Does Anybody Else Bring Their Mac Pro With Them?

[TonyK]

The thing is I have a 15" 2.66 i7 from 2010, but I need the Mac Pro for the FCP X power also because it has all of my video stored on it, internal storage was always the biggest issue with the laptop. I haven't been moving my computer much lately, but I'll probably need to again soon

This almost begs a question of why not use external storage and a new MBP? When you know you are going on an outside job, just copy your work files to the external drive. When you return, sync the files to the internal. This also gives you a backup.

Just a thought.

 

[HHarm]

You must really need 12 cores!

It would be so cumbersome to lug the thing around and keep connecting and disconnecting everything. Plus the MP (and it's HDDs etc) and display aren't built for travel or outside use.

And a glossy display is bad enough indoors!

 

[snberk103]

No. Luckily. MBP for travel, and MP for work at the desk.

In my particular case "travel" can mean working in other rooms in house, or on the deck.

Photographer here, and while I do regularly need the crunching power of 8 cores (2008 octo MP) and the storage... a lot my work is just the paperwork that goes with running a business. A MBP handles that task very nicely, plus allows me to off-load memory cards and look at my images when on the road.

 

[Zwhaler]

This almost begs a question of why not use external storage and a new MBP? When you know you are going on an outside job, just copy your work files to the external drive. When you return, sync the files to the internal. This also gives you a backup.

Just a thought.

I actually tried this for several months, and 2 x 2TB ext. drives later I realized that the internal storage on the MBP wasn't big enough to hold more than 2 or 3 days of filming, and so I would have to transfer huge folders back and forth so often that it just wasn't worth it, and connecting the drives for use with iMovie (I was using iMovie back then and only got FCP after getting the Mac Pro) I found that the data lag was too much to get serious work done. Now my HD setup is Macintosh HD on 2TB internal, 2nd bay is 2TB internal for FCP Events only, and the 3rd HD is a 3TB Time Machine Backup disk that backs ups the other 2 together. Sweet!

 

[kendall69]

Nope - never

I cloned everything to a lap top and actually have a faster lap top than the desktop.

 

[Fast Shadow]

I took mine to a trade show in 2008 because we needed an extra machine for rendering video. We had something like 6 Mac Pros plus a ton of other gear all plugged into a bunch of chained together power strips this little glass room at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It's amazing we didn't cause some kind of electrical fire.

 

[InuNacho]

I took mine to a trade show in 2008 because we needed an extra machine for rendering video. We had something like 6 Mac Pros plus a ton of other gear all plugged into a bunch of chained together power strips this little glass room at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It's amazing we didn't cause some kind of electrical fire.

Aha, those labels telling us not to plug surge protectors into one another were lying the whole time!

 

[Marcush1286]

No!

 

[d-m-a-x]

Aha, those labels telling us not to plug surge protectors into one another were lying the whole time!

I plug multiple towers in a separate circuit directly with plain old splitters. Just as long as there are not too many amps you are ok

high end battery back-ups are good too. Just don't go with the cheap ones, especially if a photo strobe is in the same circuit - the dip in voltage will be seen as a surge a (happens after the strobe goes off and is pulling lots of power to charge the capacitors).

 

[wikus]

to actually bring 100lbs of computer stuff just to do some tasks is a severe case of OCD.

I have a Mac Pro 1,1 2.66ghz. I would NEVER go through all the crap of disconnecting all the cables, packing the mouse, keyboard, monitor and then moving the anvil-weight mac to a car and doing the same steps backwards to setup the computer and then AGAIN when bringing it back. I actually had to do a live green screen shoot with GSP once (George St. Pierre) for a marketing company, I had to bring the 27" iMac with me. That in itself was enough of a pain in the ass.

I now have a 2011 MacBook Pro Core i7 2.3ghz and it scores 10,500 (approx) in geekbench. My Mac Pro? 5,500 (approx). I get better processing performance out of my LAPTOP than I would with my Mac Pro.

To add to that, I'm now trying to sell my Mac Pro because it really is quite useless when I have twice the power in a portable and still able to connect it to my IPS monitor and get real work done even better. Its especially awesome when the laptop is fitted with an SSD drive for the OS and a 1TB drive in the secondary bay via optibay caddy (I am aware that others will need all 4 bays filled with drives in the terabytes, but there are many that dont, I being an example of that).

To the OP; just get one of the new laptops. They dont cost as much as a Mac Pro, theyre portable and they offer performance thats comparable to a lot of the other Mac Pros.

 

[d-m-a-x]

to actually bring 100lbs of computer stuff just to do some tasks is a severe case of OCD.

