Bern Caughey
Veteran
I know plenty of DITs, & Digital Techs, who love the form factor of the Mac Trashcan. Makes it easy to transport, especially carrying it onboard flights.
"Apple pushes the reset button on the Mac Pro"
- Thread starter nutmegger
- Start date
nutmegger
Well-known member
Apparently, Apple is not the only computer manufacturer making "trashcan" style workstations.
http://www.postmagazine.com/Publica...ew-Cerise-Computers-Circular-Workstation.aspx
http://www.postmagazine.com/Publica...ew-Cerise-Computers-Circular-Workstation.aspx
filmguy123
Veteran
Interesting! Never would have even thought of that. Guess if the MBP doesn't cut it, that would work out brilliantly.
It sounded to me like you were defending Apple's decision to make all its "pro" computers non-upgradeable. Glad to hear that you are aware of the benefits of an upgradeable system. Unfortunately it looks like Apple only recently came around to this view point. It looks like you (and the other Apple acolytes) going to have to wait another couple years at least.
"The decision to go ahead and develop a modular Mac Pro replacement seems to have been made only in recent months, with development starting only a few weeks ago, which makes it clear why Apple said it won't ship this year. I have no idea how long it takes to develop a new computer like a Mac Pro, but I think we can expect the new Mac Pro late 2018 at the earliest, but most likely it won't be until early 2019 before it ships."
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/04/06/mac-pro-may-not-ship-until-2019/
That sounds like a worst case scenario, I really doubt they're that far behind. It's been obvious that the trashcan wasn't working for a long while now. Plus they have the resources to get something up and running within the year, the only thing stopping them is how clever they decide to be. They're taking their time because they only want to have to design the box once, and not again for many years like with the G5 design. If they rush through it then they could be stuck designing a new tower again within 2 years.
I'm glad about all this. I want to keep using MacOS and not be forced to switch to Windows, so this will infuse the ecosystem with more energy for sure. I really like FCP X too, it's different but I find that it's very fast to work with. I'd rather use it than Premiere, and the professional high end world is all stuck using Avid still.
The 1990s? Weren't dinosaurs editing film with sticks & stones back then?
Seriously, I wonder who is more adventurous and flexible: those who were taught on Macs but were left behind by Apple's consumer-device-focus and so moved on to an entirely new OS, new editing software, and new workflows (there's a lot to learn & do when you're no longer in Apple's closed system garden)... Or those Apple Acolytes who were so afraid to abandon OSX & FCP that they continue to hope & pray that their Dear Leader will pay them lip service with an announcement of a professional upgradeable Mac in the future (and in the mean time they'll continue to get by on iMacs and suped-up Mac Pros from 7 years ago).
If that sounds harsh then please know that I'm still dealing with sore feelings from being abandoned by Apple. I wish they had announced this "futuristic upgradeable" Mac Pro three years ago. I would have continued to drink the Kool-Aid happily. But once the Abused face their Abuser there's no going back. And when we see them continue to abuse others we struggle with it, wondering if it's the right thing to get involved.
I'm sorry if my involvement has offended anyone.
Run&Gun
Veteran
It's funny, I know some guys that carry one around. I've seen them pull it out just for simple file transfers/card dumps.
"Abused" ... ?
They failed to make a product that fit your needs. They didn't come to your house and beat the crap out of you every day for a week. Let's get some perspective here and drop the melodrama.
I've been happily editing on a top-end iMac with SSD and RAID storage. It does exceptionally well, especially with Final Cut Pro X.
Guess I'm an "Apple Acolyte" and "Kool-Aid Drinker"... but at least I'm not "Abused" I guess. How I hope "Dear Leader" gives me my share of the bread this month, I'm getting hungry.
What a lot of "pros" fail to realize is that Apple is a viable company right now (instead of a subsidiary of Dell or on the trash heap of technology history) BECAUSE of their "consumer-device-focus." If it weren't for the iPhone, there likely wouldn't be a resurgent Apple.
Batutta
Major Contributor
LOL...Yeah, I learned to edit 16mm film on moviolas. Then upgraded to the video toaster. Then learned the AVID. Then Adobe Premiere. Then Final Cut Pro....FCPX was the first time I said NOPE, not an improvement.
Thomas Smet
Veteran
Are you one of those that jumped on the hate FCPX bandwagon without even giving it a try? FCPX may have missed a couple of key features when it first came out but it is now a solid well built NLE that can do more on a quad core iMac than most other NLEs can dream of on a decked out workstation class PC. Hardware isn't always everything and only important to those who use horribly built software that doesn't utilize a systems resources to their full potential. Criticize the style and features of FCPX all you want but it is better at utilizing what the system provides vs any other NLE out there. It is well built and optimized and does amazing things without needing bleeding edge hardware.
I don't want to get into another pointless flame war here but Apple never abused anybody. They created a well optimized system that didn't require a 1000 watt power draw to cut video together. I have a 2012 iMac that can slice together 4k material and pump it out at insanely smooth and fast rates. That shouldn't be possible on such a "pathetic low powered" machine and yet it is. I can edit anything you can on your "more professional" NLE and do so with my crappy Mac computers. Abused is having to daily shoehorn a bloated clunky piece of software on a pile of hardware built for raw speed and nothing else.
