Forums
New posts
Articles
Product Reviews
Policies
FAQ
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Desktop Hardware
Machine for RAW Photography + HD Video
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Nethfel" data-source="post: 830049" data-attributes="member: 89124"><p>Hi! Welcome to the forums!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Vista is an interesting beast, I know a lot of people are still using xp because of how much they dislike vista (or don't want the performance hit of vista while gaming)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Sounds similar to my workflow, although I haven't gotten my PS for mac yet, conveniently enough the license key on lightroom works for either mac or pc, and since the program is downloadable from adobe, it's not a huge deal to install the mac version. Right now, I'm focusing on just lightroom for as much as I can until I can deal with getting PS.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Ok</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Easy for mac pro.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I know a lot of people do handle their photo and at least to a certain degree video work on an iMac, but if you'd feel more comfortable with a Mac Pro, then no problem. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A Quad will most likely give you enough performance. Especially if you're buying a new nahelem based machine. Let's face it - many people edit HD video on lower class machines without too much of an issue. </p><p></p><p>Now, I'll add my one bit that I usually suggest to anyone buying a mac pro - you can get a quad, but I'd suggest getting an 8 core if you can afford it - this way you will definitely have the power, and more longevity with the machine. The machine should be able to last through more generations of new software then a single quad - this may not be as important now, but as software takes more advantage of multiple cores it can become more of an issue. Also, the single quads are not upgradeable to 2xquads, from everything I've read they only have a single processor socket, so you're stuck with quad for life. Also on an 8 core, if you were to want to have your video editor open w/ hd and have photoshop and possibly lightroom open, you should get better performance then a 4 core as having them all open (which I could see as possible) could tax a system for resources depending on what they are all doing.</p><p></p><p>I don't know how effective premiere is at using multiple cores in its current version - I've heard that FC Pro uses multiple cores very efficiently, but I can't confirm that from personal use as I don't own FCP.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Mac pro will give you the most ram upgrade capability. If you buy a new machine, it tops out at 32 Gigs, but you are using 8 memory sockets at that point which from what I've read about i7 technology (what is used in the new nahelem processors), it uses DDR3 as tripple channel, but if you have ram in sets of 2 (or 8) you will be using it as double channel - at least that's what I've understood from what I've read, this could be wrong and may require more research. The default new configs of Mac Pro comes with 3 or 6 sticks of ram which bears out the triple channel as those are 2 banks of 3 to make up the 6 sticks.</p><p></p><p>As I mentioned before tho, I would get the dual processors if you can afford it now tho as you can't add a second processor later AFAIK on the current models.</p><p></p><p>You can add and upgrade/change video cards, so that is fairly flexible. And the HD's are VERY easy to gain access to, it'd probably be cheaper to get a single drive and shop for filling the other bays.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Shouldn't be an issue, as long as the raid operation is transparent to the OS and not dependent on a driver in the OS. Now, if it's formatted as NTFS, you'll probably need to copy off what's on it and reformat the drive to either Fat32 or HFS+</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I can't comment on UK pricing or availability. I got my Mac Pro on ebay lightly used, still under warranty, and I consider myself very lucky as I got a great machine (I have an early 2008 model, not the new '09 model)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The only thing I could imagine dropping in price a bit more would be the older Mac Pro's. </p><p></p><p>If I were to buy used today, I wouldn't buy anything earlier then an early '08 for your needs because there are more video card options due to pcie 2.0 support. The 8 core early '08 will perform similar to / outperform a single quad '09 nahelem (depending on operations performed, etc.). An 8 core '09 will blow an '08 8 core away in terms of processing power.</p><p></p><p>My ranking for purchasing would be:</p><p></p><p>1st '09 2xquad (8 core) Mac Pro with either 6 gig or 12 gig (2x6 sticks) of ram</p><p>2nd '08 2xquad (8 core) Mac Pro with whatever amount of ram and you upgrade later (used or clearance).</p><p>3rd '09 1xquad (4 core) Mac Pro with 3 gigs or 6 gigs (2x3 sticks) of ram.</p><p></p><p>Any configuration: </p><p></p><p>Any video card should do, ATI or NVidia, since most of the heavy lifting will be done by the cpu for your needs, also you're not gaming from what you've said, and you'll be color calibrating your display which either card should support a profile for. You are limited to apple supported video cards tho, so check your software to see if they suggest a certain level of video card before deciding.</p><p></p><p>1 HD should be enough unless you get a great deal. It will probably be cheaper to add your own HD's later.</p><p></p><p></p><p>No matter which one you get, if you buy clearance or used, make sure it's still under warranty if possible, although granted many buy used machines way out of warranty, it never hurts on a machine this big and important and expensive to repair to make sure you are covered.