Mac vs. Windows...

[Chase M. Wrenn]

Apparently I have no high level connections at Apple. I used to talk with Steve... but that connection is no longer available. God rest his soul.

I am currently "dual-tracking". I keep my Mac alive while I am exploring Windows 8. I want Apple to save me. I want them to rise to the occasion but I am reluctantly preparing to switch if they do not.

My heart and soul is with Apple. I so wish they can remain relevant as it relates to professional imaging.

Jim

Apparently, when I was a baby (now 26) back in Raleigh, NC, I lived next door to a young Tim Cook as he was going to Duke grad school...the parents said he was nice, but the music did get a little loud at times..maybe we can use that as an in to get him to spill the beans on the pro market lineup? "YOUR MUSIC WAS TOO LOUD 26 YEARS AGO ON THE EAST COAST, WHEN IS THE NEW MAC PRO COMING OUT AND WHAT ARE ITS SPECS!!!" Ha

 

[Gaston Fazio]

LINUX...

LINUX...

I have my hart on LINUX (platonic love if you want), but we use 50% mac & 50%pc

 

[Gabriel Scindian]

Whichever one runs Crysis best.

OH YEAH!!!

 

[Antoine Baumann]

I have to disagree. Its the fact that apple is closed that makes their computers so stable. They are both the software and hardware manufacturers.

If Apple manufacture it's hardware, it is not all of it. The cpu are Intel, gpu is Nvidia or AMD, and I don't think they even build a motherboard, at most design it. If you can run OSX on "pure pc windows hardware" there's a reason why. But I'm not arguing about Apple computer being stable.

 

[Jamon Lewis]

All Mac everything

 

[Peter Nevedal]

We are 50:50 postproduction facility...i personaly prefer PC/windows. More software, more hardware. Better expandable.

 

[Jean Déraps]

I've used both Windows and Mac for professional applications. Too many hiccups and problems on the Windows side for me to trust it (I won't go into all the long stories....). Just yesterday Windows 7 decided to update things and reboot - right in the middle of while I was working on something - which caused me to lose some unsaved data. I was not happy...

Despite my frustrations at Apple for the long delays with the "new" MacPros....I'd much rather work with Mac + OS X than Windows.

 

[Giona Beltrametti]

Bought my first Mac in 1989 a Mac II fx ( It was a 40MHz screamer hmy: with a video card from E-Machine... ), anyway, still prefer using Macs today when possible since we do use both Windows and OSX machines for post.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Form and function

Form and function

(snip) Modular, yes! That particular concept? No! eeewww... There's enough wasted space in that design to install a real computer inside...

FWIW I fully expect the new form factor to be vertical/horizontal orientation agnostic and rack mount friendly. One reason is the potential market for folks to use it as a media center in a cabinet designed for AV receivers, optical disc players, etc. I see an evolution to a server style modality in the consumer space where your "second screens" (or BT keyboard) can all operate it via Bluetooth/Wi-Fi and you can monitor on your "TV" or tablet or phone.

Yes, I expect Apple's move to take over the living room will be primarily about their UHD TV/display/giant iMac that can get by without a server box. That said, there are a plethora of more sophisticated use cases where a more powerful rig would be of great value. Whole house automation applications, data storage/routing, IP gateway, connection to legacy AV gear, gaming on steroids, etc.

I'm not saying they would cripple a pro oriented workstation form factor just to make it fit in an entertainment center. I'm just speculating that if power/heat/space requirements of 22nm chips and key internals can fit in a box that is also able to go in the living room it expands the potential market. Keep in mind that a lower cost base configuration with less horsepower for consumer media/web usage, and a bomber pro rig, could both be based on the same form factor which would lower costs.

I understand that we are heading for a world where phones and tablets outperform current workstations, but the short cut to get there might be to have a box tucked away doing the heavy lifting while you happily interact with convenient devices. Also keep in mind that the less on board processing your small device has to do, the longer the battery life, which is a very user friendly feature.

