THUNDERBOLT on New IMAC i7s

The top-secrecy prior to the announcement suggests to me that Apple were worried that sales of existing, non-Thunderbolt, hardware would suffer if customers knew what was coming.

I suspect therefore, that we will see a rapid upgrade of the entire Apple product range to include this connection standard.

Whilst this is particularly good news for professional video editors it will benefit anyone who needs to move/back-up heavy files. That includes smartphone users with HD camera phones and there are a lot of those these days.

The connection benefits will certainly make iMacs more appealing as FCP workstations. It also opens up a lot of possibilities for third party, PCI express product manufacturers like AJA, Matrox etc. to appeal to iMac editors.
 
Okay, for a new editor like myself with a choice between a 3.06ghz i3 iMac or a 2.3ghz i5 MBP at the same price, which machine would perform better. I do have an external display so screen real estate isn't an issue unless the iMac display adds to the performance of the machine. There's also the issue of the graphics card. Is an integrated Intel HD graphics card better than a ATI Radeon(which is upgradable)? Portability is a plus but it isn't a necessary feature when editing, or so I have been convinced.
Needs some schooling here. Thanks folks!
 
The "top secrecy" is Apples standard operating procedure. They are as secretive as the submarine service and the KGB.
 
angeloworx said:
Okay, for a new editor like myself with a choice between a 3.06ghz i3 iMac or a 2.3ghz i5 MBP at the same price, which machine would perform better. I do have an external display so screen real estate isn't an issue unless the iMac display adds to the performance of the machine. There's also the issue of the graphics card. Is an integrated Intel HD graphics card better than a ATI Radeon(which is upgradable)? Portability is a plus but it isn't a necessary feature when editing, or so I have been convinced.
Needs some schooling here. Thanks folks!
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You are talking about the base model 13" Macbook Pro which outperforms the base iMac model in nothing. As a matter of fact in certain application processes the base model iMac is Faster than even the top of the line iMac. The base model Macbook Pro is not a computer I would invest money in, you would have to look into the 15" model at least which cost well into the $1800 range. A graphics card is needed when working with programs like, photoshop, after effects, Magic Bullet, etc. AN integrated graphics chip is setting yourself up for failure.
 
If Thunderbolt is here to stay (which it likely is, the fact it's backed by Intel means most motherboards will start to ship with it in the coming months) then it's a safe bet that all future Apple releases will come equipped with it. The only area of confusion I see is integrating the displayport adapters on the GPU with the Thunderbolt technology. I would imagine this process is simplified due to the onboard graphics of the MacBook Pros, but they wouldn't they have to have the GPU manufacturer support the technology on their cards as well? That is, unless all future Macs ship with multiple graphics hardware like the MacBook...

I certainly wouldn't buy the 13" MBP, and I'd have my doubts on the 15" for editing... The 17" is truly the portable workstation of the range, oodles of power, great hi res screen (especially with the anti-glare coating) this would be my choice if I were buying to edit on site.
 
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I spent the last 5 years editing on a 13" MacBook. I upgraded to the 13" MacBook Pro 4 months ago. It did a really god job and I cut several ProRes from T2i projects. I bought the 15" Thunderbolt i7 last night and it is amazing. PC Mag actually called it the fastest Laptop we have ever tested. I have had it for slightly less then 12 hours but it is impressive. The 17" is not required, but if you have the money and no Mac Pro it would be a nice desktop replacement. The entire line will support Thunderbolt soon
 
kgimedia said:
I spent the last 5 years editing on a 13" MacBook. I upgraded to the 13" MacBook Pro 4 months ago. It did a really god job and I cut several ProRes from T2i projects. I bought the 15" Thunderbolt i7 last night and it is amazing. PC Mag actually called it the fastest Laptop we have ever tested. I have had it for slightly less then 12 hours but it is impressive. The 17" is not required, but if you have the money and no Mac Pro it would be a nice desktop replacement. The entire line will support Thunderbolt soon
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If it did such a great job why did you upgrade? Lets be serious here people and not guide people in the wrong direction. I had a 4 year old laptop 2.0ghz Core 2 Duo that I was able to edit and create amazing projects, but when I bought a brand new iMac i3 3.06ghz I can honestly say it was twice as fast. A project that would take me an hour to render in FCP could now be done in 30mins. Yes it still takes time, but to cut everything in half was amazing.

Time is everything for us editors, by you having a faster computer allows you to be more creative and get your work done faster. I'm really interested in these new laptops as My Old one need to be replaced.
 
Every modern computer (for the most part) is capable of running the software, that's almost a moot point nowadays... The whole point of all that power is to speed up the process and allow the user to work at their own pace, not be dictated to by a computer (and bloody render times!)

I've been on jobs where it wouldn't have been possible to deliver to the client what they were expecting in the timeframe they were expecting it if it weren't for very powerful computers.
 
life4eva said:
If it did such a great job why did you upgrade? Lets be serious here people and not guide people in the wrong direction. I had a 4 year old laptop 2.0ghz Core 2 Duo that I was able to edit and create amazing projects, but when I bought a brand new iMac i3 3.06ghz I can honestly say it was twice as fast. A project that would take me an hour to render in FCP could now be done in 30mins. Yes it still takes time, but to cut everything in half was amazing.
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I upgraded from m old Macbook to the MacBook Pro 13 because the battery was dead, the wireless was gone and the keyboard only functioned some of the time. Also without hacking FCP7 would not install. I got the new one because I do live visuals and I needed more power on the CPU and GPU. If I only did on location edits or cuts while my Mac Pro was rendering I would have stuck with the 13". I am going to run some compressor/xbench tests tonight on my 13" Core 2 Duo, 15" i7 quad and Mac Pro dual 2.8 quad. When it comes to Macs for me buy what you can afford. If it pays for itself in a week then you can buy the next better one.
 
kgimedia: I am really interested to get that Bench Test results!! Please, I am about to make the decision soon (by soon I mean in the 1-2 months from now).

Thanks guys!!! Really good discussion going on here and more information getting in (for me at least).
 
Hey guys,

1. Would a Mac Pro with these spects handle 4:2:2 Pro Res footage well, or will I run into some of the same problem with rendering I run into with my IMAC 2.8 GHz 27".

Two 2.8GHz Quad-Core (8 Core) Intel Xeon
6GB (2x2GB) + (2x1GB)
320GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
ATI Radeon 2600 XT 256 MB Graphics
Two 16x SuperDrives
AirPort Extreme Card (Wi-Fi)
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
Mac OS X Snow Leopard/iLife'11 Pre-installed.

2. Also what graphic card would go best for 4:2:2 footage.

3. I was looking for a great monitor that would do the same or better than the APPLE CINEMA for less.
 
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I just bought the MacBook Pro 13-inch and to be honest, it is smooth as it promised to be. However, I still haven't got chance to do much HD-Editing yet (maybe ask me again in 2 more weeks) and make use of that Thunderbolt connection port.
 
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