Chris Jacek
Forum Replies Created
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[Andrew Richards] “There are indeed higher end MGPUs, but they will run too hot and heavy for Apple to consider them for MBPs. Apple will not sacrifice thinness and battery life for a slightly more powerful GPU.”
I agree, but I think that supports the theory that Apple is trending away from power-users, pros, whatever you want to call them. There is clearly a conscious choice toward small and light, over powerful.
At no point have I suggested Apple is completely abandoning the pro market, but they are certainly trending away from them in favor of a larger market-share.
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee -
[Chris Kenny] “- FCP X has “pro” in the name, was introduced at an event for pros, and is portrayed by Apple by Apple has a pro product. “
Of all your arguments, Chris, this has got to be the most frustratingly naive. To offer this as evidence is basically saying “it’s pro because Apple said it’s pro.” Of course, Apple would NEVER mis-represent a product to gain exposure and credibility (this sentence is sarcasm). Who are you going to believe, Apple or you lying eyes?
Please, stop making excuses for every single concern people have. It makes it hard to take you seriously.
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee -
[Andrew Richards] “Like this? Apple will never ever make such a thing. I would argue they never have. Heck, if you don’t mind lugging another 8 lbs, you could carry around a 21” iMac.
“But isn’t this evidence that Apple is shifting away from the pro market? This is the type of computer that many pros want, and Apple chooses not to compete in this space. It could be argued that the industry is trending toward these mobile workstations. And you don’t even need to pay 3K for one, or even get one that big.
For under 2K, you can get an impressive 17″ laptop with 2-750Gig HDs, Blu-Ray burner, screaming graphic cards, etc.., under 10 pounds. That’s not much different than the original 17″ MPBs. And when it comes to editing/compositing performance, they outshine the current top MPBs, because Apple will not offer a similar product, not even as a BTO. This was not the case in the past.
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee -
[Andrew Richards] “So what specific features do you fear will be dropped from a possible future thinner MBP that would make it a non-starter for pro video work and thus evidence to support the idea Apple is retreating from the pro hardware space? Do you also feel the current MBP offerings are lacking pro features?”
Aside from the dedicated graphics card that we discussed earlier, there are concerns like hard drive space. The SSD are awesome for speed, but not yet reaching practical video storage sizes. If you get to the point of having 1TB of total SSD storage, then it’s probably time to consider completely replacing spinning drives.
I do believe that the current MBP line is lacking compared to its PC counterparts (note the mobile workstations already mentioned elsewhere in this thread). Also, there is not an upgrade option for graphics cards. The 17″ offers the stock card only, so you top-out at 1 GB, despite there being much beefier cards out there. In the past, you could BTO higher-end cards for a price. Usually a high price, but at least available.
And there are absolutely no options for CUDA capable NVidea cards, so there is no chance of hardware acceleration for Premiere Pro. Of course, this could be argued as a competitive choice.
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee -
[Chris Upchurch] “Of course, this criticism could have been leveled at Apple many times in it’s history. Going from the highly expandable Apple IIe and Lisa to the original Macintosh, for example. Or going from the old Power Mac to the iMac and G4 Cube. None of them has heralded the demise of Apple’s high end offerings.
“A fair point, though they did not really go from the Power PC to the iMac, but to the G3 Tower. If there had only be iMacs to replace Power Macs, it might have been a demise.
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee -
[Chris Kenny] “Err… huh? You realize laptops with dedicated graphics don’t typically have separate “cards”, right? It’s just an extra chip on the motherboard. “
Err, um, huh, um…. Wow, could you be more smarmy or condescending?
Take a look at the higher end NVidea offerings, like the GeForce 540M and the laptops that contain them. Despite the (relatively) small form factor, I think the pragmatic implementation of the chip and necessary cooling does require a bit more space than what the thin form factor could manage.
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee -
[Chris Kenny] “Not to put too fine a point on it, but trying to force a long-running technology trend like increasing miniaturization to become evidence for the theory that Apple is abandoning pro users is a flawless example of just how weak the actual evidence that supports such an interpretation really is.
“What exactly would you have said if you WERE putting too fine a point on it?
To continually attack predictions of future trends as “flawless examples of just how weak the actual evidence is” is insulting and vitriolic. If you cannot look at evidence and trends, and at least entertain the possibility of the potential effects of such trends, then you are either being naive or willfully ignorant.
You keep using the “this doesn’t prove anything” argument, as if I we are offering any of this evidence or conjecture as proof. We are not. We are, however, building a hypothesis from the evidence given. Just because something is not 100% proven, does not mean that it isn’t plausible, or even likely.
I invite you to apply Occum’s Razor (given what we can observe the most logical explanation is usually correct) to the question of whether Apple has shifted their focus away from the professional market.
I believe there is compelling evidence to support this notion.Over recent years, Apple has EOLed several professional applications. In that same time, their hardware offerings (not even counting iPads and iPhones) steadily trended toward smaller, with fewer expansion options. They have had slower cycles on their most powerful machines. In addition, Apple’s major profit centers have shifted from computers to mobile devices, which speaks to motivation.
Given these, and several other factors, which is the more logical explanation:
1. Apple is shifting its focus toward its most profitable products and philosophies
or
2. Apple plans to reverse its recent trend of slimming down its professional offerings, and is dedicated to committing extensive resources to a much smaller, and frankly more “high maintenance” segment of its customer base.
I think is time for all the people who believe that Apple ISN’T shifting its focus away from the professional market to offer compelling evidence to support their side of the argument. Calling us a bunch of whiners does not count.
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee -
[Gary Pollard] “I just edited two high-definition documentaries on my Macbook Pro without a skipped frame, and with completely smooth playback. More is always better, but I don’t miss a dedicated video card.
“Good point. It all depends on the kind of work you do. Docs aren’t usually going to demand a bunch of layers of compositing. With corporate videos and commercials on the other hand, you might benefit from being able to play 5 simultaneous streams of 1080p native DSLR footage.
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee -
[Gary Pollard] “Only accurate conjecture.”
Of course. But that’s the tricky thing about conjecture, isn’t it? We won’t know which conjecture will be accurate until after the fact. If you’re accurate, you get a jump on the industry. If you aren’t accurate, it may or may not, come back to bite you. If you don’t participate in conjecture at all, well, then you might end up like those post-house owners in the late 90s who were stuck with million-dollar CMX suites.
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee -
[Craig Shields] ” I have never LMAO.”
I wish we could. What a great weight-loss program that would be. Even better, can somebody figure out a way for me to “laugh my gut off?”
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee