Mac Pro v 5K Retina iMac

Hi all,

Could do with some advice if that's ok?

Looking at investing in a couple of new Macs post production using FCPX. I wondering whether I should go for 2 x 5k Retina Core i7 iMacs with 32GB RAM or take the Mac Pro route. Obviously the Mac Pro route a quite a bit more expensive for the money, but I was wondering if the iMac would be sufficient for our needs.

Most of etc footage we shoot is either 5k or 6k RED R3Ds and we'd be using a Promise R4 external thunderbolt bay so data speeds will be the same on either option.

What would you recommend?

Cheers

Damian

Hi Damian
If you buy one of each and send them to me, be happy to evaluate for next year or so

Your pushing either computer with the footage you are using. Not saying they won't work fine, just demanding work.

Some operations will be faster with the iMac and some with the MPs. BareFeats has some good comparison testing.
Pushing the iMac will result in some fan noise and possible heat issues, but only occasionally.

I think we may see a new MacPro this year, but it is only a guess. Think it is due soon as now some of the key components are available. Xeon Skylake chips, new I/O port standards, etc… Should see some real performance improvements all around.
I have always had some issues with the components in the current nMP. AnandTech did a great write up around the time of release in 2013. The issues should all be resolved with a new model. So if you can hold off, it may be worth it. Always a tough call.

pm me if you need my shipping address
Hope this helps, Greg

Stick with the iMacs, the Mac Pros are too close to updates to spend money on them now.

I do 4K REDCODEE editing, with a 4 bay P2 16TB RAID, and have no issues at all, even editing native. But again, the iMacs are more up to date, so to speak, and I think more future proofed than the current Mac Pro. If you can wait, I'd see what happens to the Mac Pro in the spring. Otherwise, go with the iMacs, and your Pegasus P2 RAID.

BenB wrote: Stick with the iMacs, the Mac Pros are too close to updates to spend money on them now...

Ditto on all this. I doubt Apple will release an updated Mac Pro until maybe Q4, because both AMD and Intel are coming out with major new GPU lines based on 14nm fabrication which won't be available in quantity until around Q2 or Q3.

I edit a lot of multicam H264 4k on my 2015 iMac 27 with a Pegasus R4, and it does fine. I usually transcode to proxy for better editing performance on H264 4k but on camera-native H264 1080p it does fine. It is vastly faster than Premiere on 4k.

There is also the "two for one" argument. When Walter Murch selected Final Cut over Avid for Cold Mountain, his reasoning was he could have multiple FCP workstations for the price of a single Avid, so overall productivity would be better even if each workstation by itself was not.

Even at the end of its life, a high-end nMP is better than a top-spec 5k iMac, but is it overall more productive than two of them?