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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Introducing MacBook Pro 16-inch

Sergio Perez said:
Hi Andrew and Jeff,

If you guys could post your impressions on the following compared to , say the previous top of the line Mac Pro (trashcan) and the iMac Pro (any configuration) that would be great:

1- 8K 2:1 R3D and 8K WS at 50 and 75fps editing ( number of simultaneous streams , smoothness of playback, etc)

2- Color of the Monitor compared to first generation Touch Bar 15"

3- Performance vs Maxed out 2016 Touch Bar MacBook Pro

This would really be great!

Cheers,

Sergio
Click to expand...

I can't give you all the specifics but I can tell you that every single iMac Pro configuration is faster than the highest 12 core configuration of 2013 Mac Pro in the testing I have done. Mostly with 3D renderers that easily take advantage of the additional cores. As well as in more core clock dependent apps like Photoshop. Even the 8 core iMac Pro is faster than the 12 core 2013 Mac Pro. And only gets better as you spec higher CPU and GPU options.

The display is very similar to the P3 displays on the previous gen 15" MBP, with slightly higher DPI. The extra screen real estate that the 16" display offers is very nice for a variety of pro apps. That is one of the first things I noticed when using it.

Here is a benchmark I did rendering a car project I am working on in Maya using the Arnold renderer:

Maya 2020 Arnold S2000 scene
16” MBP 2.4Ghz 8 Core: 591 seconds
15” MBP 2.6Ghz 6 Core: 988 seconds
-397 seconds, 6min36second, 40% less time

This is a CPU render which will max out all available threads. R3D performance doesn't necessarily translate the exact same way but at least an example for you. The 16" 8 core maintains a higher sustained clock speed at full load than the 6 core even though it has a lower base clock. The performance difference here takes the laptop being a sort of "use it in a pinch" for this type of work situation, to really being no problem to work on. Having 64GB of RAM is amazing for this type of work as well.

Not exactly all the details you were after but hope that helps. Working with R3Ds has been really nice so far on the 16". I only every really use them in FCPX and always edit in the Better Performance mode because I don't really have a good reason to use the Better Quality mode. I usually just work with R3Ds directly in Better Performance mode. I will usually leave BG render on and let it do it's thing. For final output I am usually able to transfer projects to an iMac Pro, but not really a problem to output on a MBP as well.

If you are on the fence maybe best to wait until the Metal R3D update is out in the wild to see what kind of performance will be possible then.
 
andrewhake said:
I can't give you all the specifics but I can tell you that every single iMac Pro configuration is faster than the highest 12 core configuration of 2013 Mac Pro in the testing I have done. Mostly with 3D renderers that easily take advantage of the additional cores. As well as in more core clock dependent apps like Photoshop. Even the 8 core iMac Pro is faster than the 12 core 2013 Mac Pro. And only gets better as you spec higher CPU and GPU options.

The display is very similar to the P3 displays on the previous gen 15" MBP, with slightly higher DPI. The extra screen real estate that the 16" display offers is very nice for a variety of pro apps. That is one of the first things I noticed when using it.

Here is a benchmark I did rendering a car project I am working on in Maya using the Arnold renderer:

Maya 2020 Arnold S2000 scene
16” MBP 2.4Ghz 8 Core: 591 seconds
15” MBP 2.6Ghz 6 Core: 988 seconds
-397 seconds, 6min36second, 40% less time

This is a CPU render which will max out all available threads. R3D performance doesn't necessarily translate the exact same way but at least an example for you. The 16" 8 core maintains a higher sustained clock speed at full load than the 6 core even though it has a lower base clock. The performance difference here takes the laptop being a sort of "use it in a pinch" for this type of work situation, to really being no problem to work on. Having 64GB of RAM is amazing for this type of work as well.

Not exactly all the details you were after but hope that helps. Working with R3Ds has been really nice so far on the 16". I only every really use them in FCPX and always edit in the Better Performance mode because I don't really have a good reason to use the Better Quality mode. I usually just work with R3Ds directly in Better Performance mode. I will usually leave BG render on and let it do it's thing. For final output I am usually able to transfer projects to an iMac Pro, but not really a problem to output on a MBP as well.

If you are on the fence maybe best to wait until the Metal R3D update is out in the wild to see what kind of performance will be possible then.
Click to expand...

Wow that's really impressive! Seems like a no brainer. It pushes the new XDR display too, correct? Might go for this config. I need portability and having the XDR means a reference display for all possible scenarios.
 
