Buying a Mac Pro or a new Macbook pro

[VanTheManiac]

Hi,
New here so please be gentle...

I'm a proud owner of a Macbook Pro 17" 2010 (2,66 GHz, 8GB, 256GB SSD) and It's been working very well for me. The main use is for photography+video (Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere) but I also use it to record music in our studio (Logic).
Since the release of the new Mac Pro I've been thinking about getting a new mac though. The workflow in Lightroom is getting slower and slower and I feel quite trapped with only 256 GB SSD. Since the price for a Mac Pro was set rather high I've been waiting for the new Macbook Pro to see what it could be.

Since the new Macbook Pro upgrade wasn't that impressive I must make a decision. Should I wait another x months to see if there will be a major upgrade for the Macbook pro or should I get a Mac Pro or the new Macbook Pro (by the way I would like Apple to sell 17"'s again...).

I'm aiming for the top model of the Macbook Pro (2,8GHz, 15", 1GB SSD...) and the Mac Pro (6 Core, 3,5GHz, 32GB, 512GB SSD) is about $2000 more...

I've got a 27" NEC display already so I don't have to buy that as well if I go for the Mac Pro... And if I go for the Mac Pro I will still have a great 17" Macbook pro (as long as it works...) when I'm traveling...

I don't expect a straight answer but since I'm not that well briefed about the pros/cons for Mac Pro vs the new Macbook Pro, I'm hoping for some discussions here. What would you do in my situation and why?

Thanks!

Edit... Sorry, please move this to the "Buying advice Forum"...

 

[ixxx69]

I think it's kind of hard to respond because you're (I'm sure unintentionally) being rather vague...

Is the video/audio stuff a professional occupation, or more of a hobby? What kind and size of projects do you work on? E.g. 2 hour films or 5 minute videos? Is 4K video in your immediately future?

How badly do you need/want a laptop? E.g. if you get the nMP and then your laptop dies a month later, will you then need to also get a new laptop? and could you financially swing that?

Wait for the next MBP update? There's not going to be any earth-shattering changes... we'll see the slight performance/energy improvements we've been seeing for the last few years.

The MBP maxes out at 16GB. You've spec'd the nMP with 32GB. Do you have any idea whether you need 32GB or did you just figure what's another $400 when I'm already spending $4,000?

One thing to keep in mind is that it's easy to forget just how powerful a top-end MBP is. It's a very capable machine, and there are many professional film makers and audio engineers that use it as their primary machine. OTTH, from what I understand, if you use FCPX, nothing beats the nMP.

 

[thekev]

One thing to keep in mind is that it's easy to forget just how powerful a top-end MBP is. It's a very capable machine, and there are many professional film makers and audio engineers that use it as their primary machine. OTTH, from what I understand, if you use FCPX, nothing beats the nMP.

I would say for what he mentioned so far, the top and base MBPs will be pretty close together in performance. You might get a little more out of the top one. Part of it is a matter of whether the desire for a larger ssd makes pricing more favorable if configured from the top one. Otherwise they're about the same, with a little more cpu power on one. Lightroom doesn't directly benefit from the gpu on either the macbook pro or nMP, which is why I mentioned that.

 

[VanTheManiac]

Thanks for your input!

I'm working as a photographer and I do more and more filming with my cameras. For the moment it is only short movies for weddings and for web use for organisations. So no, I will not be editing 4K long movies...
For the audio recordings I'm in a band with a small studio where we record our music. Currently I use 2 external firewire audio devices possible to record 20 channels. With my 17" Macbook it works like a charm when recording to the SSD. But since I only have 256GB SSD I do a lot of moving files from the computer to my external backup drives.

My only thought about waiting for next MBP is after reading a lot of discussions on after yesterdays release. Since a lot of people seems disappointed about the specs I ended up here to get some thoughts from others...

My idea about going for the 32GB where only for the 4x8GBs instead of 4x4GBs (for better ways to upgrade later on).

After reading som more I think I might go for the MBP and clear the 17" and put it in the recording studio permanently...

But don't you think the extra CPU-power is worth considering for my kind of use?!

Thanks a lot!

 

[golf1410]

You should avoid Macbook Pro retina at all cost at the moment. I can list problems that occur on rMBP this generation.
1. Image retention
2. Heat up like crazy. CPU hits 100 Celsius while playing some games.
3. Fan spin up pretty fast without a reason.
4. Yellow tint screen, blue tint.

These problems would make you walk in and out Apple store like it is your second home, if you are trying to find the one without problems.

