Rick Lang
Forum Replies Created
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Granted he is the CEO, but the thing those post PC comments from Tim Cook made clear is that the ghost of Steve Jobs is providing the marketing script for the time being. Mobile is changing more dramatically than desktop and workstations in the last few years. Maybe it’s time to re-envsion what makes a workstation and workgroup devices and software. I think there are people in Apple who love that challenge.
Changes are usually incremental (evolution) and seem to take forever, but once in a while they take a generational leap (the revolution). The Mac Pro is largely a series of incremental changes from the Power Mac. But many technology improvements (such as SSD and Thunderbolt and things we know not) may mean we are on the cusp of a generational change in hardware, infrastructure, and enabling software. More than any other large player, Apple has the resources to help bring this about. It can’t just be about money. It never was just about the money for Steve. Do they have the desire? I think you would.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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[Richard Herd] “If anyone knows any gear heads, wrench monkeys, then you know they just build fast cars because they can. I imagine the guys who actually build computers at apple are the same kind of wrench monkeys.”
I suspect you’re right. Apple is big on the ‘halo effect’ and that applies to technology innovation as much as to iPods, iMacs, iPads. As I understand it, they’re a co-developer of Thunderbolt with a potential for 100 Gbps speeds with fibre optics. PCIe 3.0 just around the corner and I imagine other developments that are still a secret. Look at the amount of research IBM does on new technology. Things that may be at least five to ten years away from commercial application but astounding advances.
If I ran a company with about $100B in cash and securities, I think I could afford to stay in the game for the joy of discovery and progress. Granted Apple may be selling less Mac Pros as the iMac ascends in terms of units and capabilities, but at some point, they must care about the high-end (and are not willing to leave it to HP’s servers). A company with 40% margins overall has some flexibility for an individual line’s margin.
Car companies that sell cars that we buy spend a lot on developing race cars only a few can afford because that is the platform for technology innovation that often trickles down the chain. Jobs’ mantra to do a few things well, means Apple isn’t building rocket ships or knitting needles. Apple’s ‘knitting’ is building electronic products with which people interact to do other tasks including watching TV shows and ‘liberal arts’ creation. I think it encompasses mobile devices (that’s what post PC means, just that mobile platforms are ascending in importance but are not the only platform), desktop devices for the masses, and workstations (for those who need a race car). It would seem the X-Serve and Xsan may have been something Apple decided others could do better, but I doubt the Mac Pro will soon be added to that list.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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I was expecting “one more thing” at the iPad event since the media teaser had indicated something special “to touch.” Seemed like they might be adding haptic capabilities to the screen but I was reading too much into their cryptic event invitation. Perhaps, the presentation delivery of surprises introduced as “one more thing” has also moved on with the passing of Steve Jobs.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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Lots of helpful comments. Not sure if the Mac Pro is noisy due to the fans or a complaining hard disk which of course could be serious. Relying on a 6 year old machine may be a risk factor. No harm done buying a tricked out iMac now.
You could consider the SSD option for maximum performance. If you decide to wait a few more months, Mountain Lion will be installed, you will possibly have seen updated Mac Pros to compare to the iMacs, the iMacs could see an upgrade as well which most importantly may be significant upgrades to the GPU as others have noted. Apple may increase the maximum memory limit as occasionally even 16 GB can be exhausted. The SSD options in a few months may be larger and faster than today. The CPU may see a modest increase. The internal hard disk will likely go to 3 TB since they have offered 2 TB since 2009. So if course if you wait you get more for your money but in the mean time you may be risking a failure on the 2006 Mac Pro and lost productivity. You can’t go wrong with today’s iMac if you don’t need multiple GPUs or other internal I/O cards. You even adapt to seeing the glossy screen so it doesn’t seem a big deal that matte is missing. You can always attach a couple of external monitors if needed. I still use an Apple 23″ Cinema HD Display which works well with my HDV video.
