Mac Pro is not overpriced.

[Major Reeves]

Yada yada all around. The amount of nonsense on these forums is just too dam high.

Ofc the mac pro is overpriced, no room for upgrading as apple and no one will ever make available newer gpus in the form factor that the "crippled" mac pro uses, and should I even mention this, again? The gpus on the "crippled" mac pro are nothing but underclocked parts to fit the thermal and power envelope of the machine, and the firepro monicker is nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig as there was never a distinction between regular gpu drivers and pro drivers on osx. Total lack of expandability and pigeonholing you into some archaic solution that only makes sense on a laptop and not on a desktop machine. Ofc I'm talking about thunderbolt there. Do I even need to mention that the machine literally failed the stress test Anand from anandtech.com put it through, ofc the dude called it a power virus and put as much lipstick on the pig as he could in order to not shut himself out of future review units. But dam I just wonder in amazement at what of some of you are actually smoking.

Kudos to macvidcards and aidenshaw from keeping the IQ level on these forums from crossing into negative territory.

 

[iBug2]

The gpus on the "crippled" mac pro are nothing but underclocked parts to fit the thermal and power envelope of the machine, and the firepro monicker is nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig as there was never a distinction between regular gpu drivers and pro drivers on osx.

What if you are using Windows? If you are getting working FirePro drivers on Windows, that means you are buying 7000$ worth of GPU's for 1000$, slightly underclocked and no ECC memory. That's still a terrific deal. There are many professionals who bootcamp on their Mac Pro's.

 

[Major Reeves]

What if you are using Windows? If you are getting working FirePro drivers on Windows, that means you are buying 7000$ worth of GPU's for 1000$, slightly underclocked and no ECC memory. That's still a terrific deal. There are many professionals who bootcamp on their Mac Pro's.

Which only makes sense if the Fire Pro Unified Driver offers support for the D700, of which I doubt.

 

[iBug2]

Which only makes sense if the Fire Pro Unified Driver offers support for the D700, of which I doubt.

Yeah that's why I asked couple posts ago if someone has tested the professional 3D apps with the D700 under Windows. Need some confirmation on this. The AMD control panel recognises the card as Fire Pro D700 under Windows though.

 

[reco2011]

What free A/V packages have the same feature set as a paid-subscription? I don't know of any free ones that offer the same level of protection from virus, malware, internet/email scanning, etc.

Whether they have the same feature set is irrelevant. The point is there is free A/V software available. Therefore A/V costs don't have to be considered.

My point with Windows was its a paid upgrade and a pricey one. And since we are comparing the useful life of the computer, that includes upgrades. So to maintain a current release system, the price of each OS release has to be considered. Not everyone sits back on Windows XP.

No, it doesn't have to be factored in.

We can debate this all year long. What my point is, Mac's are not always "more" expensive. There will always be an exception. Just with anything - cars, TV's, your current or future wife, etc..

I'm not debating whether Macs are more expensive or not. I'm merely stating Windows PCs have long service lives as well.

 

[unplugme71]

He's not saying they shouldn't use the internet. It's that the workstation shouldn't really be connected to anything other than an inter office network, which a lot of companies, studios, etc. set up that way for many reasons. In fact, the edit suite I'm sitting in right now there are 2 computers. I have my Avid in front of me, then the email/internet PC (the one allowing me to respond here) off to the left.

I've worked for several small/medium business and a few enterprise. I never had to have two computers, one of which to connect to the Internet.

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Whether they have the same feature set is irrelevant. The point is there is free A/V software available. Therefore A/V costs don't have to be considered.


No, it doesn't have to be factored in.


I'm not debating whether Macs are more expensive or not. I'm merely stating Windows PCs have long service lives as well.

Once again, this is completely debatable. For my purposes, I'm comparing the cost of the Mac and PC for personal use utilizing the latest software for the life of the computer - the cost of the PC increases significantly during its life, costing more than the Mac, most of the time.

