[Craig Seeman]

[David Fortin] ” I purchased a Sony EX-1 when it first came out, and I’m still using it.
However, I can see me needing something that can shoot 4K.”

Me as well. I sold the EX1 and bought the X70 which does 422 10bit HD but 420 8bit 4K. Has the same S&Q as the EX1. The V90 coming out now would be good. I use Blackmagic Pocket with SpeedBooster for Interviews and controlled (none ENG/VNR) shoots. ProRes is very easy to handle (but really want a 4k equivalent now).

There’s is where the first key issue would be. I find that my Late 2013 6 Core Mac Pro struggles with the 4K XAVC-L (although noting preliminarily better performance with today’s FCPX 10.4.

BTW I also had the 2008 8 core Mac Pro. Had to upgrade the GPU for FCPX compatibility. I felt it was already sluggish by 2013, especially for encoding, and bought the new Mac Pro. Big downside was/is slower H.264 encoding compared to i7 (such as my late 2013 15″ MBPr).

[David Fortin] “#1 deliverable – online and digital files
#2 deliverable – DVDs (mostly for non-profit clients and fundraising)”

I dont’ do DVDs much anymore since it’s easy to deliver HD and even 4K files. But these is where H.264 encoding speed is important. I’ve done non profit and all day educational. After the shoot I may have to deliver 10-15 (one for each presenter). This may mean a batch optimized for YouTube, another for Vimeo, possibly a third for direct delivery. I’ll also do a VNR type package and maybe a longer highlights reel. These need to be turned around quickly (deliver within one day if possible). Getting a quad i7 is important for this. Clients may not be over my shoulder but they do need fast.

My guess is a 2017 27″ iMac with BTO Quad i7 would be good enough for you. The biggest downside coming from a tower is that there’s only two TB3 ports. At the very least you may need a JBOD (no internal disks) and/or RAID5 (for editing) and/or possibly a single SSD. This depends on your storage as well as editing demands. The iMac Pro might be overkill for you especially if you don’t need that kind of speed.

If you are thinking 5 years out though that can edge you towards the Pro though. I’m thinking of what it’ll take to handle HEVC 4K camera native, exporting to the same, having to add grades and other FX. This is why I think of camera source as well. If you don’t move up then this isn’t a worry though.

[Craig Seeman]

[David Fortin] “which computer is best for FCPX.”

Best might be the upcoming iMac Pro which starts at $4999 but that seems contra to your needs it would seem given your 2008 survived this long as your main computer.
The more detail you describe your needs the better recommendations you’ll.

What are your sources (cameras) and deliverables and how might that change over the next few years?

GPU might be less critical for your work but they can impact the render speed of some plugins.

You could get by with a base model 15″ MacBookPro Retina with Quad i7. $2400
https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MPTR2LL/A&step=config#

iMac could be the lowest level 27″ BTO Quad i7 with 16 GB RAM $2200
https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/imac?product=MNEA2LL/A&step=config#

But if you want near best sans iMac Pro, a well equipped iMac $3100
https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/imac?product=MNED2LL/A&step=config#
but you can push it to $5300

Sometimes wide spread changes in camera technology and delivery will push hardware upgrades and with Apple that basically means a new computer. So a life cycle might be 3 to 5 years depending…

Otherwise you can wait for the next Mac Pro which promises to be modular and, I suspect, expensive.

[Craig Seeman]

But you can get a BTO Late 2014 MacMini with a 4th generation Dual Core i7 processor with integrated Intel Iris GPU for $1900. With that option why would anyone want an 8th generation Hex Core i7 with GTX 1080 for $1500? ????

Are the two TB2 ports and case design worth that much? ????

Perhaps Apple is about to replace the MacMini with something more realistically priced.

[Craig Seeman]

Hmm, but I know many more people that have a photo app than who use relational databases.

I can’t say what the metrics are for businesses (and the number of employees) who uses photos (and software to manipulate them compared to relational databases but I do think the use databases but I suspect the use of photo apps by professionals is fairly wide spread.

Regarding fundamental business needs, I know many large businesses uses databases only a small subset are using Filemaker, probably some smaller businesses.

[Craig Seeman]

So do you think Apple would have motive to buy Affinity but as a subsidiary as Filemaker is?
Certainly one would think Apple would have motive to have advance design tools in house.
But, Aputure was an alternative to Adobe Lightroom and one would think a good thing to have in house yet that was killed. Or do you think Apple values Filemaker uniquely and won’t consider repeating the “subsidiary” strategy with another software product line.

[Craig Seeman]

[Bret Williams] ” Plus Apple would get to kill something that’s popular on the PC side and they love to do that.”

In this case I’m not sure if it would make sense (purchase and kill the Windows version). That would only make sense if the end user doesn’t have good exit strategy options. In this case they’d simply move back to Photoshop.

With Affinity, I think they’re offering Adobe customers and exit strategy cross platform and that may be more evident when they finally release their Desktop Publishing program.

Given the history with Filemaker, although it was years back, having a cross platform subsidiary is a (long shot) thought. Claris, now Filemaker Inc, is still an Apple subsidiary AFAIK. I’m not sure how another subsidiary benefits Apple unless they have a long range plan to tackle Adobe.

[Craig Seeman]

[Oliver Peters] “Pixelmator Pro seems to be designed around specific macOS technologies.”

I was under the impression so is Affinity Photo. They were originally Mac only and, I believe stated, they were using Mac specific technologies that PhotoShop wasn’t. They had mentioned the challenges in trying to match features and performance when they were working on the Windows version.

[Craig Seeman]

[Michael Gissing] “Shame in this day and age it isn’t cross platform, especially given the neighboring thread about Mac hardware vs PC”

Which is why Affinity Photo has a big edge IMHO. You should give it a look.

[Craig Seeman]

So I guess the original Pixelmator becomes the equivalent of Photoshop Elements or maybe they’ll let it die.

I wonder what portion of the market looking to leave PhotoShop hasn’t already moved to Affinity Photo (and Designer as well) especially since it’s cross platform.

I guess Pixelmator users will move to Pixelmator Pro.

Of course maybe they have a super useful killer feature that Affinity doesn’t have.
Someone will have to do a head to head comparison.

Over time it means compatibility with client sent files might become more challenging.

It’s good to see quality competition for Adobe’s market.
I believe Affinity is going to come out with an InDesign competitor next year.

[Craig Seeman]

I believe I had this issue some time back. John Davidson suggested I delete a file which was rebuilt and fixed the issue. Unfortunately I can’t seem to remember the specifics.