Apple's announcement...

[Chris Jordan]

heh heh love you Shawn... now you know just how much you putting that sticker there means to us.

Remember.. true story... Jim and I used to hand make every sticker we sold on RED.com while we were waiting for the Red One to show up.

Seriously.

He would line the big roll of 3m paper on the plotter and print each one out and then cut each one and i would laminate them, we would do that in the middle of the night, each and every week as we waited for some code to cook or some hardware to come out of the oven. Pretty Crazy.

So all of you that have those old stickers, there was ALOT of love put into each and every one of them.

I absolutely love the fact that you shared this with us. Coming from the ground up, it's a right of passage. And also clearly relates to many of us...some of us being the leaders of the next generation.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Wow. I find your post fascinating...unfortunately not in the good way.

...This was a very deliberate decision according to the founders. ...

The above sentence is the important one but I'm not going to comment on that further lest I get anyone in trouble. But they certainly aren't the norm--for good reason.

And many of those apps run dramatically faster on Windows that you list. Most of them run fastest on Linux (when you can get it working).

As to the "refresh"

The 12 core Mac Pro should score about 13,774 on passmark
The GPU in the Mac Pro should score about 1,693

A single new $600 ivy bridge quad core chips can manage that passmark score.
A $200 Nvidia card can easily double that in OpenGL and quadruple that for OpenCL.

Throw in a Motherboard, some RAM and you're looking at a $1,000 system which in some areas is twice as fast but in many areas is at least as fast for 1/4 the price. That's an idiotic business decision. You can literally build out 4 machines for the same price and setup a small render farm.

 

[Jeff Coatney]

heh heh love you Shawn... now you know just how much you putting that sticker there means to us.

Remember.. true story... Jim and I used to hand make every sticker we sold on RED.com while we were waiting for the Red One to show up.

Seriously.

He would line the big roll of 3m paper on the plotter and print each one out and then cut each one and i would laminate them, we would do that in the middle of the night, each and every week as we waited for some code to cook or some hardware to come out of the oven. Pretty Crazy.

So all of you that have those old stickers, there was ALOT of love put into each and every one of them.

I LIKE THIS.

 

[andrewhake]

If you think you can't deliver interesting work in 2012 on a 2010 12 Core Mac Pro in an efficient way the problem is with you not the hardware. If you think your work relies on always having the latest processor and chipset from Intel then you should probably be benchmarking, overclocking and reviewing hardware and not making films as you are probably spending more time thinking about hardware than about film-making. If you think your business will collapse because someone didn't release a new computer (or camera. . .) when you expect you probably shouldn't be running a business.

Yes, please tell me more about the amount of processing power you require to make your work...

 

[paulherrin]

Paul, to be clear, my aim is not to try to persuade people to buy one way or another. Like I said, people will like what they like. My point about bringing up Luma is this:

Let's assume everything that people complain is wrong with Mac Pros is actually true. Luma still manages to get high end, high profile work and produce exemplary images with them.

So, either they're very lucky or maybe what it takes to successfully do work on that level isn't what people think it takes (not entirely, anyway). Maybe it's not about having the fastest computer money can buy (regardless of platform), or being able to stuff the most RAM into it, or having the most expansion bays or slots.

Obviously, faster is faster and bigger is bigger. But maybe, just maybe, there are other things involved people need to consider that might quell the gear lust and help eliminate the stale Apple/Windows rhetoric of which you speak.

I know one thing for sure. The new Macbook Pro is indeed the best laptop out there...until it's not. When that happens, this whole thing will start all over again and people will whine that Apple needs to step up their game or else be accused of abandoning some group or another.

And the longer they take to make a significant update the more of a personal affront it will become to those users who deem themselves too whatever for its meager offerings.

That cycle is easily avoided if we get over thinking we always need the latest and greatest. That line of thinking causes hurdles that need not exist. Luma is an example of a place that makes the tools (and not necessarily the very best tools) work for them on a very high level. I would think people would find that inspiring.

totally agreed, there are way more important things than gear and i love luma's work and i don't care what hardware or software they used to do it. good artists make good things with whatever they have available.

there is some balance there, however, when you want to talk about efficiency, profit-margin, and turn-around for an artist or studio. if i invest, say... $2k in a new setup that doubles my rendering time... i can guarantee i'm going to recoup that money. and even if i just break even, at least i'm spending more time actually doing stuff (better work), less time rendering, and more time having a beer or hanging out with friends/family when it's finished.

so it's not all about the latest-greatest never-ending story, and it's definitely not about choosing any particular platform, but you've just got to figure out what makes sense for you... then recycle your old machines and make a renderfarm, or take it home, or give them to some schools, or the underprivileged. everybody can win.

the real point is that we don't need to get caught up in emotions about things that don't have emotions themselves, except maybe our ecosystem - but definitely not computers and tech (unless it's hazardous). even red... love those guys, as i just mentioned earlier. but if it makes sense for them to start delivering consumer/prosumer products, i may have to rely on a different source for my professional needs. it's that simple and it's not a big deal, just wise business.

 

[Jeff Coatney]

If Apple abandoned the Pro market, they would be turning their backs on their core principles. Anyone who's read the Steve Jobs bio can expect to have a few take-aways that serve to guide one on what to expect in the future.
Apple's strength lies as much in what they don't do as much as what they do. Jobs simplified the product line and has always kept the Pro line as part of the ecosystem. They won't enter any market that they can't dominate or "control every aspect of" or they "get their asses handed to them." (Jobs).

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/11/an-explanation-of-the-news-from-apple/

You think Apple will leave the precious authoring space to the PC? When all content is destined to be viewed on their products? Won't happen.

 

[Eric Santiago]

Brian and Andrew, great posts

What ever works for you, works for you I always say

 

[Detlev Eller]

... as long as i can plug multiple monitors (3+) on the retina book and expand over thunderbold ... i thnk, i am fine. ...

But boy was i waiting to see a "high tuned super monster big box" to place under the table and put my legs on ... hehe ...

so, retina book is next ...

 

[Jarred Land]

I absolutely love the fact that you shared this with us. Coming from the ground up, it's a right of passage. And also clearly relates to many of us...some of us being the leaders of the next generation.

bravo.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

If you think you can't deliver interesting work in 2012 on a 2010 12 Core Mac Pro in an efficient way the problem is with you not the hardware.

Yes, please tell me more about the amount of processing power you require to make your work...

You win clients and keep clients by always meeting our deadlines and being able to make timelines that others can't. Hardware, software and workflow are all integral in addition to talent. If one person is making 10 revisions per hour and you're only making 3 and both are equally talented, the person making 10 revisions per hour is going to produce better work for the same money. The more revisions you can make in a day the more risky changes you are likely to try. And more chances you take the more likely you are to find something new and interesting. And every time you get out of the flow to wait for a render... your concentration is broken, you're more likely to get distracted... In the case of 3D the speed of your processors directly dictates how much detail you can add.

The question isn't "can you deliver interesting work" the question is "How interesting can I make this before it goes on air?"