I just bought a 15’ MacBook Pro w/4GB Ram, 320GB HD, Intel Mac. My last one was a 17’ Powerbook G4, but this Macbook looks and feels great. Can’t even really tell the size difference.
Also saw Gary Oldman in the food court on the way out of the mall. Random, I know.
Just to add, if you really are working on “regardless of price” then check out Falcon Northwest. The sky is really the limit with them as I was playing with their custom builder and made a 9k laptop and a 22k tower. They are the best. They always have been for as long as I have been having a gaming pc, which was a long long time now.
I don’t understand the appeals of macs anymore as the video editing software on PC has caught up, and a $700 pc is comparable to a $2k mac. People still buy them, so I guess I must be missing something.
The appeal is cause pretty much anyone who works/edits in hollywood uses Final Cut or Avid. Final Cut is made by Apple. Those two are pretty much the hollywood standard.
I’m sure you know but final cut pro works Final cut pro works on pc too.
This I thought would mean that you don’t need macs anymore.
Really though if they are the defined industry standard then that is enough reason to buy them since that is what your industry is using and what you will be using in your job. So now I know. :woot:
Yea I do. Hollywood standards can be weird to many people. They do things a certain way even though there’s other options and it’s just the way it is. Any editing bay you go into will more than likely have a bunch of Macs w/Final Cut not a bunch of PC’s.
I was only debating on PC or Mac because I was just going to deal with it for the time being. Then yesterday I got a MacPro as a early Christmas present so it all worked out.
get a computer from Digital Storm. Look them up. The best place to buy your next rig. Post on their board for a config help and they’ll help you get what you need
my uncle is a Producer in hollywood, when you go to any of the production offices etc. there are a fair amount of pc’s in use… however the second you cross the threshold into ANY of the editing area’s it is all mac’s all the time.
I"ve been in IT full time for 13 years, also doing video and audio editing/prod on the side.
I’ve owned Macs & PCs, a lot of BS out there regarding both. I liked my old MBP but I definitely overpaid for it…but it looked cool and chicks dug it. =)
Long story short, get a Macbook if you want to spend 50% more for the same performance and a slick aluminum case/pretty laptop/hipster status. If thats not a concern, get a Dell XPS. The new XPS line is sick!
I just (literally just…) bought the new Dell XPS 15 inch with 8GB of ram, i7 processor and a bunch of upgrades for $1300. My company got me a $200ish discount so that was nice. A lot of the upgrades weren’t even necessary but what the hell.
We ran it next to the top of the line (also brand new) Macbook Pro which cost $3400 and its neck and neck across the board performance wise.
Save your money…unless money isn’t an issue I guess…
Yea that was exactly my point. I don’t know if anyone thought I meant PC’s aren’t used because yea they are. In like offices and front desks and shit.
I am a big believer in the PC and I too love Windows 7. If you want to organize your specs yourself you could do something like CyberPower PC. - Custom Built Gaming PC and Gaming Laptops. If you want to do some good searching across a bunch of different small stores across the country you could do Pricewatch - Price Comparison and Christmas Sales sorted by the lowest price - shop for the holidays
Personally, the edge on performance in editing has been cut down by the PC in recent years, I think most editors still prefer Macs because its what they’ve been used to for so long especially given that for so long the Mac did have a real performance advantage in audio/video editing. But the art people I have in class from time to time tell me there’s no real difference anymore, especially since all the top end software is available on both OSes… (Is that the plural of OS? OSes? Operating System… Operating Systems… You know, I’m just gonna go for it.)
I disagree, the XPS’s are not equivalent in performance to a high end Apple Mac book pro.
Just to be clear. I looked at an XPS on dell and their core i7’s are around 1.86 GHz (costs +$325 over the 1.73 GHz) where the high end Apple 15" mac pro are at 2.66GHz core i7.
Apple - MacBook Pro - Faster processors and faster graphics.
The Alienwares have quad core i7’s which have a lower frequency than the Apple processors, but they are quad core’s as opposed to the dual core i7s Apple uses.
Next the screen resolution on the 15" XPS is only 720p, where the minimum on most other laptops I’d look at are 1440x900. Both the Apple’s and the Alienware have even higher resolution options on the 15". Alienware has 1080p and Apple has 1680-by-1050 on their +$150 for “High-res” anti-glare screen.