Good luck.Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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I very much doubt the Mac Pro is dead. No one knows but my guess is a refresh no later than this summer. If you can wait and afford it, it will be Apple’s high-end and most expandable offering.
If you need a new desktop sooner or want something more economical, an IMac gives you many options. I’d lean toward the maximum build-to-order configuration to last about five years or so. If you want screen real estate, the 27″ model should suffice. The biggest downside is (currently) the lack if expansion of the graphics processor. Pick the top-of-the-line option again for the longest usable lifetime assuming finances allow it.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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I am not sure which model you are comparing but the 21.5″ models offer 2.5 GHz and 2.7 GHz i5 processors for a difference of 250 quid. The 2.7 GHz option includes a 1 TB system hard disk versus 500 GB for the 2.5 GHz machine. It also uses the ATI Radeon 6770 versus the 6750 graphics. The difference may not be worth it for you but a 500 GB system drive will be a usability constraint for you running FCPX unless you plan to make extensive use of external drives.
I understand the budget is tight but you might also consider the 27″ iMac with the 2.7 GHz i5 processor. It seems a better value in my opinion. When you look at future expansion, having two Thunderbolt ports is nice.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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When you Share to YouTube as Jason Jenkins indicated, specify your maximum resolution that you have used while editing the material. YouTube will generate that and all the smaller sizes so the end user will select the size they want to display.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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would we be trying so hard to make FCP X work for everything, if Apple had, in fact, named it “iMovie Pro”?
A rose by any other name is still a rose.
Either a new product iMovie Pro or perhaps a more fitting upgrade to Final Cut Express would still generate a lot of questions albeit less initial anger or frustration from many FCP7 professionals. The other posts to the topic are correct in my opinion. Things would be calm until version 10.0.3 when all hell would break loose that Apple was providing more capable tools to Express users than the pros! Given FCP7 saw no more updates, many would be apoplectic! By then it would be obvious that Apple had forsaken FCP.
Certainly it would seem the pros would be forced to look elsewhere without a glimmer of hope for something thrown their way. The path Apple took however likely does give assurance to the pros that the FCPX product is intended for them and will be improved going forward. As has been documented, FCPX has had many problems beginning with the launch strategy and timing and the retirement of FCP7 when obviously FCPX was not a replacement for all FCP7 users. In spite of the rough start, the pros now have a direction and a choice to make between Apple and other vendors. With iMovie Pro or FC Express X, Apple would not be in the pro game at all in the minds of most.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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Here is the carefully worded performance claim on the iMac which has two Thunderbolt ports:
“You can daisy-chain as many as six devices plus a display. The 27-inch iMac includes a second Thunderbolt port for even more expansion possibilities. Connect up to six more devices or a display or two.”
Notice the last sentence which now says OR a display or two. Confusing since we know it could have said AND a display. It appears to me Apple is not claiming six devices and two displays on one port. On the iMac at least two displays should go on separate ports when there are several other devices on the chain for the port. Still I agree with the OP that Apple is claiming he should not have a problem but it may be that the particular devices are too demanding on the single port whereas some other devices may work such as the Matrox card and a Lacie drive. Apple is careful not to specify which combinations of actual cards work which would be feasible at the time they wrote the copy since there were only a few TB ready cards available.Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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[Andrew Kimery] “Interesting. Hopefully the person selected to be the Stage has a 64gig iPhone!”
That does point out a limit with the initial workflow on the ’Stage’ device. Shooting 1080p on the iPhone, the capacity of a nearly empty 64 GB iPhone is about 6 hours. So using 8 iPhones certainly sets a low limit to the event time! If however, only 2 or 3 iPhones were used, you might record 2 hours from each which is very useful. This assumes it uses the same compression or APIs in iOS libraries. Apparently a future offering of the product will include a remote server so we’ll need to wait to see how that alleviates recording time constraints although with trade-offs to transmit many GBs of data.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB