It doesn't work for ProTools at this time, at least not given the version of the software my brother is working with. if you offer him the $40,000 or so to upgrade all his systems and software to the latest stuff that will work with less expensive hardware, I'm sure he'd appreciate your investment into his business.
G On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 5:43 PM, steve harley <[email protected]> wrote: > on 2013-02-17 17:16 Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote > >> On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 3:34 PM, Steve Cottrell <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>> >>> On 17/2/13, Godfrey DiGiorgi, discombobulated, unleashed: >>> >>>> What do you really need a Mac Pro 8-core for? My brother uses one of >>>> those but he does real-time work (video/audio editing - it's his >>>> business: http://www.headlinestudios.net/Headline_Studios.html) which >>>> is orders of magnitude more demanding than still photography work. >>> >>> >>> You say that but I know at least one editor who uses a Mac mini - >>> admittedly it's out on the road in a satellite van but he swears by it! >> >> >> Oh, I believe the Mac mini is powerful enough to do the editing job. >> But the ProTools software that Joe uses has dedicated cards that talk >> to fast external drives, it requires the slots in the Mac Pro. The >> next rev of the software will likely remove that constraint and use >> the Thunderbolt interface to faster storage hardware. > > > used Mac Pros are generally the price/performance leader when a bit of > expansion is contemplated and/or when the GPU is important (Lightroom 4 > doesn't use a Mac GPU, though, afaik); otherwise a Mini can do a lot for the > money > > they may not work for ProTools, but there are external PCI chassis that > connect via Thunderbolt, and i wouldn't be surprised to see OWC put its > PCI-based storage system (faster than SATA) into a Thunderbolt box soon; > these will bring a lot more top-end expansion potential to Minis and iMacs > > all the Thunderbolt stuff is expensive, though, compared to slapping drives > and cards into free slots in a Mac Pro; also, i think Thunderbolt maxes out > at just over half the potential throughput of PCI > > so the best choice is "it depends"; if performance is a major concern, there > are resources to help weigh the factors, e.g.: > > <http://www.barefeats.com/minivmp.html> > <http://www.barefeats.com/minivim.html> > > i had to replace an old laptop acting as a server this month, and size, > power consumption and noise were important to me, so i got a used 2011 Mac > Mini (2.5GHz i5, discrete graphics); it has 9 months warranty remaining and > cost me $430; aside from some of the 2011 models, all the other Minis have > "integrated graphics", which perform poorly on GPU tasks (see above links) > > this server replaces a dying 2007 MacBook Pro, and runs iTunes, FileMaker > Server, ScanSnap and backups; though the Mini it is still slower than my > 2011 MacBook Pro (better GPU & 1GB VRAM), the GPU on the mini should make a > big difference if i offload some Aperture work to it, or if my laptop has > some downtime > > > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. -- Godfrey godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
