I went today to an official Apple retailer to order a replacement battery for my ageing 2012 15" cMBP and I asked the manager there about the new Mac Pro and what are the prices of the entry spec models. I work at a film production company and since our 2010 MacPro isn't capable anymore to edit 4K video due to incompatibility with the latest FCPX due to MacOS we have to use the MacBook pro to edit our hour long projects and it barely does the basic job of editing.
Now, unexpectedly, the manager advised me against buying a base MacPro as it is an overkill for our needs and suggested instead for a loaded 8core iMac with an 8GB GPU as he claimed "the i9 is super powerful and GPU can handle everything". I did my research and I know for a fact that the base MacPro is exactly what we need as it has enough power to handle our 4K material for editing feature length projects, color grading them and export in high quality masters (from an Fs7, an a7iii and DJI drones) and i also believe that due to upgradability, the Mac Pro will serve us well for the next 10 years.
It made me thinking though, what if he is right and an iMac is good enough for us and will not suffer from any thermal throttle due to the slim chassis and the i9 inside it and also will it last long enough as a main editing machine. Or maybe go with the middle ground solution and get a iMac Pro? Will it also suffer with thermal throttle and due to be 2 years old already, lose the compatibility with macOS and FCPX sooner? Or insist with the base MacPro with its excellent cooling and the ability to swap CPUs and GPUs to improve its performance over the years when its needed?
We also have a couple of pci cards that we want to keep using, a blackmagic that outputs SDI for a broadcast monitor and a RAID controller for our big Caldigit RAID that has valuable archive material for an upcoming project.
Money is a big factor but i believe the longevity will justify the purchase.
Thoughts please? I would like to hear how every machine copes with constant pressure and with heavy projects.
Thank you.
Now, unexpectedly, the manager advised me against buying a base MacPro as it is an overkill for our needs and suggested instead for a loaded 8core iMac with an 8GB GPU as he claimed "the i9 is super powerful and GPU can handle everything". I did my research and I know for a fact that the base MacPro is exactly what we need as it has enough power to handle our 4K material for editing feature length projects, color grading them and export in high quality masters (from an Fs7, an a7iii and DJI drones) and i also believe that due to upgradability, the Mac Pro will serve us well for the next 10 years.
It made me thinking though, what if he is right and an iMac is good enough for us and will not suffer from any thermal throttle due to the slim chassis and the i9 inside it and also will it last long enough as a main editing machine. Or maybe go with the middle ground solution and get a iMac Pro? Will it also suffer with thermal throttle and due to be 2 years old already, lose the compatibility with macOS and FCPX sooner? Or insist with the base MacPro with its excellent cooling and the ability to swap CPUs and GPUs to improve its performance over the years when its needed?
We also have a couple of pci cards that we want to keep using, a blackmagic that outputs SDI for a broadcast monitor and a RAID controller for our big Caldigit RAID that has valuable archive material for an upcoming project.
Money is a big factor but i believe the longevity will justify the purchase.
Thoughts please? I would like to hear how every machine copes with constant pressure and with heavy projects.
Thank you.