If you don't care about upgrading, having legally licensed software, etc.. then sure, the PC can and may be cheaper than the Mac.

You can beat this like a dead horse, but I'm done with this topic.

 

[FrozenDarkness]

i'm pretty surprised nobody has mentioned the portability of the mac pro. I deem that a significant advantage that pros could make use of.

 

[tuxon86]

i'm pretty surprised nobody has mentioned the portability of the mac pro. I deem that a significant advantage that pros could make use of.

Not really that portable when you take into account the monitors and external TB or USB drives...

If you need a portable workstation, then you would be better suited by going for a real portable workstation, like HP does. Or else, if it's to be use in a trailer or on a stage, you can get a case that double as a desk but then you could also use the oMP with it. So no, it isn't really a big selling point.

 

[handsome pete]

I've worked for several small/medium business and a few enterprise. I never had to have two computers, one of which to connect to the Internet.

It doesn't surprise me that you wouldn't have seen it in smaller places, but it's fairly common in my experience with larger organizations.

 

[FrozenDarkness]

Not really that portable when you take into account the monitors and external TB or USB drives...

If you need a portable workstation, then you would be better suited by going for a real portable workstation, like HP does. Or else, if it's to be use in a trailer or on a stage, you can get a case that double as a desk but then you could also use the oMP with it. So no, it isn't really a big selling point.

you don't move the monitors. Realistically, you have monitors at worksites and you would carry maybe one harddrive. I'd wager a lot of photographers and videographers can make use of this capability.

 

[handsome pete]

you don't move the monitors. Realistically, you have monitors at worksites and you would carry maybe one harddrive. I'd wager a lot of photographers and videographers can make use of this capability.

What kind of "worksites" are these? What type of facility just has monitors laying about for someone to hook up to? Why wouldn't they just have a workstation as well?

Not saying places like this don't exist, but they just don't make much sense for most situations. Portability would be much greater in either laptop form (especially in the field) or just keeping your files/user settings on a hard drive that you transport from workstation to workstation. Just getting rid of monitors from the equation doesn't help all that much.

 

[unplugme71]

It doesn't surprise me that you wouldn't have seen it in smaller places, but it's fairly common in my experience with larger organizations.

Can you list a few that do?

I'm interested in looking into this.

 

[Intelligent]

Yada yada all around. The amount of nonsense on these forums is just too dam high.

Things like your post? Yeah i understand. The Mac Pro is not overpriced whether you think it or not. You pay less and get better specs and a smaller machine. Lets say theres a big water bottle that carries 1,5L of liquid, but there was a smaller water bottle carrying 2L of liquid, and it was cheaper? That would mean that it is not overpriced. I dont think you are in the pro business where people need these machines.

 

[beaker7]

Things like your post? Yeah i understand. The Mac Pro is not overpriced whether you think it or not. You pay less and get better specs and a smaller machine. Lets say theres a big water bottle that carries 1,5L of liquid, but there was a smaller water bottle carrying 2L of liquid, and it was cheaper? That would mean that it is not overpriced.

Not when the slightly larger 4L bottle is the same price.

 

[Intelligent]

Not when the slightly larger 4L bottle is the same price.

Prove it too me. Where is a computer that has double the performance of the latest Mac Pro and has the same price.

 

[FrozenDarkness]

What kind of "worksites" are these? What type of facility just has monitors laying about for someone to hook up to? Why wouldn't they just have a workstation as well?

Not saying places like this don't exist, but they just don't make much sense for most situations. Portability would be much greater in either laptop form (especially in the field) or just keeping your files/user settings on a hard drive that you transport from workstation to workstation. Just getting rid of monitors from the equation doesn't help all that much.

this doesn't make any sense. you just came up with the usecase in your response. Instead of buying multiple work stations and multiple monitors, you just buy multiple monitors instead.

 

[handsome pete]

this doesn't make any sense. you just came up with the usecase in your response. Instead of buying multiple work stations and multiple monitors, you just buy multiple monitors instead.

