Is there a mac option?

[Christoffer Glans]

I was just about to buy the new Macbook Pro 17 to use with an Matrox MXO2 mini and Avid Media Composer 5 when I realized that it might be a mistake.
They didn't update any ports and with the Matrox, the express card slot is taken.

So what should i do? I tried to dig deeper into this to see what the benifits are to get a mac compared to a powerful PC laptop.

Now, the one I found was the HP EliteBook 8740w which is quite a tank both in built and in power. It can have up to 16gb of RAM, a quadcore i7 processor and a dreamcolor (!) internal display. That's not all and certainly not enough in my view to not get a macbook pro. The thing is, it has both a bluray burner, two USB3.0 ports and an ESATA port. Yes, it only has a firewire 400 small connector, but that's really minor compared to having ESATA and USB3.

Why do I want a macbook? Does it have any benifits at all compared to this EliteBook? Then together with the matrox and premier it will probably be able to play 4K from a raid through it's ESATA or USB3 ports.
Imagine that.

So what are the mac options really? What is happening to the apple lineup? First Final Cut not being up to date with Avid together with being beat down by Premier and now the new Macbooks doesn't match up with the PC option for editing and post on a mobility scale.

What road should I choose? Going macbook not being able to utilize USB3 or ESATA? or going PC skipping the much more smooth operating system of OSX?

 

[Subhadip Sen]

I think this is largely a personal choice. I would always go for a PC. The only thing that could possibly convince me to get a Mac would be if Final Cut Pro were head and shoulders above every other editing solution. Luckily, I much prefer Vegas Pro or Premiere Pro CS5 anyway.

I also much prefer Windows 7 over the Mac OSX - but this is again a personal choice. Not sure what "much more smooth operating system" means, though.

The biggest drawback, though, is hardware. A dual core CPU is simply not good enough, HT or not.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

No, it's not a personal choice. This is about what system is best for editors that want to be able to finish on their laptop. I've been on PC all my life, but as a DIT it's useless, until now with the USB3, but they aren't on a broad scale yet.
I am speaking about finishing RGB 10-bit on my laptop in Avid. Much has to do with disk speeds and connections to them. Being able to play it will be fine on a graphics standpoint, but it's the data rate I'm worried about. Will the macbook be able to play it through a FireWire800? I doubt it can compete with the speed of a USB3 disk in the same setup.

It's never a personal choice, it's about the system that is of most value to your profession, personal choice is secondary.

 

[MichaelP]

The new HP with Dreamcolor is a very cool device with all the connections. Great for on set DIT type work as well as a backup editing station (for me). I am not married to an operating system, I have a MacbookPro, MacPro, HP8600, etc. It's whatever is best for the job at hand for me.

Michael

 

[MichaelP]

Christoffer -

Congrats on NonStop Sales taking your film to Cannes! I got the newsletter. They picked up my film "Jack in the Box" last year to rep. Let me know how it goes!

Michael

 

[LarryMcPhereson]

I was just about to buy the new Macbook Pro 17 to use with an Matrox MXO2 mini and Avid Media Composer 5 when I realized that it might be a mistake.
They didn't update any ports and with the Matrox, the express card slot is taken.

So what should i do? I tried to dig deeper into this to see what the benifits are to get a mac compared to a powerful PC laptop.

Now, the one I found was the HP EliteBook 8740w which is quite a tank both in built and in power. It can have up to 16gb of RAM, a quadcore i7 processor and a dreamcolor (!) internal display. That's not all and certainly not enough in my view to not get a macbook pro. The thing is, it has both a bluray burner, two USB3.0 ports and an ESATA port. Yes, it only has a firewire 400 small connector, but that's really minor compared to having ESATA and USB3.

Why do I want a macbook? Does it have any benifits at all compared to this EliteBook? Then together with the matrox and premier it will probably be able to play 4K from a raid through it's ESATA or USB3 ports.
Imagine that.

So what are the mac options really? What is happening to the apple lineup? First Final Cut not being up to date with Avid together with being beat down by Premier and now the new Macbooks doesn't match up with the PC option for editing and post on a mobility scale.

What road should I choose? Going macbook not being able to utilize USB3 or ESATA? or going PC skipping the much more smooth operating system of OSX?

