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Almost everything in Apple’s line-up got a refresh this year, everything apart from the much-loved but seemingly rejected Mac Pro that is. But it seems like the cards might be changing for the once-king of the video editors’ pile, as new graphics card support in the beta of OS X 10.8.3 hints strongly that this might be the Mac Pro’s time, at last.
We can’t take it as written, as driver support has come and gone in Apple’s various developer betas of OS X in the past, and this isn’t the first time support for AMD’s Radeon HD 7000 series has popped up only to be removed on release. Having said that, the fact that it’s been so long; that everything else has been refreshed, and that the driver support includes the high-end ‘Tahiti’ GPU, it just seems like the stars are finally aligning for the venerable Mac Pro.
Then again, does anyone still actually need the power that’s on offer in the Mac Pro? Do iMacs suffice these days? [Netkas via MacRumors]
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“Do iMacs suffice these days?”
No, not at all!
I love my Mac Pro and need all the power I can get!
Totally. OS X is still a nice environment to do heavy media lifting like graphics rendering and encoding (where your organisation is small enough not to farm those tasks out), so the Pro still has its place, I reckon.
I don’t care either if it looks exactly the same, just more powerrrrrrrr!…….please
For pro users I don’t think there can be such a thing a ‘too much power’.
I canne give her any more, Cap’n!
Dammit Scotty I need this video rendering now!
I canne believe you need to be watchin’ that much porn, Sir!
He’s giving her all she’s got…
Oh you.
I’m giving her all I’VE got!
Putting bets on it being very… slim.
“Do iMacs suffice these days?” erm…
The Pro’s are professional machines where cost is usually not an issue. An iMac struggling along to edit a 4K Vid where a Pro handles it with ease, especially with all the expansions available. The machines pay for themselves in no time and when you buy a tool to do a job you should get the best one you can afford.
As a Pro user the thickness of the bezel is about as important as the print on the box it comes in. We need the opposite, the max space available to expand hardware and cool internals.
As I mentioned elsewhere, anyone editing 4k needs a good slap. It’s needed for picture grading and restoration but editing, no.
And yes, a powerful new Mac Pro is very needed. I think one of the reasons why it never appeared is because Mr Jobs hated it. Now he’s gone, Apple can do the things that Jobsy’s eccentricities stopped them from doing.
What’s wrong with editing 4k footage, and what do you mean it is needed for grading and restoration?
You should be using offlines/proxies at lower res for editing; there’s no need to be able to see every single pixel while you cut.
You then use the 4k originals to do VFX and colour grading after you’ve finished the edit itself.
Correct a mundo. Thank you SixWays
4k is also handy for film restoration i.e. scanning in an old film print/neg then cleaning it up.
Totally not needed for offline editing.
So does VFX not count as editing? I can understand not cutting at 4k, but if that’s all someone’s going to do to their footage it’s likely not good enough to warrant shooting in 4k to begin with.
Does OS X seriously have no support for the 7000 series? Once again they’ll be playing catch up once the 8000 series is out. I have no idea why anyone would ever consider a Mac Pro these days, I can’t think of a single advantage to professionals.
I agree, they’re rolling out the 8000 series soon. Kinda unfortunate since I bought a £400 7970, but oh well