One last note on modularity, if you wanted to keep the "brain" form factor small but still have pro level expandability, Apple could create a short high speed connector topology that would allow you to "stack" storage/more PCIe3 slots/etc as needed. Similar to the diagram posted, but rather than ever taller tower configurations, I'm imagining 2RU-3RU tall, by 18" wide by 12" deep boxes stacked up, that could still be oriented vertically if desired to fit in existing cabinetry designed for towers.

Cheers - #19

 

[Vico Martin]

We produce commercials. Editors rule around here, they still with FCP7 near 80% of them. So Prores, so Mac.
With us, only PC for hard Post.

When editors/directors want a 4K offline... will see. For me it´s hard to come back 10 years ago spending lots of time developing a big PC, and seas of time fixing it.

For me, when I switch to mac, I spend more time working and wasting less time fighting with it.

I integrate for years high-end PC workstation for TV channels and production companies for years, I Know that market and I have fear; a real professional PC machine is very expensive and time consuming to make it work really well, at least harder to do than with a MAC; this years with MAC was a dream (last 10 years), you put it on the table, turn it on..., let´s work.

 

[Logan Kelsey]

Mac. I'm editing native 4k on a MacBook Pro with Retina display using FCP X. It's incredibly powerful and efficient - we do mostly short format. I've been an editor for almost 20 years - and I've used both platforms and most of the tools. I believe cutting native 4k is the future - we're doing that today.




Cheers,
Logan

 

[Chris Santucci]

Mac. I recently attempted PC and even after hanging in there with the Windoze peculiarities, I tossed it. I honestly don't know how people do it.

 

[Corey_O]

Mac. I HEAR YOU CHASE! good one

 

[Antony Newman]

120fps when did that happen!

AJ

cf: http://www.red.com/store/products/epic-dragon-upgrade

Spot on post Jeff, as usual.

I think the punchline from all this is that for the most part.. people prefer Macs, and for good reason. The Retina Macbook is an incredible machine. OSX is a solid OS.

But it sounds like, and probably which is why people in the Apple camp havn't turned this thread sideways like they used to, is that most Mac professionals feel like they are now on their own. Too many posts here start with " I love mac, even though they keep letting me down. "

Steve was very good at making Apple Professionals feel like they were the backbone of the company. Now, its just dark. Very dark. Been dark for a very long time. Nobody at Apple is talking to the pros as a whole.. they havn't for a very, very, very long time... Even the news we are all holding of a new tower came last year not from an event or in a statement, but leaked from a personal email that Tim sent to some random guy... really.. that's it. Nothing else.

Lets hope come June at WWDC Apple changes this.. and I hope they change it not because we are all complaining about it but because they actually still believe in the professional community. The worst thing I would want to be happening right now is the PR guys at Apple being pointed to threads like this and asked to solve the problem. We know the guys on the Pro Apps team over there.. and I know they really care about us all, I just pray that someday soon whoever is controlling them finally lets them off their leash.

Whatever the case may be.. RED is not standing still and we aren't waiting for anyone to catch up. We now have 6K at 120fps. and we are just going to go bigger and faster.

We need as many horses as we can get. If the new mac tower is alot more than just an imac without the screen, then alot of people here including myself will be doing cartwheels.

 

[Lee Saxon]

Apple are such dicks that I don't care how good their products get (currently, they're years behind the curve technically but in a prettier and arguably more user-friendly package, which may be enough for some people).

First they tell us they can't afford to build iPhones in the US instead of China even though they make a 47% profit margin on each one (for reference, second highest profit on phonemaking is Samsung at 15%, everybody else is lucky to break even) and account for about 1/3 of worldwide phone sales but about 2/3 of worldwide phone sale profits.

Now, they've finally agreed to distribute some of their obscene cash hoard to shareholders like they should've been doing since 2005. But to do that they'd have to bring their obscene cash hoard in from their inexplicably-legal offshore accounts, at which point it'd be subject to US taxes. So instead, they're doing it by issuing bonds (borrowing money) at special-favors-low interest rates because paying that interest is cheaper than paying the taxes on the money they already have. That's right, the richest company in the world pays less taxes than you and I.