I have a Mac Pro 1,1 2.66ghz. I would NEVER go through all the crap of disconnecting all the cables, packing the mouse, keyboard, monitor and then moving the anvil-weight mac to a car and doing the same steps backwards to setup the computer and then AGAIN when bringing it back. I actually had to do a live green screen shoot with GSP once (George St. Pierre) for a marketing company, I had to bring the 27" iMac with me. That in itself was enough of a pain in the ass.

I now have a 2011 MacBook Pro Core i7 2.3ghz and it scores 10,500 (approx) in geekbench. My Mac Pro? 5,500 (approx). I get better processing performance out of my LAPTOP than I would with my Mac Pro.

To add to that, I'm now trying to sell my Mac Pro because it really is quite useless when I have twice the power in a portable and still able to connect it to my IPS monitor and get real work done even better. Its especially awesome when the laptop is fitted with an SSD drive for the OS and a 1TB drive in the secondary bay via optibay caddy (I am aware that others will need all 4 bays filled with drives in the terabytes, but there are many that dont, I being an example of that).

To the OP; just get one of the new laptops. They dont cost as much as a Mac Pro, theyre portable and they offer performance thats comparable to a lot of the other Mac Pros.

i've worked with him. I don't get it - I load about 1 1/2 tons of sandbags, c-stands, lights, cameras, production expendables - the Mac Pro workstation is the cherry on the cake

there are plenty of jobs i bring the laptop for, but when i need to run several monitors, swap drives, burn blu rays, it is just better to bring the desktop

 

[DW58]

I only wish I understood the OP's question - yet another case of the Transatlantic divide in the English vs. American language?

 

[Zwhaler]

To the OP; just get one of the new laptops. They dont cost as much as a Mac Pro, theyre portable and they offer performance thats comparable to a lot of the other Mac Pros.

My problem with laptops which I mentioned earlier is the lack of internal storage as well as performance... the 12 Core desktop and 27" screen can actually handle real world professional editing of several TBs of video data on the fly (I don't find it that much of a hassle to pack/unpack every so often as needed for a job). It all comes down to a person's needs, if he or she doesn't need to bring their Mac Pro with them, then why should they? For me, my workstation does exactly what I need it to, and having the ability to set it up anywhere seems like a positive attribute if anything.

I only wish I understood the OP's question - yet another case of the Transatlantic divide in the English vs. American language?

My question was simply: does anybody else ever need to bring their workstation away from it's desk to another environment where they can set up and work... very much like what most people do with notebook computers except I'm talking about the big desktop and monitor.

 

[mysterydog]

Sure! I rent my system to my employer but sometimes at night I need to edit a side project so I just disconnect it and put it in the back seat of my car. It is not THAT heavy! I also bring it home on Friday so I have it to use at home over the weekend. It's not like it is fragile or anything either-it's a workhorse! been doing this for last 2 1/2 years and it has paid for itself 3 times over, as well as being totally configured the way I like it!

I have monitors and keyboard/mouse set up at both locations which makes it really sinple...

 

[d-m-a-x]

Sure! I rent my system to my employer but sometimes at night I need to edit a side project so I just disconnect it and put it in the back seat of my car. It is not THAT heavy! I also bring it home on Friday so I have it to use at home over the weekend. It's not like it is fragile or anything either-it's a workhorse! been doing this for last 2 1/2 years and it has paid for itself 3 times over, as well as being totally configured the way I like it!

I have monitors and keyboard/mouse set up at both locations which makes it really sinple...

Right on, man up!

 

[gglockner]

I think the short answer is that it depends on the nature of the work.

In my case, no. I use ChronoSync to mirror the critical files onto my MacBook Air, and if I need the power of the Mac Pro when away from my desk, I can connect via either SSH or VNC, depending on whether I need the GUI.

For someone who works with huge files or needs a huge screen, this wouldn't be practical.

The MBA is no match for the Mac Pro, but it's more than adequate for web, email, MS Office, and connecting to the Mac Pro.

 

[d-m-a-x]

Sure! I rent my system to my employer but sometimes at night I need to edit a side project so I just disconnect it and put it in the back seat of my car. It is not THAT heavy! I also bring it home on Friday so I have it to use at home over the weekend. It's not like it is fragile or anything either-it's a workhorse! been doing this for last 2 1/2 years and it has paid for itself 3 times over, as well as being totally configured the way I like it!

I have monitors and keyboard/mouse set up at both locations which makes it really sinple...

I love bringing the mac pro when the job calls for it. Same deal, all of my cables are zipped tied into place, i just bring the beast back and plug it in. Hard cases and wheels make it easy