But your hypothetical doesn't make much sense to me to begin with. Why do you have unused monitors just sitting around if you only have one workstation to connect to? Please, elaborate on a scenario where this makes sense. I'm genuinely interested.

Can you list a few that do?

I'm interested in looking into this.

NBC Universal, ABC/Disney, QVC, etc. just to name a few. Many larger facilities do this, especially those under a larger entertainment conglomerate. Also, pretty much any large non-entertainment corporate entity as well. There are many medium sized studios as, but I'll refrain from naming them as to not reveal procedure without permission. I've seen small places do this as well, but it's rare. I've definitely worked in some boutique shops where editors/designers had free reign over their systems, working with software/plugins/etc. that didn't exactly hold the most legal of statuses.

 

[FrozenDarkness]

But your hypothetical doesn't make much sense to me to begin with. Why do you have unused monitors just sitting around if you only have one workstation to connect to? Please, elaborate on a scenario where this makes sense. I'm genuinely interested.





NBC Universal, ABC/Disney, QVC, etc. just to name a few. Many larger facilities do this, especially those under a larger entertainment conglomerate. Also, pretty much any large non-entertainment corporate entity as well. There are many medium sized studios as, but I'll refrain from naming them as to not reveal procedure without permission. I've seen small places do this as well, but it's rare. I've definitely worked in some boutique shops where editors/designers had free reign over their systems, working with software/plugins/etc. that didn't exactly hold the most legal of statuses.

You have an office, and a home. You buy a monitor for each. You lug the mac Pro to and from work.

 

[handsome pete]

You have an office, and a home. You buy a monitor for each. You lug the mac Pro to and from work.

That's feasible, but I'd guess a very uncommon occurrence. It would certainly be relegated to smaller businesses, and even then I see more value in just having a workstation in both locations and lugging a hard drive between them instead.

 

[beaker7]

You have an office, and a home. You buy a monitor for each. You lug the mac Pro to and from work.

Do you pack up all of the Thunderbolt hard drives, external PCI-E enclosures, speakers, keyboards, and mice too? And all their cables?

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Prove it too me. Where is a computer that has double the performance of the latest Mac Pro and has the same price.

Bought a T7610 with 2 E5-2697 v2 CPUs for under $10K.

 

[iBug2]

Do you pack up all of the Thunderbolt hard drives, external PCI-E enclosures, speakers, keyboards, and mice too? And all their cables?

If you have all that and need to pack them all, you would. But if your workflow is lugging a single Mac Pro from office to home then you'd probably just lug the Mac Pro. Keep a keyboard and mouse in both places and use the internal SSD instead of carrying external drives unless you somehow need to carry terabytes of data with you at all times.

 

[tuxon86]

If you have all that and need to pack them all, you would. But if your workflow is lugging a single Mac Pro from office to home then you'd probably just lug the Mac Pro. Keep a keyboard and mouse in both places and use the internal SSD instead of carrying external drives unless you somehow need to carry terabytes of data with you at all times.

Or you buy a real portable workstation like HP sells... Especially if you're a photographer or artist and your main tools are from Adobe which run perfectly under windows.

 

[Intelligent]

Or you buy a real portable workstation like HP sells... Especially if you're a photographer or artist and your main tools are from Adobe which run perfectly under windows.

So many Mac haters on here, Adobe Photoshop runs better on mac. Its originally a mac product.

 

[tuxon86]

So many Mac haters on here, Adobe Photoshop runs better on mac. Its originally a mac product.

Not a mac hater at all...
And your second statement is equally false and has been for many year.

 

[airdrop]

Not a mac hater at all...
And your second statement is equally false and has been for many year.

Totally agree, Photoshop on mac is much much slower than on Win, and the new release of Adobe CC aka 2014 is even worst (the slowest Photoshop ever - on nMP & iMac 27).
I using PS 7-10h/day (including after work activities) - so I know