UPDATED WITH CORRECTED MATH. See, this is why I’m an editor, not a mathematician!
If you’ve been following along the past few months, you know we’re testing a very nice Dell Workstation as we plan the immediate future of our company and what computers might replace all the Mac Pros we currently run. Since we’re an Adobe / Avid centric shop now, the Dell shows us how we might work in a cross platform world.
But as I have been using an almost 2 year old 27″ iMac in both my Adobe and Avid testing for the past 6 months, the thought dawned on me, why not consider replacing some of the Mac Pros with iMacs? Particularly now that Thunderbolt add ons are becoming more prevalent and giving us the same capabilities as all those internal cards we’ve used through the years. In particular the AJA IoXT which is essentially a Kona 3 in a small box.
I purposely have been testing on the iMacs with an eye towards setting up a cluster of them for our Assistant Editors on upcoming series. But this older one is performing so well, it got me to thinking of even replacing many of our primary edit systems with iMacs too.
While Adobe keeps touting the added advantages of the nVidia CUDA based graphics cards, I have to say their software runs very well on the ATI based iMacs. In fact our entire shop, except the new Dell and the Resolve workstation all run on ATI cards and the entire Adobe Suite runs brilliantly on all of them. We honestly don’t miss the CUDA “extra realtime features” because we’ve never had them.
Avid doesn’t have any sort of CUDA requirements at this time (not sure if they ever will) so I see the same snappy interface operation across the board no matter which machine its running on. Avid is definitely the most efficient software we’ve edited with to date, it runs faster on the iMacs that FCP ever did, even on the Mac Pros.
Now before we move forward, keep in mind my situation with my facility. We have 5 edit suites currently running along with our ProTools / Resolve Theater. We’re set up for 9 total edit suites at the moment and can expand to 18 or more at any time, so we need a bunch of machines whenever we upgrade. So from a business standpoint, I have to look at the most effective way to spend our dollars.
If you are a one man band, a 1 or 2 machine shop, then you really want to buy THE fastest and most powerful system you can afford because you’re asking that machine to do everything for you. Edit, Graphics, Render, Output, etc…. I always recommend to anyone that’s a single or two machine shop to have a powerful desktop system unless you absolutely must have the portability of a laptop for your work. Desktop machines, while much more expensive when configured for video editing, will always give you the fastest performance. So keep in mind that my thoughts here are more about me replacing a series of machines vs. a smaller shop that might only need to replace one or two systems.
So what do I give up by dropping a bunch of Big Iron machines in favor of the iMac? Render speed primarily. Big iron will always render faster than an all-in-one ever will because there’s a lot more room for processors and large power supplies to drive those processors. Not to mention a ton more RAM for the same reasons. But for the type of work we’re doing day in, day out, we don’t need super fast rendering all the time on every single workstation.
For the most part we’re doing documentaries and very soon, reality programming. Projects that are storyteller driven, not fx or even transition heavy. So for my situation and with the amount of machines I need to upgrade, do I really need to have all powerful systems in every single edit suite? Based on the performance of my 2 year old iMac, that answer appears to be”no.” I’m thinking a new strategy will be to outfit every single edit suite with a 27″ iMac and then have one or two “big iron” systems, maybe running Avid Symphony, Autodesk Smoke and the Adobe Creative Suite, which will be the “finishing systems” if you will. We’ll still keep the ProTools system and the Resolve system as stand alone Big Iron as well, so I’ll have four Big Iron systems and a whole cluster of iMacs to do most of the work.
All of the machines will connect directly to our 48TB (soon to be larger) SAN because it’s all ethernet based. Unlike some earlier iMacs that crippled the Ethernet port, Apple finally replaced the ethernet port with a unit that again supports Jumbo frames so we don’t lose that connectivity.
Let’s take a look at how the iMacs compare to several Big Iron systems in terms of cost. I’ve tried to make all of the Big Iron systems similarly spec’d so it’s somewhat of an even comparison. They’re all Dual Processor, 12 Core machines except where noted because when I buy a Big Iron machine, I buy one of the fastest I can afford. Note that the Dell Precision T5500 is the unit we’re testing here in the shop and the HP Z800 was chosen because it’s the machine most recommended to me by my Windows based colleagues to compare to the Mac Pro.
27″ iMac priced on Apple.com 4/8/2012: $3218.00
3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7; 16GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 4x4GB; 2TB Serial ATA Drive; AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5; AppleCare 3 year warranty.
UPDATE: I have confirmed through OWC.com that the 27″ iMac can take 32GB of RAM.