As far as RAM, I never buy RAM from a computer manufacturer, especially Apple. I can always buy it cheaper.
The graphics cards are strange. One thing I can say is the video ram on the Apple graphics card is 512 MB where as all Dell’s seem to come standard with a minimum of 512 MB and upgrades of up to 2 GB. The alienware’s have a 1.5 GB option with a higher version Nvidia card at 460m (+$300), where as Apple is using 330m with 512 MB. The Dell XPS uses a 435m w/ 2GB of ram which I assume is better than the one the Apple uses in all apple MBP.
Something else, the trackpad on a mac book pro is still way ahead of any trackpad I find on any Dell at the store or at work here. I literally turn off the track pad.
Bottom line the price:
XPS I tried to match to this high end Apple: $1,809.99 (6GB of RAM, bluetooth, backlight keyboard, faster processor, only has a 720p screen resolution option, 640 GB 7200 RPM hdd, plastic body)
High End 15" Apple Mac book pro w/ faster HDD and higher resolution screen: $2400 (corei7 2.66Ghz, 512 MB nvidia 330m, 4GB RAM, 1680x1050 resolution screen, solid aluminum body)
Lower End 15" Apple mac book pro w/ faster HDD and higher resolution screen: $2100 (corei5 2.4 GHz, 256 MB nvidia 330m, 4GB RAM, 1680x1050 resolution screen, solid aluminum body)
back at the computer lab we had 4 macs and 2 PCs dedicated for video editing, i forget which most people used but each of those stations were fucking beasts.
Not all true, I know people that do editing on PC’s and use .nix server farms for the background.
What people use will vary on where you are trying to work, don’t think it’s all the same. The only constants are AIX/UX/Solaris now, and if you must ask what those are well…
XPS had 1080p option as well as the different i7 choices with “turbo boost” when I built mine.
Agree/disagree…Dell has basically the same performance for 1/3 less money…even 1/2 the cost depending on what MBP you’re looking at.
The MBP has a better case for sure…but you are paying out the ass for it. Dell has aluminum tops now which are a big improvement.
Trackpad? lolz, not really…
Like I said, we ran them right next to each other (audio/video rendering) and the Dell is easily “equivalent” in performance. We’re talking neck and neck with a slight nod to the MBP which had an upgraded processor and cost twice as much.
Also worth mentioning…the XPS blows the MBP out of the water when it comes to sound easily. My XPS has a subwoofer and the best sound system on a laptop I have ever heard. Its pretty sick.
…and a HD webcam standard
Cool stuff!
I’ll double back and look at the XPS to see why I missed out on a 1080p monitor option. I could have simply not looked at the right model.
I will report back when I find out.
I was part of the mass exodus from pc to mac when vista flopped onto the scene. I had previously built my own, so switching to Mac was a big deal. I do a lot of editing on the Mac. They are rock solid, have excellent support, and the editing programs “feel” more polished on OSX, and they are still the standard in the industry (though some or exploring cheaper alternatives). I dont necessarily feel they are blazing fast, they aren’t using the latest tech out there, and you will always be able to build a faster PC. And I guess you have to talk about looks. There are much better monitors out there, but when you show clients work on an apple station they seem to feel more assured about the money they are spending. I know it shouldnt matter, but it does have an effect, one you can’t get from a Dell set up. I am the exact opposite of most, I like to work on an apple and play on a PC. Windows 7 has brought me back to the fold and I built a monster PC just recently (using the same case from 6 years ago) and love the performance (and price).
Having to work with mactards, what good level pro is going to show shit on a mac monitor? It’s always done on high end NEC IPS displays. Apple monitors are low end crud with a bad color gamut.
As I said there are much better displays then Mac branded monitors, but they are not near the bottom either. As for “always being done on high end NEC IPS displays”, maybe in a perfect world, if the client knew how to spot a high end NEC display (I prefer Lacie) . They can spot a Mac monitor though. But this is not my overall point. I am not sure why these discussions become so polarized, both camps have advantages, whether you like it or not.
Anybody buying shit based off it being shown on a Mac Monitor is a grade A fucking moron who doesn’t know crap.
And if you want OS wars I’ll stand by SOLARIS and AIX