So Now What For Those Of Us Who Need New Apple Hardware?

[Gary Huff]

Frankly, given some of the issues that have been brought up with the Retina-display on a traditional laptop (along with all the 3rd party software that may or may not get updated), I think a non-Retina Mac is the best bet for workflows.

And there’s no shame in saving a few bucks going with referb Macs either. You’re not strictly limited to the brand new items that are purchasable at the moment from Apple’s website.

[Paul Dickin]

Hi
I don’t need portability.
The problem for me with using the 15″ Unibody MBP is the lack of a PC Express slot and only one TB for everything else faster than FW/USB3.

What would suit me very nicely is the Retina MBP without its screen and battery in a Mac Mini form factor.
The two TB ports + HDMI + USB3 would be fine.

I’m wondering how much the RMBP top case +screen and bottom case + battery would make on the resale spares market? I could fit the guts I need in an old dead G5 tower case 😉

The old style Unibody models are so close in price to the new RMBP to make them uncompetitive IMO.

[Steve Connor]

Wait, iMacs may get Ivy Bridge soon.

Steve Connor
“The ripple command is just a workaround for not having a magnetic timelinel”
Adrenalin Television

[Olof Ekbergh]

I got the most tricked out IMac. And it is serving me very well.

It makes FCPX a joy to use, and it is fast for what I do in AE. It is hooked up to a Matrox MX02, and the hdsdi is perfect. It plays back pretty much everything w/o rendering. But I still let it render in the bg.

I still have 2 older mpro’s with AJA hardware and they still run fine with M100 and fcp7.

So I am all set for a year or two now. I really like the quiter smaller iMac ( it is the 27″) but it is still much smaller than the aluminum monster and it’s 12 drive promise raid that sounds like a jet departing and has to be banished to another room. I use a TB 6 TB raid and it is quiet and small but plenty fast enough for my work.

So if apple comes out with a new box in the next year or two, that is perfect for me. I expect it to be smaller quiter and faster, just like my iMac.

I still use my 2 year old mbp a lot. And I will probably replace that with a new mbp when I drop this one. It seems to happen every 3-4 years or so.

Olof Ekbergh

[Andrew Burke]

From my experience, the vast majority of Final Cut Pro seats are not installed on MacPros. In the last 10 years, I’ve witnessed about a 15:1 ratio of FCP on Laptop/iMac to FCP on the MacPro. Certainly the demographics are a bit different on this forum.

So for the majority of us, our options are good. The high-end iMac works very well for video editing. I’ve clocked most of my editing time on laptops since 2001 (heading into a traditional broadcast suite only for specific, large projects). The just-announced laptops looks nice to me. But I haven’t used them.

Best,
Andrew

[Rick Lang]

If you do not require mobility and cannot wait another year or so, I suspect the iMac will be updated this fall. Don’t know anything about the specs although I assume it will be “the fastest all-in-one we’ve ever built.” Big question would be: will it have a retina screen? Doesn’t seem possible given the size of the screen would be 5120×2880 pixels if they kept the 27″ format. Perhaps a 21.5″ or 24″ retina screen is more likely this year. Certainly anyone who feels limited by the current 15″ laptop screen may be more comfortable on the larger iMac screens. Downside is there’s longer to wait with no guarantee you’ll like what happens.

I think Apple is right to move everything to a retina display. It just seems once it’s possible to do technically, it will become the de facto standard for many years. And now the ball is rolling on laptop computers after it started with the iPhone 4 and the iPod touch, it’s going to be mainstream in desktops eventually. Apple wants the competitive edge of being seen as the leading edge facilitator of this transition. And professionals of all stripes that are in front of a screen too many hours a day will consider it a given that they utilize the best imaging technology

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Jason Bernagozzi]

Well, don’t spend money just yet. The Macbook Pro Retina laptops have a 3-4 week wait on them now. Supposedly after the report that iMacs and Mac Pros will get a refresh in 2013, supposedly the apple press relations staff corrected that it would be the mac pro in 2013, leading to speculation that the iMac will refresh when Mountain Lion ships in about 4 weeks

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/13/imac-update-might-be-coming-sooner-rather-than-later/

[Bill Davis]

[Rick Lang] “And professionals of all stripes that are in front of a screen too many hours a day will consider it a given that they utilize the best imaging technology”

This resonates with me.

I’m pretty sure that during the live rollout one of the Apple guys noted that they’ve engineered the Retina display to have something like 75% of the reflectance of the prior glossy displays – positioning the new MBP-Retina significantly closer to the matte screen option then the glossy approach that color sensitive creative pros all hated.

I suspect that will make a BIG difference combined with the resolution boost.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Rick Lang]

Bill Davis:
“they’ve engineered the Retina display to have something like 75% of the reflectance of the prior glossy displays – positioning the new MBP-Retina significantly closer to the matte screen option”

With the MacBook Pro Retina screen integrated (bonded) to the inside top panel, there’s no need for a glass cover over the LCD. Apparently that glass cover accounted for most of the objectionable glossy screen effect. Brilliant solution and the blacks are apparently much deeper now, so much so that the screen was rated second on a long list of laptop screens for quality of the contrast.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Andrew Richards]

[Steve Connor] “Wait, iMacs may get Ivy Bridge soon.”

“Wait, iMacs will get Ivy Bridge in July.”

Fixed that for you.

Best,
Andy