Mac Pro priced on Apple.com 4/8/2012 – $9958.00*
Two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores): 48GB (6x8GB) RAM: Two 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB (standard Card): AppleCare 3 year plan. *nVidia Quadro 4000 purchased separately – $810
Dell Precision T5500 Workstation priced on Dell.com 4/8/2012 – $8,268.00*
3.46GHz 6-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor X569: nVidia Quadro 4000 graphics card: 48GB (6x8GB) RAM: Two 1TB Internal SATA drives; Firewire PCIe card: 3 year On Site ProService: *included “instant savings” of $620 according to the website, no BluRay Writer option, single processor, all USB Ports are 2.0 standard.
Dell Precision T7500 Workstation priced on Dell.com 4/8/2012 – $11,348.00
Two – 3.46GHz 6-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor X569 (12 Core) : nVidia Quadro 4000 graphics card: 48GB (6x8GB) RAM: Two 1TB Internal SATA drives; 16X DVD Writer: Firewire PCIe card: 3 year On Site ProService: *included “instant savings” of $615 according to the website, no BluRay Writer option, All USB ports are 2.0 standard.
HP Z800 FF825AV Workstation priced on HP.com 4/8/2012 – $13,667.00
Two 3.46 6-core Intel Xeon X5690 processors (12 cores): nVidia Quadro 4000 graphics card: 48GB (6x8GB) RAM: Two 1TB Internal SATA drives: BluRay Writer; Broadcom 5761 Gigabit PCIe card: Firewire PCIe card: 24×7 On Site response – 3 years. ($239) Note: All USB ports are 2.0 standard. It’s an upgrade to USB 3.0
And because I know someone will ask about the HP All In One workstation, ala iMac, here’s their 27″ configuration….
HP Omni 27 Quad series priced on HP.com 4/8/2012- $2049
Intel(R) Core(R) i7-2600S processor [2.8Ghz, 8MB Shared Cache, DMI 5GT/s]: 8GB RAM: 2TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive: 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M: Slim Slot Blu-Ray writer: HP Total Care 3 Years: Note: No Thunderbolt or Firewire 800 option.
I just don’t see this in the same class as the iMac for a video workstation. The specs look very underwhelming vs. the 27″ iMac I spec’d out first.
So let’s do the math based on replacing all 5 of my current edit suites. Just what we’ve spec’d here. No software, no add-ons, nothing, just the boxes as I spec’d them above.
5 iMacs: $3218 x 5 = $16,090
5 Mac Pros: $9958 x 5 = $49,490
5 Dell Precision T5500: $8,268 x 5 = $41,340 (note this is a single processor machine)
5 Dell Precision T7500: $11,348 x 5 = $56,740
5 HP Z800: $13,667 x 5 = $68,335
Base cost for the 5 iMacs alone is over $33,000 less than the nearest Tower and over $24,000 less than the nearest Dual Processor machine, though honestly, the odds of me purchasing that particular 12 Core Mac Pro are slim to none. So in reality, I’m over $40,000 cheaper than the lowest cost 12 Core Dual Processor machines I would consider buying.
Now I need to add 5 AJA Io XT boxes to those systems for Video I/O because we still use a ton of tape in our work and they will also feed our Flanders Scientific reference monitors.
5 AJA IoXT: $1,495 x 5 = $7,475
Grand Total now $16,405 + $7,475 = $23,880
I’m still sitting over $32,000 below the 5 Dell T7500s. Or in other words, I can get 5 brand new iMacs with the IoXTs, and get 1 Dell T7500s for our “Big Iron” finishing station and still be about $12,000 ahead. Switch that to the HP and I’m still about $21,000 ahead. But with 6 workstations instead of 5. Heck I can even buy two of the Dell Big Iron systems and still come out ahead.
I already own a slew of 24″ monitors so each iMac can run in dual screen configuration without the need to purchase any new monitors at this time. And as I add more iMacs to the mix, not every single one of them will require the IoXT if they are doing primarily offline work. So that will save me some more money moving forward.
One other expense I would have to explore is re-engineering our shop so the primary controls for everything are in the edit suite and not in the Machine Room as they are now. All of the machines are side by side with video I/O, machine control and everything tied together via patch panels. Now the primary patch panels / machine control will stay in the machine room, but the video I/O devices will be in each suite. So that will require some re-wiring, but not a whole lot.
With numbers like these, and the high quality performance of the iMacs, you can see why I’m strongly considering making the iMacs our primary workstations throughout the facility. And while they might cost a bit more, I think our “Big Iron” systems will be Wintel moving forward. Just too many good options out there vs the limited choices from Apple. And who knows, we just might be running OS X on a PC soon.