 

[VanTheManiac]

Ok, is that related to gaming or do these problems occur at photo/video editing as well?
My 17" MBP from 2010 gets quite hot and the fan is running hard as well when working in Lightroom for example. But as long as it gets the job done with speed i dont really care.
Ive got a 'cooling plate' under it and it works quite well.

Should i really avoid a new MBP because of that?!?

Thanks!

 

[iBug2]

I own a 2012 rMBP and I don't have any of the problems mentioned two posts above. That being said I don't think nMBP is the correct Mac for audio. If it was only photography I'd say go with it but audio may require larger amounts of memory than you can install in a MBP even in the future. Not to mention if this is going to be a recording computer, the fans will interfere with the recording if you don't have a booth. MP is dead silent.

 

[dan1eln1el5en]

You should avoid Macbook Pro retina at all cost at the moment. I can list problems that occur on rMBP this generation.
1. Image retention
2. Heat up like crazy. CPU hits 100 Celsius while playing some games.
3. Fan spin up pretty fast without a reason.
4. Yellow tint screen, blue tint.

These problems would make you walk in and out Apple store like it is your second home, if you are trying to find the one without problems.

What ?
I haven't seen many reports on image retention or tints after the 2013 version, which I own, I love that machine.
haven't had sudden fan spins neither is it super hot when playing new games or high-details settings (I thought it was a very old thread I found when reading that...)
I would definitely recommend rMBP its a great all-round professional machine.

The nMP is mainly for video editing in my eyes, esp. 4K and beyond.
I do a bit of 4K on my rMBP and I do not have any issues with it.
a Thunderbolt enclosure and you can have sound cards etc. attached when home.

 

[maplingstorie]

You should avoid Macbook Pro retina at all cost at the moment. I can list problems that occur on rMBP this generation.
1. Image retention
2. Heat up like crazy. CPU hits 100 Celsius while playing some games.
3. Fan spin up pretty fast without a reason.
4. Yellow tint screen, blue tint.

These problems would make you walk in and out Apple store like it is your second home, if you are trying to find the one without problems.

Wait wait. Let me add some realism a bit here.
1. Image Retention happens to only LG displays not Samsung
2. Every laptop does heat up. MacBooks were never made for gaming.
3. That's because you have background processes running you didn't know about. (Use Activity Monitor). No way your macbook fan spins at high RPM without any reason.
4. Yellow tint is bound as Samsung uses PLS panels in contrast to LG's IPS. Easy fix is to calibrate.

 

[ixxx69]

Hi Van, you really can't go wrong with either - they both are up to the challenge of your usage. If you want the portability, you'll love the MBP. If the portability isn't that important, the MP has more raw performance and is an awesome machine.

I have the nMP myself. I've switched two friends to the rMBP (both 2012 models), one of whom is a professional photographer (and she loves it). Any computer can have issues, and no computer is absolutely perfect in design, but as others have pointed out, Golf1410 is wildly overstating things. However, laptops are almost always more "delicate" than desktops by their very nature, and the more they're moved around and thrown into backpacks, etc., the more chance something gets knocked loose.

iBug2 has a point on fan noise (in certain recording situations), but it doesn't sound like that's been a problem with your current MBP, so it shouldn't be a problem with the new one. Besides, during "recording", it's unlikely there would be enough stress to cause the fans to ramp up. That's more likely to happen during editing/encoding. However, his comment about the RAM is off - 16GB is PLENTY for what you're doing.

Good luck!

 

[VanTheManiac]

Wait wait. Let me add some realism a bit here.
1. Image Retention happens to only LG displays not Samsung
2. Every laptop does heat up. MacBooks were never made for gaming.
3. That's because you have background processes running you didn't know about. (Use Activity Monitor). No way your macbook fan spins at high RPM without any reason.
4. Yellow tint is bound as Samsung uses PLS panels in contrast to LG's IPS. Easy fix is to calibrate.

Ok, thanks for adding some realism to the thread!
Even If I restart my 17" MBP 2010 and only open Lightroom and start to edit or export images the MBP can get quite hot and the fan spins and sounds quite much. Never when I record music though (12+ channels recording directly to the SSD).

I've got the new NEC Spectraview 27" and I hope the new MPB will run smooth with it.

Ok, I'll read som more but I might order a new MBP soon. Ordering a Mac Pro with only 512GB SSD I might need to invest in a new Thunderbolt external drive to make use of it's fully potential that would add another extra bucks...

