Opinion on Apples hardware for editing

Gentlemen I would like to hear your opinion about Apples new hardware the Mac Pro compared to an iMac.

I'em about in the middle purchasing a computer for my personal four walls. Now my major income are usually commercials, music videos and documentary (feature length).

So the question which would be a better decision?
A Mac Pro with the two D300 cards or a iMac with the NVIDIA GTX 775MX plus a second screen?
I know I will be getting question about, if I do 4K editing and etc... well since I'm a editor and not the decision factor which format the client wants to use for his project. So yes 4K should is a must.

Thank you

On the Mac Pro option I would use the monitors that I have now until I purchase a upgraded version from Dell or so.

Heavy compositing, large projects, heavy multicam, yes, Mac Pro. And I'd go at least 6 cores, 16 GB RAM, and a T'bolt RAID.

Well I think no matter which of the three Mac Pro models you go with, your going to get a pretty good performance vs the iMac.

Not sure how often you upgrade your home computer but I would also assume in the next two years we will see other crazy upgrades from Apple.

Maybe the iMac won't be bad choose for the upcoming few years and then upgrade to a Mac Pro.

I have been using a Mac Pro 1,1 since 2006. Already when talks began about a new version, I decided to spare money for the upcoming model. My old workhorse has served me well. But I am stuck with Lion and FCPX 10.0.9 so time has come to buy a new computer. And I have ordered the new Mac Pro. iMac could have served my needs perfectly but I simply do not like that computer. I certainly look forward to start work with the new beauty. I have heard warnings, wait for the second generation, wait for the third generation, wait, wait, wait. but no I have waited long enough for this one.

Makki wrote: I have been using a Mac Pro 1,1 since 2006. Already when talks began about a new version, I decided to spare money for the upcoming model. My old workhorse has served me well. But I am stuck with Lion and FCPX 10.0.9 so time has come to buy a new computer. And I have ordered the new Mac Pro. iMac could have served my needs perfectly but I simply do not like that computer. I certainly look forward to start work with the new beauty. I have heard warnings, wait for the second generation, wait for the third generation, wait, wait, wait. but no I have waited long enough for this one.

Which model did you get?

The base version with bigger hard drive and 16 GB Ram. After discussion with my Apple retail seller here in Iceland, we came to that conclusion.

Thank you for the input.

I opted for the 6 core 3.5 Ghz, 16 GB RAM and 512GB internal storage model (with a thunderbolt RAID). I was on the phone with Apple and they actually talked me out of the D500 video cards unless I do heavy 4K editing. I don't and I don't plan to for quite a while as right now it's just not very relevant. So the D300 card will work fine for heavy compositing, multicam etc etc. The D500 and up are mainly better suited for higher resolutions according to the Apple guy (note: this was not a random Apple Store employee or something like that, but someone actually working at Apple).

I plan to continue using my existing monitor and already have a Thunderbolt (actually minidisplay but whatever) to DVI converter. I have one Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt converter but need to get one more. I also need to get an Intensity Shuttle to replace my current Intensity PCI card. Gonna be taking full advantage of all of those Thunderbolt ports for sure!

The only thing I don't feel 100% on right now is the internal 512GB of storage. I wanted 1TB but it cost so much more. Hopefully there will be a way to change out internal storage in the future when prices come down... and they WILL come down. Or I may just get Thunderbolt flash drives. We'll see. Hurry up and come down, Flash prices!

So in other words the base D300 modle is not good enough for 4K?

FCPGuy wrote: So in other words the base D300 modle is not good enough for 4K?

Depends which 4K and what you're doing with it. I tested a 4-core/D300 and it was fine with Sony 4K XAVC. I did not stack heaps of filters on it though.

Resolve buckled a little under 4K XAVC, but it was still very usable. Resolve and Sony 4K raw was very good. Not perfect, but decent.

Red 5 and 6K, half debayer was not too bad with the D300s in FCPX either.

My takeaway was if you plan on only doing a little 4K during the life of this purchase, then D300 would get you through (4 years into future?). I went for D700 to future proof.

Are the graphics cards replaceable?

Yes you can upgrade the graphic card

Technically, yes, but no one is offering upgrades yet, and probably won't for some time, if at all. Same goes for the internal SSD drive and the GPU. No one has said they're going to offer upgrades yet.

Does Apple not sell or will sell Graphic Cards or is just available for first configuration ? Anyway this computer will have a long time span.

"Does Apple not sell or will sell Graphic Cards or is just available for first configuration?"

Apple has not commented on upgrading late 2013 Mac Pro components.

I am not aware of any third party vendors announcing any upgrade options, either.

Several sites have done tear downs of this new Mac Pro and have found that the CPU, GPU, and SSD drive can easily be removed and could be user serviceable.

RAM is already upgradable.