These days HD video is becoming more and more widely available. Especially with the introduction of the R3D One, and Scarlet, HD acquisition has become a standard in the film industry. This means to process all those beautiful 4K images you need a very fast tower/ edit suite. Time to shop around this holiday season, but which one to pick up? Apple MacPro Tower, or a PC equivalent?
Over the years I have been using both Apple’s MacPro Towers and various PC’s to accomplish all my post-production needs. However, as we start to move into the 64bit era of Avid MC 6, Adobe CS5.5, FCPX, and 64 bit operating systems like Windows 7, and OSX Lion. I find myself looking to upgrade this holiday season.
Apple’s MacPro towers are robust and feature some Intel’s fastest Xeon processors from a single 2.8 Quad – Core to the higher end Two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores). They are really powerful workhorses. However they have not been updated since about mid 2010. That means going forward into 2012 they are really starting to look long in the tooth. There are also many rumors suggested that Apple may even kill off their MacPro line as their sales have fallen drastically.
On the PC side there is the Hewlett Packard HP Z800 workstations. These new PC can be configured with Intel 2.13 GHz Xeon Quad – Core, to 3.33 GHz, Intel Xeon Six-Core for huge HD video crunching power. These machines have been running and supporting high-end broadcast set-ups for years. They have also run Avid, and After Effects workstations, so experiences has taught me they are up able to handle all that HD footage with ease.
Now it comes down to buy now or later. Well If you are looking for machine right now I would consider looking at the HP Z800 as they are more recent and can be cheaper. (Based on your configuration).
However if you must have a Apple MacPro Tower, I highly recommend waiting as they are in need of an update. Buying them now only to have a tower from mid 2010 may not be the greatest idea. It has been also rumored they may just kill off the MacPro Tower, which in that case, you may end up with unsupported hardware. Also another good reason to wait is a new rumor that has popped up claiming that Intel’s latest processors may just show up in a newly refreshed MacPro Tower in early 2012.
Either way If you must have an Apple you should wait. If you need a machine this holiday season take a good look at the HP Z800.
Tej Babra is a film maker and editor working with broadcast giants like Bell Media, CTV, Rogers, MTV, and Much Music, as well as a variety of film production companies. Tej is also a proud associate member of the Canadian Cinema Editors.
I would love to get a mac tower. But I’ll be waiting, not just for an update but for the cash.
@Charlotte74 Money is always a great reason to wait. I would like one of those 12 core macs. But I too have to wait for cash. ;-)
@Charlotte74 I’m waiting as well. I have (most of) the cash now, but it’s not an absolute necessity quite yet. Come Q1/Q2 2012, though, it will be.
@conigs@Charlotte74 Hopefully by then we may see a new re-fresh of Macpro Towers
@Tej Babra If they’re following Intel’s roadmap (which up until recently, they’ve been leading the releases), they’ll have something in Q1. I thought I had read the chips were originally due September-November 2011, but were delayed because of an error in the chips.
@conigs I remember reading that as well. There was a rumor some sort of delay with the manufacturing process. There was also rumor that Apple was considering killing the MacPro tower all together. I guess time will tell.
I for one would not like to see it killed off, as many of editing applications and video cards / peripherals run on the mac. But I may have to make the switch if Apple choses to end the line.
@Tej Babra I’d take that rumor with a grain of salt since it seemed to come from a single source, and it was along the lines of “rumored to have once talked about the possibility of discontinuing the Mac Pro.” That said, I’m willing to bet the Mac Pro in its current state is near end of life. I think we might see either the elimination of the bottom tier, or a revamp of the line soon.
@conigs You may be right. I would like to see a revamp of the entire line. I wonder if that would come with a minor price decrease.
Charlotte have a good point, it’s only the cash that matters.
@fergusonsarah Budget does dictate the timing of a purchase as well as the power of the machine.
I need to wait since I have to save for mac tower…
@LauLau81 Well hopefully in quater 1 of 2012 we shall see a refresh of the line.