But they totally invented rounded corners, so it's cool, amirite?

 

[Michael Jarvis]

Mac...wait...no. I take it back....Steve Jobs. I believe in his work, his vision, and his team's ability. Mac post Steve has been very frustrating. I don't need another iPhone, iPod, iToy. I need a real machine. I need a powerhouse. Where is it Tim Cook? Stock is plummeting. Nothing innovative. The Pro market is moving away from Apple by force...because you are not giving us enough reason to stay.

Where the freak'n bloody hell is the Mac Pro and when it comes...keep is coming. Where is the innovation. Where is the visionary. I believe in Steve Jobs, and at this point, not Apple.

Prove me wrong.


Don't get me wrong, I edit with a Mac Book Retina. Its great. But we need real post processing machines. Bring on 6K.

 

[Felix K.]

On a Mac Pro, a user can choose from nearly any manufacturer:
monitor(s), mouse, keyboard, video card, RAM, hard drives, peripherals… add any sort of connectivity via PCI cards: eSATA, USB3… what else needs to be customized?

And Felix, I wasn't calling you out on this... I really like the friendly tone of this whole conversation and I respect your preference... I'm just genuinely baffled when people talk about customization. Besides the actual processor, which I know is a big choice, I don't see the mac pro as some choice-less, inflexible box...

I just remembered when I built a Power Computing Mac and put a Zip Drive (and maybe a Jaz Drive too) on the front. I guess Mac Pros are weak in allowing that kind of media customization.

Nothing to say against some discussion based on facts.
I'm building my own Windows PCs for a few years now.
The flexibility begins for me with the choice of mainboards and the resulting layout of ports and PCI-E slots.
I know that in the professional market, the price for a workstation is not the highest priority but in the INDY world working with a budget gives you more choices with PCs.
You actually have to look up the cards from NVidia that you can use in a MacPro (although you might remember the list quickly due to shortness), something you will never think about in a Windows-PC. Take the one that suits your needs best.
RAID COntroller etc., there are always more choices for Windows-PCs. Driver support and customer knowledge base is bigger etc.

I like APPLE, I worked exclusively with Macs as an Audio Engineer in the late 90ies and early 2000s. but all the manufacturers have embraced Windows by now. The PRO-status that APPLE had, has maybe not vanished but it changed. The PROs Apple products don't address in the hardcore A/V industry despite maybe people who are working on principles like nostalgia and loyalty. Apple USER and the stockholm syndrome and all that. I don't mean that disrespectfully. But if you had to choose between a 3 year old computer system and a recent one which is even cheaper without considering the manufacturer there wouldn't be any doubt what to choose.
Anyways, Apple products were famous for their reliability and quality. 10 years ago you knew what to expect from their MAC PRO line. Right now nobody knows. Some people are believers and will continue waiting for APPLE to "change everything" again. But if that is not an option I'll stick to Windows PCs.

Sorry for the ramblin style It's late here...

 

[Danny Robashkin]

I still don't understand all these reliability issues people have with Windows? Like I mentioned, I've been working on my own Windows machines for years, and never have weird reliability issues. Ironically, I find myself having to re-boot the two Macs I purchased fairly often, and I barely use them. Meanwhile I reboot my Windows workstations once in ... well.... months. Usually the power goes off and shuts them down or I overload the circuit

 

[Justin Talley]

Mac.

 

[Santiago Marti]

Mac. I'm editing native 4k on a MacBook Pro with Retina display using FCP X. It's incredibly powerful and efficient - we do mostly short format. I've been an editor for almost 20 years - and I've used both platforms and most of the tools. I believe cutting native 4k is the future - we're doing that today.




Cheers,
Logan

Wow, the future today? Sounds like Adobe 4 years ago...