[Marcus Moore]

I’m not sure where you got the impression that the Project/Render files are designed to be kept on the boot drive. That’s only true insofar as FCP7 defaulted the scratch disk to the Documents folder on the MacHD.

[Marcus Moore]

A new MacPro is a done deal. Not necessarily because of the product codes that have been leaking in the last day or two, but because LoopInsight’s Jim Dalrymple said there would be. He has a stellar record with Apple info, and doesn’t comment where he isn’t sure.

With that in mind, I don’t see the iMac becoming any more customizable. If you need power and performance you can’t get from an iMac, then you really do need what a MacPro offers. Added GPU and expandability will become more of a reality for the rest of the Mac line when Thunderbolt reaches it’s 100GB optical potential.

As far as FCPX, it’s going to be a long game. Some people may never come back. Some might if there’s a compelling reason to do so; be it price, functionality, or workflow. A couple years ago there were loads of people who swore they’d never go back to AVID who now have. If the software changes and evolves, opinions will too.

[Marcus Moore]

You’re right. Apple’s philosophy for the MAS as far as upgrades isn’t clear yet. There’s much debate in developer circles about whether there will EVER be paid upgrades in the MAS. Only Apple knows for sure.

Right now there are only two options-

Free update or a new app listing.

Pixelmator is trying to gain a serious foothold as a Photoshop Elements alternative, so them releasing the newest version for free barters good with with it’s user base, and hopefully attracts new customers. Photoshop needs some healthy competition in the marketplace (but that’s another discussion).

The same could be said for FCPX. There is (of course) much ill will still hanging over the program from the last year. And though it’s supporters do seem to be growing as the program matures, it still has a long way to go to get over it’s own bad press. So a major 10.1 upgrade at no extra cost could similarly barter good will with the user base. Especially if it’s feature-rich with pro improvements. And ultimately Apple isn’t in the software business to make money, it’s in the business to drive hardware sales.

Ultimately, it’s impossible to say what stance they’ll take. There seems to be too many moving parts to this equation right now.

I have to say though, now that I’m thinking about it. FCPX 10.1 plus the announcement of a new MacPro would be a tremendous 1-2 punch.

[Marcus Moore]

I’d say Apple could easily spend the next year going from 10.5 to 10.9 on their current update schedule of aprox every 3 months. There are still a lot of little things that need to be implemented, and stability issues that seem to be causing some people problems (for me, personally, FCPX has been very stable- which makes the crash reports on Twitter all the more confusing…).

The ONE out I’d give myself is pure Kremlinology. When Apple announced the upcoming features at NAB, they didn’t say “coming in 10.0.5” or “coming in our next update”. I also find it equally odd that Apple would pre-announce features beyond what they can guarantee will appear in the next update- Coming in 2012. It would be like if Apple previewed iOS6 next week, and then also talked about features slated for iOS7. Trés bizarre. So with that in mind, I will concede there’s the off chance that all this “coming 2012” is a smokescreen because they couldn’t say 10.0.5 and can’t say “update”, because it would be a paid upgrade.

But that said, there A LOT that would have to be in a 10.1 (new technologies as well as FCP7 features) to not have users going crazy. Especially if it was another full $299 purchase; which it would have to be, since there’s not paid upgrades in the Mac appStore. But who knows, maybe that will be one of the big announcements next week!

[Marcus Moore]

If they keep to their update schedule, it should be either June 19th (my bet) or the 26th. One year anniversary of the original June 21st 10.0.0 release date make’s it a pretty good bet.

As with last year, release will be post WWDC.

[Marcus Moore]

And I’d completely agree with that. I guess my general point is that people put too much emphasis on “form” and not “function”. If Apple can outbound GPU and PCIe via Thunderbolt, then really a tower replacement could be something much smaller, as long as it can hold the MacPro desktop class CPUs and enough RAM slots.

Unfortunately TB isn’t there yet. So this is all theoretical.

So I remain convinced that Apple will release SOMETHING (either an updated MacPro or another design) that continues to fill this gap until TB can support enough lanes.

Here’s a question. With video data throughput being most a separate issue, and Adobe and FCPX leaning more and more heavily on GPU power for real time playback, rendering, and encoding. How important is the CPU at this stage? What’s the breakdown of responsibility between the CPU and GPU?

[Marcus Moore]

I think it speaks to a larger, dare I say philosophical?, question of what a workstation is. You go back even 5 years and the processing advantage between a MacPro and an iMac was miles apart. Now you see demos of people working with 4K material on a MacBook Air via Thunderbolt. So I think part of my thought process is that the old tropes that some people hold up are becoming more irrelevant by the day. In fact, if 1080p were to be any kind of long-term standard, then I’d almost say we could see the horizon where processor power might catch up with demand. But with RAW 4K looming on the horizon for a broader slice of the market, I no longer think we’ll see the ceiling anytime soon.

Now obviously sheer processor power only gets you so far. Render farms or high end graphics and color suites DO benefit from a 12core machine with 64GB of ram and multiple GPUs. I’m putting my money on Thunderbolt to be the solution. It isn’t now (though man those transfer speeds come in handy!) but I don’t think we’re too far off from a TB capable of enough lanes to support a breakout box that can handle all the stuff that we shove into a PCI slot. I’d wager that Apple won’t even make that breakout mini tower of power, but it will be there for those who have that need. And once you can outbound that, then the user can buy ANY Mac and it can be a workstation device.

If I had to bet, I’d say we will see one final TB MacPro, simply because TB isn’t fast enough yet. But I agree that if it’s going to happen it will have to happen soon. The natives are restless.

That’s what I’m smoking.

[Marcus Moore]

Tou…ché…?

Wow, compelling debate. Here, let me meet you part way…

Could I see the MacPro going away? Absolutely. But not functional hole that it fills.

[Marcus Moore]

I do think there’s an inherent benefit for Apple in continuing to develop software like Aperture, Logic, and FCPX. Apple’s pro-apps have long been testbeds for bringing consumer-facing versions of those features to the iLife suite- which is given away free on all new Macs- a selling feature they’ve pushed since the resurgence of the Mac platform in the early 2000’s. And now on iOS as well.

I’m not sure what anyone is smoking who thinks high end Macs are going away. As long as Apple wants people developing for their platform… Apple will keep the Mac alive and vibrant. A venn diagram of people who think FCPX is abandoning Pros, and those that think a “MacPro” replacement aren’t coming probably has a huge overlap. And honestly, if someone has those concerns, then they should absolutely move on to another platform. ‘Cause while Apple is giving us peaks into FCPXs 2012 roadmap, they’ll NEVER provide guidance on their hardware plans. And I’d be surprised if Apple even kept up the “sneak peaks” long term.

Right now they’re just affirming the upcoming reintegration of previous functionality. But once all the big holes are filled and they’re stretching out into whatever new territory they have planned, I’d imagine our window will close.

[Marcus Moore]

Yup. The audio doesn’t move at all, even if you move your connection point to another primary storyline clip. This way you can put your connection point where it makes the most sense.

For instance, a car pass sound effect gets linked at the moment of the car passing. So regardless of whether you shorten the head or tail of the shot, that exact moment will always stay in sync.