</p><p></p><p>I'm sure you'll be happy with it. I love my Mac pro, I use it in OSX about 75% of the time right now (other 25% I'm playing games in windows that aren't avail for OSX). I now do all my photo work on OSX rather then windows, and I have a temporary video editor until I can replace my old one (Pinnacle Liquid Edition Pro 6.1 ) with something comparable (like FCPro or Premiere for Mac)</p><p></p><p>Hope this helps a little!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nethfel, post: 830049, member: 89124"] Hi! Welcome to the forums! Vista is an interesting beast, I know a lot of people are still using xp because of how much they dislike vista (or don't want the performance hit of vista while gaming) Sounds similar to my workflow, although I haven't gotten my PS for mac yet, conveniently enough the license key on lightroom works for either mac or pc, and since the program is downloadable from adobe, it's not a huge deal to install the mac version. Right now, I'm focusing on just lightroom for as much as I can until I can deal with getting PS. Ok Easy for mac pro. I know a lot of people do handle their photo and at least to a certain degree video work on an iMac, but if you'd feel more comfortable with a Mac Pro, then no problem. A Quad will most likely give you enough performance. Especially if you're buying a new nahelem based machine. Let's face it - many people edit HD video on lower class machines without too much of an issue. Now, I'll add my one bit that I usually suggest to anyone buying a mac pro - you can get a quad, but I'd suggest getting an 8 core if you can afford it - this way you will definitely have the power, and more longevity with the machine. The machine should be able to last through more generations of new software then a single quad - this may not be as important now, but as software takes more advantage of multiple cores it can become more of an issue. Also, the single quads are not upgradeable to 2xquads, from everything I've read they only have a single processor socket, so you're stuck with quad for life. Also on an 8 core, if you were to want to have your video editor open w/ hd and have photoshop and possibly lightroom open, you should get better performance then a 4 core as having them all open (which I could see as possible) could tax a system for resources depending on what they are all doing. I don't know how effective premiere is at using multiple cores in its current version - I've heard that FC Pro uses multiple cores very efficiently, but I can't confirm that from personal use as I don't own FCP. Mac pro will give you the most ram upgrade capability. If you buy a new machine, it tops out at 32 Gigs, but you are using 8 memory sockets at that point which from what I've read about i7 technology (what is used in the new nahelem processors), it uses DDR3 as tripple channel, but if you have ram in sets of 2 (or 8) you will be using it as double channel - at least that's what I've understood from what I've read, this could be wrong and may require more research. The default new configs of Mac Pro comes with 3 or 6 sticks of ram which bears out the triple channel as those are 2 banks of 3 to make up the 6 sticks. As I mentioned before tho, I would get the dual processors if you can afford it now tho as you can't add a second processor later AFAIK on the current models. You can add and upgrade/change video cards, so that is fairly flexible. And the HD's are VERY easy to gain access to, it'd probably be cheaper to get a single drive and shop for filling the other bays. Shouldn't be an issue, as long as the raid operation is transparent to the OS and not dependent on a driver in the OS. Now, if it's formatted as NTFS, you'll probably need to copy off what's on it and reformat the drive to either Fat32 or HFS+ I can't comment on UK pricing or availability. I got my Mac Pro on ebay lightly used, still under warranty, and I consider myself very lucky as I got a great machine (I have an early 2008 model, not the new '09 model) The only thing I could imagine dropping in price a bit more would be the older Mac Pro's. If I were to buy used today, I wouldn't buy anything earlier then an early '08 for your needs because there are more video card options due to pcie 2.0 support. The 8 core early '08 will perform similar to / outperform a single quad '09 nahelem (depending on operations performed, etc.). An 8 core '09 will blow an '08 8 core away in terms of processing power. My ranking for purchasing would be: 1st '09 2xquad (8 core) Mac Pro with either 6 gig or 12 gig (2x6 sticks) of ram 2nd '08 2xquad (8 core) Mac Pro with whatever amount of ram and you upgrade later (used or clearance). 3rd '09 1xquad (4 core) Mac Pro with 3 gigs or 6 gigs (2x3 sticks) of ram. Any configuration: Any video card should do, ATI or NVidia, since most of the heavy lifting will be done by the cpu for your needs, also you're not gaming from what you've said, and you'll be color calibrating your display which either card should support a profile for. You are limited to apple supported video cards tho, so check your software to see if they suggest a certain level of video card before deciding. 1 HD should be enough unless you get a great deal. It will probably be cheaper to add your own HD's later. No matter which one you get, if you buy clearance or used, make sure it's still under warranty if possible, although granted many buy used machines way out of warranty, it never hurts on a machine this big and important and expensive to repair to make sure you are covered. I'm sure you'll be happy with it. I love my Mac pro, I use it in OSX about 75% of the time right now (other 25% I'm playing games in windows that aren't avail for OSX). I now do all my photo work on OSX rather then windows, and I have a temporary video editor until I can replace my old one (Pinnacle Liquid Edition Pro 6.1 ) with something comparable (like FCPro or Premiere for Mac) Hope this helps a little! [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Desktop Hardware
Machine for RAW Photography + HD Video
Top