will let you run your full-sized cards like the AJA LHi and Quadra 4000 via a MacBook Pro – so, it’s entirely possible that the Mac Pro’s days are numbered. But, I can still get years of power, speed and OS reliability and virus-free operation out of my new Mac Pro just like I got for 5 years from my G5.

Another consideration for me is what somebody else mentioned in this thread – I have all kinds of Mac software and plug-ins that I’d rather not have to re-buy. Plus, Avid works on Mac as well – which is just that much less for me to buy and have all installed on one unit. I have read that all three software titles (FCS3, Avid MC 6 and Production Premium CS 5.5) can all run on the same Mac – I’m sure the same can be said about Windows, except that it can’t run FCS!

That said, I’m not sure how well the AJA LHi is going to work with all three softwares, but according to AJA, all three work well with driver downloads. I am also looking at the Quadra 4000 for down the road and it looks like most people are happy with the acceleration it provides.

First, though, I need to get up to speed with the software as I’ve got a ways to go!

Anyway, thanks again for everyone’s posts here. While I’ll be sticking with Apple, it was good to hear in the above post that an equal amount or more similar problems are happening on Windows.
-Pat

G5 Quad Desktop with 4GB Ram, 750GB HD & eSata ~ 30″ Cinema Display & 17″ Sony SVGA
~ Swift Data 200 Internal 1.6TB SATA II RAID 0 ~
2.33gz Intel MacBook Pro with 3GB Ram, 500GB HD
AJA Io LA
Final Cut Studio 2 on G5 & 3 on MBP
Sony UVW-1800 Beta-SP
Sony DSR-40 DVCam

P D Post Productions, Inc.
TV~DVD~WEB-Device
for Corporate Communications, Commercials, Infomercials, Television Programs and Family Occasions since 1983
E-mail PD@PDPost.com
Website http://www.PDPost.com
Business/Cell Phone (847) 275-5671