Remind me when Adobe becomes professional by getting rid of that horrendous and embarrassing sheep sound during a render failure.
cpreston
Veteran
My laptop died and I had to do some onsite live streaming. I grabbed the trashcan instead and I controlled it with an ipad as a touch screen monitor. I don't think I had realized until then that it i actually designed as a portable computer. You can't run it off a battery or throw it in a briefcase, but it is actually much more capable as a DIT or quick edit workstation than a laptop.
filmguy123
Veteran
Umm, I'm sorry but this whole post is just a huge stretch. FCPX dropped the ball big time. I say that as someone who owned and was invested in a $12k Mac Pro edit station. I sorrowfully left the FCP camp.
I won't for a minute take anything away from those who like FCPX and I know for a fact it's used by a limited audience of talented pros. There is no doubt it utilizes the Mac hardware very efficiently (even if it took years for it to become fully stable when editing larger projects). It's made leaps and bounds in the last few years.
Thomas your posts are usually very helpful and informative, but I've never seen a post from you so laden with hyperbole and inaccuracies:
A couple? It was hundreds. No literally, absolutely hundreds. There's a famous list online that still has over 100 essential features.
In the real world, almost every pro I know who was thousands of dollars deep in the Apple ecosystem *tried* to like FCPX for obvious reasons before finally giving up. Yes the internet was full of irate backlash, as you'd expect.
I know you're trying to make a point but most high end workclass station computers have no more than a 550W PSU that is generally never utilized more than 80% even on peak power. My home built PC has an overkill 850W PSU that has a ridiculous amount of headroom left even with dual GPU and 8 internal HDDs, watercool setup, and overclocking.
The point is, Premiere Pro actually works quite well on my 3 year old Apple Macbook Pro and my 9 year old (no joke) backup desktop PC. Yes FCPX is better optimized for Apple hardware. It better be, since that was the whole point of them gutting the entire program
I don't think anyone had or has a problem with the well honed performance (once stable) of FCPX - it's everything that came at the cost of gutting the program and starting from scratch.
Really?
While I have no interest in platform or territorial wars, I think it's pretty important as professionals to acknowledge where Apple has and hasn't dropped the ball... in my eyes, they've broken a lot of trust with their pro software and hardware over the last 7 years.
Say what you will about that, but I objectively think how they handled the FCPX transition was the definition of trust breaking: FCP7 project files couldn't be imported to FCPX because it was impossible (one year later, magically possible). FCP7 and FCPX couldn't exist on the same computer installation peacefully (seriously?). FCP7 discontinued from store immediately (WHAT?). FCPX promised for a year to be the savior we've only been waiting for (very deceptive disclosure of what FCPX would and wouldn't be).
I'm skeptically optimistic about seeing them step up their game, but at this point it's also hard to care anymore... hoping they prove me wrong.
Run&Gun
Veteran
I have a 'mid-2012' RMBP with FCP7 and FCPX both on it and never had any issues. No partitioned drive or anything special.
Now I'm not an editor and only have them on here for more or less "just in case" or limited uses, but still, no issues when I needed them while co-existing on the same machine and drive.
filmguy123
Veteran
It wasn't officially supported by Apple so zero support professionally, and there were numerous small problems that would crop up (no idea if they still pop up today).
BrianMurphy
Veteran
I have both FCP 7. whatever and FCP X and the both work without issue on my 2010 iMac.
alaskacameradude
Veteran
FCP 7 and X can both exist on the same computer, and have been able to from the day that FCP X came out,
so I'm not sure where you heard that they could not 'coexist peacefully' from.
Did Apple screw up the release of FCP X and lose some trust? Yeah, I think so. Did Adobe also lose some
trust and goodwill when they went to subscription only? Yeah, I think so. None of them are perfect. Change
isn't always easy. But hey, at least we have choice.
filmguy123
Veteran
From Apple themselves:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202240
Yes, I had both installed on the same drive and was able to make it work (albeit with some minor problems). Yes, I understand it works better today.
And yes, having official support for your professional workstation is important. Apple's official stance was that it was not supported. That wasn't good, especially given everything else surrounding the launch, and the tone deafness to the fact that any professional requires a transitional period to a new product - especially when said new product can't even import existing project files! (even more annoying when that was later proved to be false)
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202240
Yes, I had both installed on the same drive and was able to make it work (albeit with some minor problems). Yes, I understand it works better today.
And yes, having official support for your professional workstation is important. Apple's official stance was that it was not supported. That wasn't good, especially given everything else surrounding the launch, and the tone deafness to the fact that any professional requires a transitional period to a new product - especially when said new product can't even import existing project files! (even more annoying when that was later proved to be false)
Where in that support document does it say that Apple won't support running FCPX and FCS on the same disk?
They say their "preferred" method is to keep them separate... then proceed to give you instructions on how to run them on the same startup disk. Nowhere does it say that they won't help you out if you run into issues (i.e.: not supported). Nowhere does it say "do this and you're playing with fire" or anything of the like.
Add me to the list of peeps that ran FCS and FCPX on a single machine for a while flawlessly.
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