Thoughts on the new Mac Pro???

I'm on a Mac right now, but I'm going all out PC when I have the money.

ALL of Apple's products are overpriced, and they rarely listen to their user's suggestions and complaints.

I hate apple and i still bought a mac book pro. the price and power was comparable to the the pc tower i would have built.. but the macbook is infinitely more portable
 
If I were a professional in post, I would definitely be investing in one.

Most post houses I know run on Linux systems, at least for applications like Resolve. For software that doesn't run on Linux, I'm sure these will be a decent investment.

That said, current Mac Pros are hardly outdated. As much as they haven't seen an update in a while, the only thing they've really been missing is Thunderbolt.

I'd be worried how scalable these new computer are. The great thing about the previous Mac Pro models is you could put whatever cards you wanted in them, and I know of many professionals who have put Blackmagic video cards for video and Pro Tools HD cards in for audio.
Not sure how that will go with these.

For the little editing and colouring I do, I have a custom iMac which works brilliantly.
 
Very interesting points from everyone thus far. Me, as a composer, I'm not at the point where it makes sense to spend that much on a computing system. For audio guys having the dual graphics cards doesn't really add anything for us (except for the price). The PCIe bus that they have will be too small to do anything significant. Luckily it has four outputs for USB3 and 6 outputs (!) for Thunderbolt2. That will give us plenty of speed (especially with SSDs).....but thunderbolt enclosures for those SSDs are still very pricey.

I've got a late 2009 iMac (the 'ole Core 2 Duo)....so anything will be an upgrade for me. It's like going from a flip phone to a smartphone; they're all going to be better. It seems that the best overall deal is still going to be with the iMac (and I believe they're supposed to get another refresh on the Intel chips. Ivy Bridge if I'm not mistaken). They're biggest issue has always been the ability to expand....
 
At the end of the day, it depends what you need.

I know composers who work in purpose-built studios with Mac Pros running full Pro Tools HD systems including their favourite digital mixer/controller and booths for recording vocals and instruments.

I also know composers (and even 'up-and-coming' 'sound designers') who work from home on an iMac with a couple of cheaper studio monitors and an academic version of Pro Tools or Logic they bought when they were still in school (and have been riding on the cheap/free upgrades).

Both may be composers, and both will be paid for what they do, but both have incredibly different needs.

Similarly, I know editors who work on the latest Avid Media Composer in purpose built studios, with Blackmagic, Avid or similar video cards installed into their Mac Pros, driving three screens and a 55" client monitor. And I know editors who work on 2009 Macbook Pros on an old version of FCP7.

I know colourists who work off networked Linux systems with Resolve, Scratch, Baselight, Lustre or similar software in a theatre with a 2k cinema projector installed and calibrated, with $20,000 control surfaces.
I also know colourists who work from home on Resolve with a couple of monitors and an Avid $1,000 control surface.

All of these people get paid work, and some of the work is indistuingishable from one another (i.e. the great artists working from their laptops or home studios are not necessarily producing any worse quality images than those working in million-dollar studios), but all of their needs are completely different, and the computers and equipment they buy will reflect that.

What do you need?
 
I think the new pro is one sexy beast. That said, I will not be getting one any time soon. I have a recent pro that I have configured to handle much more than I am currently using. Until I outgrow the one I have, I'll stick with this one.
 
I think it is a beast but sadly I do not have the cash or the paid work necessary to get one over the imac. I could afford the most basic tower this year but sadly needing the monitor and other peripherals would lead to a wallet busting 3.5 to 4k pound bill . Involving the non upgrade ability it depends on how long the hardware would last before needing an upgrade. If it was really 3-5 years then it wouldn't be that bad to justify
 
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