I did a few tests in Resolve on 6 core version with 5500 8GB.

7 nodes with a LUT applied
Prores XQ UHD render to DNxHD Op1-Atom 8 bit 1080p: 50-53 fps, then throttles to ~ 35 fps.
Same ballpark with render to h.264 1080p.
Pretty good.
 
MBP 16 2019, i7, 5500 8Gb, 512GB
DaVinci 16.1.2


8min timeline for all tests. All tests start 10-20% faster, after 2min render vents kick in and fps drops and stays at noted fps.

CPU frequency is then almost never below 2.6GHz.
Only ARRIRAW does not max out CPU, it almost doesn't use it. GPU is maxed out for ARRIRAW.

All other codecs max out CPU and GPU.
All test uses one node LUT for rec709.



ARRI Amira ProRes 4444XQ HD 25p to DNxHD 36 8bit:

45 fps


Gemini 4K DCI REDcode 2:1 25p to DNxHD 36 8 bit:

30 fps - 1/4 res good
10 fps - 1/2 res good
8 fps - full premium


Canon C200 4K DCI RAW 25p DNxHD 36 8bit:

28 fps full res



Alexa Mini LF 4.4K RAW OG zoom to 16/9 25p to DNxHD 36 8bit:

23 fps full res

(playback 25 fps )
 
Hrvoje Simic said:
MBP 16 2019, i7, 5500 8Gb, 512GB
DaVinci 16.1.2


8min timeline for all tests. All tests start 10-20% faster, after 2min render vents kick in and fps drops and stays at noted fps.

CPU frequency is then almost never below 2.6GHz.
Only ARRIRAW does not max out CPU, it almost doesn't use it. GPU is maxed out for ARRIRAW.

All other codecs max out CPU and GPU.
All test uses one node LUT for rec709.



ARRI Amira ProRes 4444XQ HD 25p to DNxHD 36 8bit:

45 fps


Gemini 4K DCI REDcode 2:1 25p to DNxHD 36 8 bit:

30 fps - 1/4 res good
10 fps - 1/2 res good
8 fps - full premium


Canon C200 4K DCI RAW 25p DNxHD 36 8bit:

28 fps full res



Alexa Mini LF 4.4K RAW OG zoom to 16/9 25p to DNxHD 36 8bit:

23 fps full res

(playback 25 fps )
Click to expand...

Thanks man this is great info!
 
Sergio Perez said:
Wow that's really impressive! Seems like a no brainer. It pushes the new XDR display too, correct? Might go for this config. I need portability and having the XDR means a reference display for all possible scenarios.
Click to expand...

Yeah XDR works great with the 16" MBP.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Apple made good and delivered it yesterday as promised. Well, UPS made it happen I suppose. Still getting it set up, but now that I've spent more time on it I just have to say it's nice to have a large screen on a MacBook Pro again. Will be pushing it over the weekend to see what it can do.
Click to expand...

Looking forward to hear your toughs Jeff :)

On my 16" I'll only have Redcine-X Pro & FCPX for Monstro 8K & Komodo 6k to 4K workflows on the go, no other Apps on this portable, so wanted to see what you think and if it's worth to upgrade to 2.4GHz and if the 16GB Memory is enough or if upgrade to 64GB.

Right now I'm thinking going to 2.4GHz and stick with 16GB Ram since it seems that FCPX won't do much of anything extra with more then 16GB.
 
My top spec MacBook Pro 16 is working very well with Resolve.. no regrets! ... it also doesn’t have the eject drives issue of some earlier MBPs

Little Tips.. to consider/test when rendering

tilt the screen forward and turn the screen off - or nearly off (I also turn the key lights off but I haven't tested if this is effective)

Pop the whole laptop up on little pegs so it doesn’t sit on a temp insulting surface table

Consider a cooling plate... I have just ordered one and can report back?

When doing this I am really close to RT for 4K Monstro R3Ds to editorial mxfs (Full res premium with 16bit precision)

basically I am at 26fps until the thermal throttling kicks in (and depending on success of the above and temp of the room) I can get it to drop no lower then 20fps...

I think the metal SDK tweaks have really helped but I'd love to see a bit more optimisation if possible as using the laptop as a Rushes Viewing machine is less satisfactory... (my next test is to try a TB to HDSDI box to see if this will work better than using the laptops own screen)
 
Michael, I think you right, with R3D your CPU limited, but when doing ProRes or ARRIRAW to LT or DNX36, I noticed about 50% increase.
 
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