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iMac Pro or next year’s Mac Pro?
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[Tom Sefton] “But my point is that you are in a minority of editors and creatives that have the knowledge and expertise to build a machine that is reliable enough to earn a living from.”
point taken…
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[Tom Sefton] “But my point is that you are in a minority of editors and creatives that have the knowledge and expertise to build a machine that is reliable enough to earn a living from.”
Or the desire to build one!
\”Traditional NLEs have timelines. FCPX has storylines\” W.Soyka
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[Oliver Peters] “https://www.computerworld.com/article/3131906/apple-mac/ibm-says-macs-are-e…”
There’s no force I’ve yet encountered on earth, in heaven, or in hell that could make me buy anything Apple again, but there are some pretty eyebrow-raising data points in this article:
- 90,000 employees are now using Macs, up from 30,000 in 2015.
- 100,000 of IBM’s global workforce will be using Macs by the end of the year
- There are lots of reasons for this, not least that better OS software means Apple needs to update its systems far less often than Microsoft updates Windows. “We have to go out and manage the Mac environment 104 fewer times a year than PC,” Previn said.
- just 25 staff supported 30,000 Macs
Those are the numbers, but this struck me as a number behind the number: people want to use Macs there. This says more to me about the people that IBM is hiring than Macs per se, but here it is:
- 73 percent of employees will choose a Mac when they get the chance to choose for themself
That’s simply not true of the world at large, or something much closer to 73% of computers sold at retail would be Macs — raising the question of what is it about this cohort that makes them swing so disproportionately Mac-ward, since swing Mac-ward they clearly do.
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[Oliver Peters] “Let’s say it takes you only 2 days (conservative) to build the unit and make sure all the drivers are right, make a few calls to various support numbers, etc”
2 days? I’ve only done it a couple times but I’d say half hour to forty five minutes. Tom talks about needing “pretty specific knowledge”. Not really. I mean you have to know your CPU will plug into your motherboard and that the PSU is powerful enough (just ask the guy at the shop) but after that I can’t think of any specific knowledge… The pieces just plug into each and generally it’s not possible to plug anything into the wrong slot. Just look for what fits where, plug it in. Done. Not sure how it can take more than an hour.
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[Dominic Deacon] “2 days? I’ve only done it a couple times but I’d say half hour to forty five minutes.”
Is this in Dog minutes? It will take you half an hour just to install Windows!!
\”Traditional NLEs have timelines. FCPX has storylines\” W.Soyka
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On the Mac side maybe. There seems to be a belief that this is a difficult thing to do. Honestly it’s less than an hours work. You’re just plugging stuff in much as you do at the back of your computer when you”re plugging your peripherals in. Maybe you do have to do a little research. The first time I did it I spent way to much time researching, maybe half a dozen hours, but the knowledge gained will last me a life time, save me at least a grand every time I buy a machine and means every computer I use is specifically tailored to the task it needs to perform rather than the solid all rounder that Apple provides.
That last part is more than invaluable. I’m actually about to build a PC for 3ds. It will be a completely different machine to the one I’m writing on right now which was built for photoshop because the requirements of those programs don’t overlap much. Apple might try but there’s no way to build a machine for every one that’s going to be efficient at every task. With an expensive Mac you’re always going to be either paying for stuff for stuff you don’t need or missing out on stuff that you do.
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Seems there are more PC users than Mac users here on this Mac based Software forum
\”Traditional NLEs have timelines. FCPX has storylines\” W.Soyka
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[Tim Wilson] “That’s simply not true of the world at large, or something much closer to 73% of computers sold at retail would be Macs — raising the question of what is it about this cohort that makes them swing so disproportionately Mac-ward, since swing Mac-ward they clearly do.”
Well… Microsoft is a direct competitor in the enterprise – if they could, I would be willing to bet that IBM would excise all things Microsoft from their environment… but AFAIK, they can’t. I think it might also be worth noting that IT maintenance costs have been declining across the board for a decade, much of it due to AI, IT as a service and automation. There isn’t a large enterprise in my area that I know of which doesn’t support Macs in their environment (including Microsoft)… but most people still tend to choose Windows machines for their day to day work. The notable exceptions always seem to be creatives, marketing and some sales people.
Shawn
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[Steve Connor] “Seems there are more PC users than Mac users here on this Mac based Software forum”
Or… are there more people who run both? Should those of us who only run Windows get lost? ☺
Shawn
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[Tom Sefton] “But my point is that you are in a minority of editors and creatives that have the knowledge and expertise to build a machine that is reliable enough to earn a living from.”
Which basically brings us back to the conundrum that started the thread; should one buy an expensive, brand new Mac model with no track record now or wait 12-18 months and maybe buy a different, expensive brand new Mac model with no track record then? And since Apple hasn’t regularly updated its high end desktops since 2009/2010 the ‘Maybe I’ll wait until Rev 2 next year to see how it shakes out’ is no longer available.
Speaking of update cycles, will the iMac Pro get a more regular update cycle like the iMacs do, or a once every few years update like the Mac Pros do? When updates were on a regular, annual cycle it was much easier to gauge ROI and manage risk but now, IMO, you feel more pressure to jump on a new machine as soon as it’s released. I think the continued (and more frequent) talk of Hackintoshes, going to Windows and/or updating cMPs is illustrative of the frustration part of the user base is feeling. 10 years ago widespread conversations like this didn’t exist.
I’ve been looking to retire my 2009 cMP since about 2012/2013, but I just keep upgrading it because nothing from Apple has been appealing enough to buy. I’ve thought about the Hack route (switching to Windows just isn’t viable in my work demo in LA), but to be honest I’m probably going to just be lazy and buy from Apple even though they don’t offer a product I want at a price that I think is reasonable.
Depending on how much longer I can afford to hold out I’ll either end up with a iMac Pro or a yet-to-be-revealed Mac Pro.
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