Please assist which build option for FCP X

[Michael Hoefler]

Difficult decision.

Maybe this helps a little bit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJt3av99e8k&spfreload=10

Michael

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[Eric Santiago]

You can work with the cheapest affordable display now (I wouldnt IMHO) and upgrade to whatever is affordable later (4K and up)
The nMP has a lot more offer if you grow.
Just the ability to add more displays and peripherals.
We use a two Sonnet Echo Express III-R (rackmount version) thats home to:
REDROCKET
BMD UltraStudio 4K (via Thunderbolt 2)
BMD Extreme DeckLink
Pro Tools HDX
ATTO SAS R680

Just cant beat the future options with the nMP.

And since you posted a kick ass config, I see you mean business 🙂

The above runs FCPX, Avid, Pro Tools, Resolve, Adobe CC 2014 and then some.

[Brett Sherman]

At this point, I’d probably go with the iMac (I have a new Mac Pro). The Xeon processors are getting a bit dated. My Mac Book Pro decompresses H.264 footage much faster because it’s built into the i7 processor.

If you’re doing a lot of rendering then the Mac Pro will probably trump the iMac. But, for editing I’m not sure there is much advantage. For less money your getting a great monitor.

One thing I would definitely do is spring for an SSD over the Fusion drive. Personally I wouldn’t want anything less than 1 TB SSD.

[Herb Sevush]

[jeff rinland] “4Ghz quad core i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB fusion, Promise pegasus r4 8tb (4 by 2TB) thunderbolt 2 RAID system, AMD Radeon 4GB = $5200 CAN”

16GB ram is a little light if your working with multiple Adobe apps and dynamic link.

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

[Richard Herd]

Need more business plan details: are you growing from your current client base or are you launching a new venture?

In both cases, investing first in the backbone (scalable storage and throughput) is very wise and long term, then regardless of the computing platform you will be ok. With that in mind it’s tough to beat the utility and bulletproof and service of drobo, like this one https://www.drobo.com/storage-products/b800i/ To be sure, drobo has competitors.

You may be phrasing your question a bit off: [jeff rinland] “is the amount of power I would gain with the mac pro worth spending an extra $2000 and losing that stunning 5k display…”

Because the answer is yes, narrowly tailored to power, yet the financial question you’re asking is called Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). You will buy equipment (“employ capital”) in order to generate more earnings than the cost of the capital. So you need to know your earnings over some period of time, like a year. If those earnings are greater than the price of the equipment, good purchase. If they are not, bad purchase.

[Jeff Rinland]

Thanks for everyone’s input this has been a tough decision but I am going to go with the mac pro but not get the thunderbolt monitor which will really help with the cost.

I am likely going to buy the G-Tech 8TB hd I don’t see any reason to spend the extra money on the slower Pegasus R4 since I’m more concerned with speed than data backup

[Erik Lindahl]

If going the MacPro-route I’d recommend looking at a different display setup than Apple Thunderbolt Display. EIZO has some very solid screens for example.

Also, depending on what you work with, having a 512 GB internal SSD can be a huge boost in performance.

That said, if you’re really on a budget the non-retina iMac is a very solid price / performer if you’re on a tight budget.

[Jeff Rinland]

Yeah I am def not getting the thunderbolt display I really do not need it. I think the G-tech external HD is better than the pegasus R4 too. I was thinking of doing the 256 internal with the 8TB external g tech, hopefully i wont regret not getting the 512 internal

[John Joyce]

A factor I don’t see mentioned often is the longevity of the iMac under constant serious loads.

I burned through a couple of earlier generation iMacs, and I suspect the reason was heat. I looked at a current iMac recently, and it still seems to me poorly ventilated. I could feel the hot air coming out when it was doing nothing.

On the other hand, it takes a quite a bit of work to make my late 2013 Macbook pro (with the video card) heat up seriously. The fact it has two fans was one reason I bought it.

[Jeff Rinland]

Yeah that was a big part of my decision. The mac pro just stays so cool under stress. At first glance the imac looks much cheaper than the mac pro but once i start building it like a mac pro with 32gb of ram etc the price is actually fairly close since i am not buying a thunderbolt display,i think my money is better spent on the mac pro.