Computer: Macbook Pro, Mac Pro, Asus G55 w Thunderbolt

[Zak Brickett]

I have:

Macbook Pro 8,2 with 2ghz Quad core i7, a SSD boot drive, HDD in the optical, 16GB RAM, Radeon HD 6490 (PCIe), Intel HD Graphics 3000 (built-in)

Mac Pro 2009 quad core, radeon hd, 4 HDDs (all 1TB 7,200)

Thunderbolt Display

Sonet with Red Rocket.

What I am looking for is the best way to take advantage of the mercury playback engine in cs6. MAINLY and most importantly Premiere Pro.

I believe my only two options are pop a compatible video card into the tower or buy a new laptop. Is this correct?

If a new laptop is most sensible solution, I would want it to be thunderbolt ready so that I could use the red rocket and thunderbolt display - pointing me towards the Asus G55. I would be open to popping a new video card into the tower, but what's the cost of a good card to add to the tower and would the investment be unwise as it's a 4 year old beast? Let me know what you would do.

Also, let me know if I am correct in believing there is really no upgrade path possible for my macbook pro. It really is a pretty good workhorse minus the video card.

 

[Zak Brickett]

Ok looks like this isn't a sexy thread that'll get a lot of feedback, so I'll simplify it:

Best mobile workstation for ≤$2000 that has thunderbolt and a video card that'll make premiere pro fly. Any suggestions?

 

[Nick Pasquariello]

I can't give you that answer, definitively. What I can say, is that I'd bet money, actual $$$, that new laptops are going to be announced from Apple at WWDC in almost exactly a month.

Aside from that, look at the current iMacs. They have NVidia chips (so, CUDA), are sub $2000, and if you don't need to expand with PCIe cards, will beat currently available Mac Pros.

 

[Zak Brickett]

Thanks Nick, but I think I am going to try and move away from Apple as much as possible. Through the ages, I've gone from fan boy to avid user to dissatisfied user to outright disliking them as a company. I think a lot of professionals have taken a very similar path.

I'm just not willing to pay the premium for OSX anymore. And now that I've given up Final Cut Pro for Premiere (and in rarer cases MediaComposer) there seems to be no reason to stick with Apple. I think I am leaning towards the Asus with thunderbolt. I wonder if anyone here has any experience with that computer to see how it performs and how well peripherals work (ie apple thunderbolt display). Or if anyone knows of any other thunderbolt equipped laptops.

Even with my current dislike of Apple, I still follow their product line updates and I can't help but still hope for a new Mac Pro that's everything that four years of silence should lead up to...