The short answer to your question is that if you do not intend to do much or actually ANY WEB SURFING with this laptop..., than GET THE PC!

However, if you are going to be doing a considerable amount of web surfing with this computer then you'd certainly be better off with the Mac. Good luck to you!

 

[Maz Mawlawi]

Dude, the Elitebook blows it away...especially with a Dreamcolor screen and a mobile quadro card... and Win7 64 is really not that bad at all...

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Christoffer -

Congrats on NonStop Sales taking your film to Cannes! I got the newsletter. They picked up my film "Jack in the Box" last year to rep. Let me know how it goes!

Michael

Thank you! Yes, I won't be present in Cannes but it's certainly nice to be able to screen the movie there. It's been well recieved so far among the few festivals we shown it at. I will be posting a new trailer I made in the next two/three weeks. Check it out! :thumbsup:

And it seems that I will be going for the HP instead. I don't think Apple will jump the gun and announce a panic update for the Macbooks with included USB3 ports. It might happen next year and then I might conisder bying one.
But right now the HP seems the best choice.

Michael, do you know if the specifications on the HP is enough to play RGB 10-bit in the coming Avid MC5? When connected to a raid with either ESATA or USB3 it must be possible? Is the Matrox accelerating the monitoring when working with heavy material?
I was thinking that if I can edit R3D's natively I could in theory either create a RGB 10-bit file or tape it through the HDMI at 10-bit?
If so, the HP will be able to work as a mobile finish tool.

 

[Subhadip Sen]

No, it's not a personal choice. This is about what system is best for editors that want to be able to finish on their laptop. I've been on PC all my life, but as a DIT it's useless, until now with the USB3, but they aren't on a broad scale yet.
I am speaking about finishing RGB 10-bit on my laptop in Avid. Much has to do with disk speeds and connections to them. Being able to play it will be fine on a graphics standpoint, but it's the data rate I'm worried about. Will the macbook be able to play it through a FireWire800? I doubt it can compete with the speed of a USB3 disk in the same setup.

It's never a personal choice, it's about the system that is of most value to your profession, personal choice is secondary.

In that case, the EliteBook is a complete no-brainer. It will make your work MUCH faster and easier.

I can also say Windows 7 is superior to Snow Leopard. By "personal choice", I mean, "whatever works best for you". If you feel Mac is "smoother" than Windows, that is of course your opinion, one I disagree with.

In general, I can't see of a single reason to get the Macbook Pro unless you have an aversion to using anything other than Mac OS X. It is best for you to check out what works best for you. But there's no doubt that the EliteBook will handle footage MUCH smoother and render much faster than on the Macbook - that is a fact.

 

[TANYA MORUGY]

Hi,
I run xp, Win7, Snowlep and Ubuntu(I love linux, just not enough apps)).
I think that Widows 7 is a pretty good OS but still not as reliable as SnowLep.
The Mac OS is more orinated to-wards a specific chip, Linux likewise, this tailoring makes it more leaner and more efficiant (in my books anyway).
I also think that because Mac OS is designed for Macs and nothing else so you dont need to have such high tec specs as a P.C.
Windows seemed to get into a bit of a mess with the 64bit system and I feel Macs 64bit roll-out was better.
With the P.C you must run alot of security software that slows it down or you must have an isolated system,(hard with editing multimedia).
I have one hard-drive with over 2 million files, with the P.C this is a nightmare, virus scanners cannot cope with amount of data (I think Mac handles large amount of data better).
I was in India recently and Dell India allows you to custom build laptops online the
highest spec Dell Studio i7 was impresive with full 1080p firewire 8 esata 1Gig Vid
backlite keyboard, but importantly double fan cooling, good ventilation and strong
chassis, I dont like the other dell models,I dont think they have enough cooling for hard processing
I was not impressed with the quality of the new HPs and dont like the old ones to much as I have one.
Tanya

 

[Christoffer Glans]

A valid question is thought why the MacBook Pro isn't a true pro option.
The HP offers much better connectivity and portable power then the MacBook pro.
The MacBook is truly overpriced when compared to what HP is offering at the same price.

What is happening to apple? Their focus seems to be aimed more on Ipad and such then actually meeting the demands of the professional market.