Hello all

 

I am in the throws of trying to upgrade my kit. I currently have 2x old MAC pros running MC5 and MC4 but having been on a HP z400 running MC6 for about 4 months now, I have spent the cash on a software upgrade to MC6.... now I am looking to invest in the hardware. 

I have a nitris DX and local storage - G-speed drives running off e-sata. 1x mac has 7GB ram the other 3GB ram and they have served me well.

When I saw the 12 core Macs I got all excited but have (as yet) resisted buying one.... They are very expensive but owners seem delighted with the power and speed of the kit. There is a threat of thought that RAM is key more tha the number of cores....any one know differently when it comes to PC?

SO MY QUESTION IS... 

If you had £5000 to spend ... what would you recommend PC or MAC and what supports your answer.

 

Thanks to anyone who can advise me on this . I really appreciate the effort and time it takes to answer a question as open as this. I realise I am not giving you much to work with, but this is a budget driven question and as I have everything else I need to function, its about stability and speed.... can I do this on 5K?

 

FYI those 12 Core macs are 2010 technology...very over priced for what they are. I run software only MC6 on an 8 core MP. I recently upgraded from 8gb ram to 24gb ram and haven't noticed any difference. Doh! If I were you, I'd go a z400, especially if you have a DX Nitris. A lot of people including myself are worried about Apple's lack of support for pro gear. They haven't updated since 2010 so there's speculation on them pulling the plug on Mac Pro's altogether. I know that when this Mac dies Im switching entirely to PC's. All the post houses use PC's in london and they rarely crash or lag...never seen a Mac Pro hooked up to a DX nitris...I guess there aren't that many in London although I'm sure there are many people here who might say otherwise. My vote's for PC.

Thanks for the tips...

I think you might be right about the mac pro shelf life and part f my reason for considering PC is the macs were hit with a -  MainThread Error 0x0 and then CTD...

Even running MC6 on my non spec Dell was able to recover from hangs... PC 1 MAC 0

anyone else got advice

 

BTW is the new z420 an option? 

jfergyfrog:

BTW is the new z420 an option?

I do not think that it's on the certified HW list, but a check wouldn't hurt, and my best guess is that it will be certified with the next MC release; if I had 5k I'd build a couple of videoguys DIY machines and get some change too! If You're not a DIY kind of guy have an assembler to build it for You and You still will get some change, unless You want a certified machine to buy a support contract.

I recently got a fast new Z800 at a very good price.   If you want a qualified Avid PC, check out the 800.   Now that the 820's/420's are out, the 800's are more reasonably priced.  Best bang for the buck.  Opening up the Z800 is a thing of beauty--easy to upgrade, solidly built.  I'm sure the 420 is a great machine, but right now you'll pay a premium for it. 

In terms of overall cost over the life of the system, I got years out of my previous HP workstation (an xw8000) because I was able to keep upgrading memory, drives, etc, without spending a lot of money...and I can't kill the thing!  It's still running as my second system.

Thanks for this. The DIY option was my kinda thing about 8 years ago, but those days and times have passed. Its a great idea but the Spec of  certified machines is so loaded with DON'Ts that it seems it would be easy to make an expensive mistake ...

The Z420 is not currently on the documentaion for certified machines, I just wondered if anyone at avid could verify it's status.

Thanks for your advice and help.

John

 

The z800 does appeal to me too. There seems to be one backing the MAC route... I will check out costs of z800s now and see if my buck gets a big bang

PC 2 MAC 0

thanks

John

I see you are keeping score and it's PC 2 MAC 0. 

If you want the MAC folks to chime in I suggest you post the original question 

on the MAC side too. I just happen to read both sides and if you posted it there it

is now more than four pages back. Many say the next 12 core MacPro will have TB. 

And since I am on the PC side I will be specific and say Thunder Bolt. The question is 

will MC 6.5 or 7 take advantage of all 12 cores?  

jfergyfrog:

If you had £5000 to spend ... what would you recommend PC or MAC

For 5K GBP it's up to you, BUT: the 'new' Mac Pro is in fact old, and for half of you 5K you can get a refurbished Avid-approved HP Z800 with the same specs that the 'new' Mac Pro is running at.

So the Mac Pro you can buy today is going to be outdated a bit faster than you may be used to.

You can also wait to see if/when Avid will approve the new HP Z820. That's an actual modern system, with on-board USB3 etc.

But bottom line is also: what are you comfortable with?

Tiger_XP:

will MC 6.5 or 7 take advantage of all 12 cores?

I'd expect it to be 16 cores by then (see HP Z820).

Again thanks for all the ideas and comments.

 

I am keen to secure a future proof machine and the idea that the 12 core Mac Pro is old tech is another reason not to spend the lot on a Mac. Online shop 12 core with 1x SSD and 16GB or ram came in close to 5500 GBP. My loyalty is with Mac as the machines I use have been great, but the Z400 opened my eyes a bit, and with MC6 seem robust.

 

The 820 may be too long a wait for Avid to Certify as need to invest soon, in time for system testing before work starts in anger later this month (July 12)

I will post the same question on the mac page see what they think. So far here its 

PC 3 Mac 0

 

 

As a house that runs Avid on both platforms, I can tell you from experience Avid is more stable/solid on PC. 

Job ter Burg:

for half of you 5K you can get a refurbished Avid-approved HP Z800 with the same specs that the 'new' Mac Pro is running at.

Even brand new Z800's are available at great prices right now, at least here in the US.  

That is the kinda comment I've been looking for.

Thanks for taking the time to add your post.

 

PC 4 Mac 0

 

 

no one for mac?

i've been working with avid exclusively on mac for 20+ years now - no problems at all.

i know my hardware, my keyboard_shortcuts, my software - i would never change to windows_pc.

it doesn't matter, if you have 4-6-12-16-cores - you need only one core - your brain.

if you are familiar with mac, stay with it.

che