Thanks!

 

[golf1410]

Wait wait. Let me add some realism a bit here.
1. Image Retention happens to only LG displays not Samsung
2. Every laptop does heat up. MacBooks were never made for gaming.
3. That's because you have background processes running you didn't know about. (Use Activity Monitor). No way your macbook fan spins at high RPM without any reason.
4. Yellow tint is bound as Samsung uses PLS panels in contrast to LG's IPS. Easy fix is to calibrate.

I think you need more additional information. It is something you don't know. The fan issue is real thing.

Watch "Fan Issue with the MacBook Pro Retina 2013" on YouTube
Fan Issue with the MacBook Pro Retina 2013: http://youtu.be/ly0Sp7lMKJU

Also, there are a bunch of people, are facing the issue.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4735947

There are 755 posts. Worth checking out.

I have to argue with you about the heat. I had Macbook pro 2008 and played games on it. It was not this bad. I believe this is a fault design in heat management. The maximum heat for Haswell CPU spec is 100 celsius. This macbook easily reaches 100 celsius and speed goes down to maintain handle temperature. This is not normal. Saying Macbook pro is not for gaming. I think you can say that as there are better options than Macbook pro. But I disagree if you are saying because you are referring to how to fix the problem. It is a computer, which should be able to do these kind of things.


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Ok, thanks for adding some realism to the thread!
Even If I restart my 17" MBP 2010 and only open Lightroom and start to edit or export images the MBP can get quite hot and the fan spins and sounds quite much. Never when I record music though (12+ channels recording directly to the SSD).

I've got the new NEC Spectraview 27" and I hope the new MPB will run smooth with it.

Ok, I'll read som more but I might order a new MBP soon. Ordering a Mac Pro with only 512GB SSD I might need to invest in a new Thunderbolt external drive to make use of it's fully potential that would add another extra bucks...

Thanks!

I had Macbook Pro retina 2012 and faced many problems with it. I decided to return and get refund. Waited for a fix next generation (which they never did) until Mac Pro came along. So far no problem at all. I am happy for you.

 

[MacProFreak]

I record 16 channels of audio via firewire on my 2009 Core Duo 17" MBP without issues. It's a 3.06GHz, maxed out at 8Gb RAM with a 1TB SSD. Using Logic 9 over 10.6.8 -- works like a champ.

Then, I go downstairs and copy all audio files via wireless to my MP that is a 5,1 Six Core at 3.4GHz - it renders video a lot faster than my MBP and Logic bounces the final mix super fast as well over Mavericks.

The newest MBP can probably do all these tasks without breaking a sweat.

 

[VanTheManiac]

Great! Thanks for your input!
I've decided to go for the MBP 15" 1TB 2,8GHz after all.
The MP would be nice but if my current 17" will stop working in the near future I will need a new MBP anyway... Then it would be to much $ to be happy!
Cheers!

 

[MacProFreak]

Great! Thanks for your input!
I've decided to go for the MBP 15" 1TB 2,8GHz after all.
The MP would be nice but if my current 17" will stop working in the near future I will need a new MBP anyway... Then it would be to much $ to be happy!
Cheers!

Nice. If you use Logic 9 make sure you don't run it in 32bit mode, so it can take advantage of the new architecture and 64 bit OS-X kernel.

I boot my older MBP in 64bit mode permanently (there is a terminal command for that, to be used only on Snow Leopard) and run Logic 9 in 64 bit mode as well.

With your new MBP you won't have to worry about that.

 

[rei101]

Keep using your 17" for audio and get a new MBP for photography. You will miss the mobility.

Or... keep the 17" and get the Mac Pro or you can even get a great iMac for your video editing.

I work in a shared spaces office and every one has that combination, even me. MBP for mobility and quick retouching and an iMac for the rest. I work in video editing and we have 2 iMacs here and I have mine at my place and we are happy.

 

[VanTheManiac]

Keep using your 17" for audio and get a new MBP for photography. You will miss the mobility.

Or... keep the 17" and get the Mac Pro or you can even get a great iMac for your video editing.

I work in a shared spaces office and every one has that combination, even me. MBP for mobility and quick retouching and an iMac for the rest. I work in video editing and we have 2 iMacs here and I have mine at my place and we are happy.

Yeah, I've ordered the 15" now and I will use the 17" for audio mainly.
Since I've got a great 27" another one (with the iMac) would be to much at my workplace for the moment so I think this is the best solution for me! Thanks!