More debate fodder about the 16gig limit on the new laptops…

[Steve Connor]

This piece in “The Register” resonates a little https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/18/why_i_bought_macbook_air_instead_of_new_pro/

I’m concerned about Apple now, hopefully they’ll get back on track next year. If it wasn’t for FCPX I might consider Windows for the first time in over a decade!

[Bill Davis]

[Dennis Radeke] “Is 16GB adequate today? Yes, but barely for any video creative professional.
Is making a professional laptop with 16GB as max config wise? Time will tell, but I am a tad skeptical.”

I”m a little more confident, Dennis.

My Retina MacBook Pro (late 2015) is maxed out at 16Gb – and I haven’t had a single project where I’ve felt the need for more performance. Back in the day, pushing bigger data streams and drive I/O was a significant bottleneck.

Today I have completely dependable proxy workflows and hardware accelerated H.264 encoding and a host of other advancements that let me work on lean libraries and virtual files – and when it’s time to go “full rez” for output – I just flip the switch.

Also, in the old days, it seems like I couldn’t judge things like color or effects when working with less than full rez files. Now, when I park on a frame of anything, X gives me a fully realized preview plenty good enough to make critical decisions.

I’m sure if I was doing “virtual worlds wireframe” stuff or the like I’d feel different. But I don’t.

So maybe the eternal hardware chase is slowing down a bit. That would be awesome. Particularly looking back at all the career hardware I’ve had to finance and pay for over the years – stuff that cost zillions of bucks back in the day – but isn’t worth a dime now.

My 2 cents.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Oliver Peters]

[Bill Davis] “Today I have completely dependable proxy workflows and hardware accelerated H.264 encoding and a host of other advancements that let me work on lean libraries and virtual files – and when it’s time to go “full rez” for output – I just flip the switch. “

But isn’t that really just a workaround? And today more and more media is 4K, not SD or HD, thus taxing laptops more than ever. Of course, really fast media is probably more important.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Michael Gissing]

[Bill Davis] “So maybe the eternal hardware chase is slowing down a bit. That would be awesome.”

If anything it is going faster but the cost has come down. And as the cost comes down there is absolutely no incentive to slow things. The consumer and professional is now more than ever, pushed to update and upgrade more often both software and hardware. Doesn’t matter who makes the hardware, they need churn more than ever.

It might be pertinent then that a laptop lean on RAM now and possibly unusable in 5 years when we are all happily crunching 8k doesn’t matter as it is no longer designed for that length of use. Maybe laptops will be an annual purchase by then.

[Oliver Peters]

FCPco’s review:

https://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/articles/1891-a-week-editing-with-the-new-macbook-pros-and-final-cut-pro-x

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Shawn Miller]

[Oliver Peters] “FCPco’s review:

https://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/articles/1891-a-week-editing-with-the-new-m...

– Oliver”

Complete with a comment and 2 minute video about how the Surface Studio is too reflective and hurts the reviewer’s finger… for some reason.

Shawn

[Bill Davis]

[Oliver Peters] “But isn’t that really just a workaround? And today more and more media is 4K, not SD or HD, thus taxing laptops more than ever. Of course, really fast media is probably more important.”

Probably, Oliver.

But today’s work arounds become tomorrows built-ins.

I still have a closet full of “best in class” gear – that rapidly became virtually useless over time. So I see folks debating stuff like the vanished SD card slot or the MagSafe port – and I just chuckle.

I think my dead gear closet still has an early era pen style bar-code reader I bought back in the 80s when I was starting out in production. The idea was that I could bar-code my gear going out on shoots and then quickly check each piece in as it returned – making sure I I’d never leave anything behind on a shoot.

I never actually used it even once.

It’s my gold standard of asking myself if a thing is something that I “actually” need – verses something I just “think” I need based on reading about somethings capabilities.

I can do 4k right this second. Is it as perfectly as fast as it could be? Nope. But the first client that comes to me demanding end to end 4k, I’ll re-evaluate that.

Until then, the bar code reader lesson will stand. I want it when I actually need it. Not just when I suspect I will some day.

Jumping early is often dumb. Jumping in late is as well.

The magic is in trying to get things just right.

And so it goes.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Bill Davis]

[Michael Gissing] “Doesn’t matter who makes the hardware, they need churn more than ever.
“

I largely agree.

But the production slowdown isn’t as much in the access to more capable gear these days – it’s in the time we all need to spend trying to constantly accommodate the changes required to maximize the utility in the evolving systems.

The Touch Bar is, perhaps, a fascinating case in point.

IF it provides an improved editing experience (unproven yet, but possible) – is your personal knowledge delta more enhanced by learning the concept early – and then having to only ADAPT to it’s increasing potential as it evolves – or is it smarter to let things settle down and jump in as the technology itself settles down.

Interesting questions.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Bill Davis]

[Shawn Miller] ” Surface Studio is too reflective”

Great opportunity for Anker or Newer to market a cheap pop-up ambient light shield?

Just asking.

; )

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Michael Gissing] “Maybe laptops will be an annual purchase by then.

I’m sure Apple would love $3-4,000 laptops to be an annual purchase, of course they’d have to actually release new hardware every 12 months to make that happen. ????

I think for the rank and file I think computer-based gear has a longer useable lifespan now than ever. With that being said, I still think that the 16gig RAM limit on the 2016’s will cut it’s usable lifespan compared to if it could max out at 32gigs.

I’ve talked a lot about hardware recently and if anyone cares to know, I decided on getting a MId-2015 MBP instead of a 2016. I hemmed and hawed a lot and was ready to buy one or the other multiple times over the last week or so. For reasons I talked about in another thread, I just didn’t think the 2016 was worth it at that price point ($500-$700 cheaper and I might have pulled the trigger on it).

For me it basically boiled down to this:

Worst case scenario of buying the 2016 (and all the new cables, adapters, and/or hubs I must buy in order to get it workflow-functional) is that I’ll forever kick myself for spending $4k (if not more) on a piece of gear that I didn’t think was worth that price but bought it anyway.

Worst case scenario of buying the 2015 is that maybe I’ll end up on a gig where it’s woefully underpowered and I’m forced to buy a 2016. If I’m on a gig like that though I’m making enough that the 2016 will pay for itself in short order (and selling the 2015 will get me 2/3 of the cash I’ll need for the 2016).

Also, since eGPUs have been brought up before (and was one of the things I was really excited about when I first heard about LightPeak) here’s a less than rosy picture of the state of eGPUs if you live in the Mac world.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/16/12/01/the-thunderbolt-3-equipped-macbook-pro-can-use-external-gpus—-but-at-a-cost