New Mac Pro vs. PC Workstation for Premiere

[Michael Hendrix]

From what I have read, neither really offer any advantage other than a bit in price and preference. If your workflow is ProRes, certainly look at the top iMac. You can top it off at 32gb of ram and a 4gb video card. This config will still be cheaper than a Mac Pro with no monitor.

[Luke Pearson]

If you want to stick with ProRes your only option is a Mac, a PC can decode but not encode unless Apple ever license the encode part to Adobe (they have done this with non competitors so very unlikely they’ll allow Adobe to license it.)

This is the only thing stopping me from ditching Mac at my facility.

[Casey Culver]

My guess is that you’ll loose the ProRes workflow even if you stay with a Mac (at least in the traditional sense) – it’s an unnecessary step at this point for the most part. I still batch out some proxy’s for certain circumstances, like 16 up multicam or stacking up a bunch of 4k, but I’m sure there’s comparable codec solutions for PC if that’s a major concern.

The iMac is definitely not a bad option.. But my vote would be new Mac Pro if you can swing it – it’s gonna be a honker, plus the street cred…

[Herb Sevush]

[Casey Culver] “My guess is that you’ll loose the ProRes workflow even if you stay with a Mac (at least in the traditional sense) – it’s an unnecessary step at this point for the most part.”

There are tapeless workflows that specify ProRes. It’s hard to give up if it’s one of your deliverables. There are third party PC ProRes encoders, but it’s a separate step and not a plug in for PPro.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Chris Harlan]

[Luke Pearson] “If you want to stick with ProRes your only option is a Mac, a PC can decode but not encode unless Apple ever license the encode part to Adobe (they have done this with non competitors so very unlikely they’ll allow Adobe to license it.)

This is the only thing stopping me from ditching Mac at my facility.

“

I’m in the same boat. ProRes, both in and out, are a mandatory part of my chain, so I’m staying in Mac land, though I’ve been sorely tempted to go elsewhere.

[Casey Culver]

I was only guessing – I didn’t realize he had a Ninja 2! And I say stick with Mac regardless..

[Lenny Greaster]

Just spreading the gospel… you can encode directly to ProRes on the PC from Premiere and AME using DebugModeFrameServer, AVISynth and FFMPG. A little scripting, no batch but pretty easy and no intermediate encoding needed.

Not ideal for every workflow but for some, like me, it’s all I need to output ProRes when I need it with no extra time spent encoding intermediate files.

[Chris Harlan]

[Lenny Greaster] “Just spreading the gospel… “

No prob. I get it. I know its not impossible, and I’m tempted now and then, but the weight still falls a little heavier on the Mac side of the scale.

[Walter Soyka]

[Chris Harlan] “I’m in the same boat. ProRes, both in and out, are a mandatory part of my chain, so I’m staying in Mac land, though I’ve been sorely tempted to go elsewhere.”

I have one of my Macs running Adobe Media Encoder with a watch folder for kicking out ProRes renders from my PCs.

Best of both worlds.

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
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

[Nick Szpara] “I’m going to go exclusively Premiere after the upgrade (no FCPX for me, thanks) so the question becomes- do I switch over to a PC workstation or buy the new Mac Pro?”

I added PCs to my little shop two years ago when HP sent me a Z800 to evaluate. I loved it enough that I bought a few more HPs. I’ve been cross-platform and loving it ever since. I am now trying to figure out if my next laptop will be a MacBook Pro or an HP ZBook, and I’m leaning toward the ZBook. I’m also eyeing the Surface Pro 2, which I think would shock anyone who knew me a few years ago when I was Mac-only. It turns out that I actually rather like a lot about Windows.

That said, I think it’s hard to make an informed decision right now. May I suggest waiting until the Mac Pro is released and we can see its real-world performance with Adobe apps? The PC platform offers performance options that are simply not available on the Mac, but we can’t really consider price/performance until the Mac Pro actually ships.

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
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events