[Herb Sevush]

[Steve Connor] “Camera Owners must be laughing their heads off at all the Editors angst about the cost of the Mac Pro”

Which is why I don’t want to own a camera. But the difference is I don’t charge for my editing rig; having the latest Mac Pro won’t allow me to up my fee, or attract new customers. It will only make financial sense to buy it if I can save $10,000 (or will it be 12K ?) of my time over the next three years, which I don’t know that it will do. I’m probably a lot older than you and can see the end of my career on the horizon; if I knew I would still be doing this work 5 years from now it would be less of an issue.

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

[Herb Sevush]

[Winston A. Cely] “In other words, there’s no middle ground? You either get a cheaper system that can be upgraded externally via crazy fast Thunderbolt, or crazy expensive system that lets you upgrade internally”

With Apple there are no options in the middle ground. Plenty of people love working on iMac’s. I’m not one of them. In the PC world you can fine/make/buy any option you want, but my clients are Apple only and I’m stuck with the limited choices Apple offers. Again, they’re not bad computers, they’re just not for me.

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

[Herb Sevush]

[Winston A. Cely] “Maybe I’m missing something, “

What you’re missing is that some people (me, for example) hate the idea of a closed computer, and have neither the room nor the desire for another monitor, and are therefore totally uninterested in the iMac (pro or otherwise.) Apple has finally brought back an open system computer, but only for those who can pony up 10K and upwards. If there were, as someone suggested, a Jr version of the Mac Pro offering the components of an iMac in an open system case that came in at 6K there would be hosannahs in all the land, but alas, such is not the case (pun intended.)

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

[Herb Sevush]

[Oliver Peters] “So, can you spec a cheaper PC? Sure. But that is not a direct comparison part-for-part.”

My guess is if I changed the12 core i9 to an 8 core Xeon it will increase the price around 1.5K for both CPU and motherboard, which means for 7K you will have a computer that kicks the stuffings out of the 6K base Mac Pro.

And more importantly I’m not comparing spec for spec, I’m comparing feature for feature and useability for usability. For editing with heavy rendering, as opposed to being a server on a render farm, the i9 system would be the way to go. A useable Mac Pro is going to be somewhere north of 8K, probably around 10K to compete with the 5-6K systems I’m describing.

I’m not knocking the Mac Pro for what it is designed for, I’m complaining that it wasn’t designed for me, and neither is anything else that Apple offers.

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

[Herb Sevush]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Herb, it’s really good to hear from you.”

Likewise.

It’s ever so nice to be appreciated in one’s own time.

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

[Herb Sevush]

[Oliver Peters] “For grins I priced out an HP Z8 in something that’s fairly close to the base configuration of the Mac Pro. $8K.”

Second reply.

For grins I priced out a PC at ADK, a well known video integrator. For less than 5.5K I can get 1TB SSD boot drive, 64k memory, Thunderbolt and all assorted i/o including a firewire 800 for legacy drives, nVidia 2080ti & 12 cores (but an i9).

This computer would kick the stuffings out of the base Mac Pro at 6k. But of course it doesn’t run OSX. While some may bemoan the cost of subscriptions, the dongle cost for using OSX only software is fairly steep.

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

[Herb Sevush]

[Brett Sherman] “Now for us in the mid-level. It’s hard to see how I justify a purchase of this machine. “

+1 on that.

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

[Herb Sevush]

[Steve Connor] “Why am I not surprised that you’re unhappy about it :)”

Possibly because of my legendary negativity, but remember, just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you.

And by “they” I mean Apple, and by “you” I mean me.

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

[Herb Sevush]

[Oliver Peters] “For grins I priced out an HP Z8 in something that’s fairly close to the base configuration of the Mac Pro. $8K.”

Which is why most independent editors don’t buy HPs. Saying the Mac Pro is no more expensive than an HP doesn’t make it a good deal.

I will say that only Apple could have fulfilled it’s promise and bummed me out at the same time. I love the look of the case, but I’m not buying a workstation that will live on the floor under my desk for it’s looks. Apple has totally shut me out as a buyer – this Mac Pro is way over spec’d ( I don’t need Xeons, an i9 will do just fine) and priced for my needs, the Imac is a closed unmodifiable system with a screen I don’t need or want, and the mini is, even with an eGPU and maxed out, insufficient for my needs.

Now back to work on my POS trashcan that I loathe. I still have my 2010 cheese grater, but it’s lack of Tbolt connectivity and inability to use the latest nVidia cards make it an emergency system only.

Gggrrrrrrrrr – curses, foiled again.

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

[Herb Sevush]

[Bill Davis] “Well, I spent about 5 straight hours with Cioni at the LACPUG where he presented – and oddly, he’s still cutting on FCP X. “

Bill, do you think I’m surprised that Cioni is using FCPX? I was merely pointing out that he was purposefully distorting the meaning of language in order to make his sales pitch.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin\’ attached to nothin\’
\”Deciding the spine is the process of editing\” F. Bieberkopf