MacBook Pro vs Mac Pro

[David Roth weiss]

The new MBPs come equipped with Thunderbolt, which will give them much greater connectivity than what you’ve been reading. T-Bolt enabled devices are not yet released however, but many were announced at NAB and are due out soon. If I were you,I would go ahead and buy the computer, but don’t buy anything other than rudimentary storage and monitoring now.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

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A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Andrew Rendell]

I’ve been using a MBP for the last few months (on and off) and I’m very pleased with it. For me the portability is extremely useful as I frequently take it to one of my client’s offices and that’s the main reason for going for the MBP.

What I have is a NEET Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter which gives me a 2 display system (using a high def tv as a second monitor), an Expresscard34 to esata adapter to connect to a fast external hard drive and a usb audio adapter to play the sound through some proper speakers. At the moment I don’t have a pro level breakout box for vision (I occasionally plug in my AJA IO but it’s the older SD only one so a bit limited and rather defeats the idea of being portable), I use a facility company for ingesting, colour grading and quality checking (usually I get them to capture from tape onto my hard drive overnight and dry hire a suite for the other stuff by the hour when I need it).

There are times when you can tell that it’s not as fast as the desktop system, e.g., doing layered effects, especially in HD, but it’s fine for most stuff. It can be hard to stave off the urge to constantly buy more/better kit but I’ve got a setup that works well and a plan B (hiring) for those rare occasions when I actually need the full works.

[Adam Taylor]

you could take a look at the Matrox MX02 range. I just bought myself the LE version and it works really well across a range input/output formats.
with a glyph portagig62 mini raid drive and the Matrox, my laptop is now capable of digitizing and editing HD whilst on location.
Just ensure you get the 17″ macbook to be sure you get the expresscard34 slot. Even with Thunderpants on the scene there are still many connection options that these cards will give you.

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Dennis Dean]

Adam – Did you purchase the LE with MAX (not sure what that is) or the LE for desktop (They look like the same unit)
DD

Dennis Dean
The Dean Group
-It’s about results-
http://www.deangroup.com

[Adam Taylor]

No – i got the bog standard version! Max adds the option of faster H264 conversions (i think), but is not something i have much call for.

I got the laptop version which which comes with an Expresscard34 adapter, but i also bought the pci card so i can connect to both my Mac Pro and Macbook Pro. The card was another £49 so didnt break the bank.

adam

Adam Taylor
Video Editor/Audio Mixer/ Compositor/Motion GFX/Barista
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

http://www.sculptedbliss.co.uk

[Walter Soyka]

[Dennis Dean] “I’ve read thru several of the past posts from Feb into mid April of this year on performance versus the desktops. I think it would work well speed-wise for what I do and the portability would be a definite plus.”

I’m a little hesitant to mention it here, at the risk of pulling this thread off-topic, but I think that FCP X (with Open CL and Grand Central Dispatch) will really highlight how much more processing power is available in a Mac Pro versus a MacBook Pro.

Certainly get the MBP if you require portability, but the difference in power will be more obvious in a couple months.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
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