Quick question regarding Mac Pro

[hydr]

This might sound silly, but my understanding of Thunderbolt is low at the moment. I own a MBA 13" with thunderbolt.

I edit videos, and would like to use thunderbolt RAID solution and purchase the next generation of Mac Pro´s whenever they are released. I need as much power and speed as I can get, as I am editing very large 4K videos.

As I see it now, I can play the waiting game for a new Mac Pro with thunderbolt, new fast CPUs and thunderbolt.

In the mean time I could buy the 27" thunderbolt Apple display, and use with my MacBook Air.

Or I could just buy a fast quad-core iMac 27" with thunderbolt now and start working.

But would this be possible:
Instead of buying a 27" thunderbolt display, I now buy a iMac 27" with quad core.
And when the new Mac Pro is launched, would I be able to use thunderbolt from the Mac Pro to my 27" iMac and use it as a primary screen?

If so, is there a easy way for any of these applications:
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Lightroom
Final Cut 7 possibly Final Cut X

to take use of all my CPU power over the network? Using Macbook Air 13", iMac 27" and Mac Pro? Remember now that I would ideally like to use the upcoming new Mac Pro with the iMac 27" as a screen.

Thanks for any insight to this.

 

[alust2013]

You'll only be able to use the processing power of one computer effectively. You probably would be able to use the iMac as the display, but it would be a bit more economical to sell it and get a 27" display when you get a Pro.

 

[hydr]

I guess it is a no go with Lightroom and Photoshop, but Compressor/Final Cut should be able to take use of the iMac/MacBookAir power as well as the Mac Pro? As well as Adobe After Effects using Render farm and watch folders?

I guess I could always use Remote desktop to connect to the iMac to make sure it is rendering as well.

I guess my questions is more around if Thunderbolt would be able to assist me in doing so?

 

[snberk103]

There's one other aspect that might be worth considering...

If you buy the 27" iMac now, and then use it as display if/when the new Mac Pros are released you would also have a back up computer. What I mean is this.... normally, it would be a waste of money to use a perfectly good computer (the iMac) as a display only. However - - if the Mac Pro ever needed to go into the shop for repair, and if you had a good back up strategy, then you could simply boot off of your back up HDD and continue on, with no interruption in your work. The iMac may not be as fast, and you may decide that certain operations would have to wait until your Mac Pro was returned - but your business could carry on seamlessly.

This happened to me earlier this year.... my Mac Pro went into the shop for a 10 days - but I was able to carry on 80% of my business by booting my MBP off of the external back up HDD.

Not saying this is a good use of money, just that it may be something to consider for your particular circumstances...

 

[hydr]

There's one other aspect that might be worth considering...

If you buy the 27" iMac now, and then use it as display if/when the new Mac Pros are released you would also have a back up computer. What I mean is this.... normally, it would be a waste of money to use a perfectly good computer (the iMac) as a display only. However - - if the Mac Pro ever needed to go into the shop for repair, and if you had a good back up strategy, then you could simply boot off of your back up HDD and continue on, with no interruption in your work. The iMac may not be as fast, and you may decide that certain operations would have to wait until your Mac Pro was returned - but your business could carry on seamlessly.

This happened to me earlier this year.... my Mac Pro went into the shop for a 10 days - but I was able to carry on 80% of my business by booting my MBP off of the external back up HDD.

Not saying this is a good use of money, just that it may be something to consider for your particular circumstances...

Thanks man, that is a good advice!

Not sure if this would work though as I know very little about Thunderbolt.
But I am tired of waiting for the new Mac Pro, money is burning in my pocket.

 

[ender21]

Thanks man, that is a good advice!

Not sure if this would work though as I know very little about Thunderbolt.
But I am tired of waiting for the new Mac Pro, money is burning in my pocket.

If you take that solution and work on your Compressor + QMaster Jedi-Fu, you'll be able to use all the threads on the iMac as well. Heck, I even have my wife's MBA's threads thrown into my cluster via WIFI-N when I kick off a big export!