So yep, even more for us to consider as we move forward, “Post FCP” in our facility. The options are almost endless and there’s no need to rush into a decision we’ll regret later. Now instead of just putting the fastest most powerful workstation in every single situation, I have more options to put machines more tailored to the task and spend the extra money where I actually need to.
More food for thought……
Hi Walter,
Just wanted to share some of my iMac related edit experience.
I cut a 6 part, hour long series for Broadcast on an iMac without Thunderbolt and had very few problems with the machine. We had over 200 hours of ProRes 422 HQ footage, and we were delivering edits for Network approval every 72 hours. Rendering and Encoding short segments was not a problem, however when we had to render/dump out the 44 minute offline it took a really long time and we had quite a few FCP ‘General Errors’.
But the actual editing was pretty painless.
I also recently cut 7 commercials for Nike on an iMac (with the agency in the room) without any issues. I never felt the need for the MacPro on this job. Not even when I was using Mocha (AE CS5) to swap out live action elements with the client looking on. We also used Color to communicate the ‘Looks’ that the agency wanted, to the Colorist doing the Final Grade. Again no issues with ProRes footage. But try working with .r3d files natively and the iMac really struggles. So i think that for an offline workflow with HD Footage an iMac is a really good fit.
Cost wise of course it’s a no-brainer. I’m going to download the Smoke Demo to see how well that runs on the iMac. If that works well then that really would be something…
Sandeep.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Smoke should run really well as Autodesk brought a Macbook Pro to our Atlanta Cutters meeting to demo it with a Pegasus Thunderbolt RAID.
See we have options all over these days…..
Well why not even go with Mac Minis with Thunderbolt? My understanding is that you can add/hack quite a bit of memory into them as well?
As far as Smoke, it’s a bleepedy bleep resource hog and the demo is killing my current iMac…. and would not run on my MacBook Pro at all….
Your mileage may vary!
2.7 Ghz Dual Core i7 vs. 3.4 Ghz Dual Core i7 in 27″ iMac.
8GB RAM max vs. 16GB RAM max in 27″ iMac
Single Thunderbolt port vs. 2 in 27″ iMac
Those three things alone make me choose the 27″ iMac by a mile over the Mac Mini.
As for Smoke, which MacBook Pro do you have? Autodesk ran Smoke incredibly well at our Atlanta Cutters Meeting last June on a MacBook Pro. Need to have the latest gear to run Smoke on the Mac.
Hi Walter
First off let me say thank you VERY much for this blog. I’m in the same position as you are, in terms of trying to determine the technical direction for my business, and I’m reading your blog with intense interest.
I, too, have pondered the iMac solution and have had it pushed at me by our reseller, however, one question that the iMac poses that I have yet to answer, is: How do you/we remote the iMac in a machine-room and still use Thunderbolt for all the external gear needed to make this solution work?
Do you have your editing systems in-room or are they remote? If remote, have you found a reliable way of extending monitors and whatnot via Thunderbolt?
Thank you again for all your hard work on the blog, it’s greatly appreciated.
The iMacs can’t live in the Machine Room any longer as I noted at the end of the article. We will have to re-direct the video lines to the Io XTs which will live in the rooms with the iMacs. Since the iMac provides the 27″ monitor on-board, it and the IoXT along with the second 24″ monitor will live in the Edit Suites.
For Machine Control, we already use Cat 6 connectors to all the machines. At the current time we have 5 Cat 6 cables running into each edit suite for the Gefen DVI / USB Extenders. We won’t need all of those anymore so we can repurpose the Cat 6 cable for machine control.
Same with our shared storage which is all connected via Cat 6. We’ll just repurpose one of those 5 cables to connect to the SAN.
We already have 3 SDI and multiple audio drops into each room already from the Patch Panels so we’ll re-direct those for use with the Io XT.
All the VTRs and other external gear along with the “Big Iron” systems will remain in the machine room. But we’ll re-purpose a lot of our existing infrastructure to be I/O to each room instead of just simply being an output into each room.
Because of the way we set up the facility it’s going to be relatively painless to make the transition should we go that way.
Thanks for the kind words!
Walter
While you’re doing all the math, you should also include the cost of a PC with similar specs to the iMac, since all you’re comparing the iMacs to at the moment is big iron systems.
From my own quick look around, I couldn’t find a Windows box with the same specs for more then $1500…
That’s an awful lot of money left over to buy your missing FW800 port.
Also, don’t forget the cost of building a Big Iron Machine yourself. I just quickly spec’d out the main components of a machine equivalent to the Z800 you listed above. It came to around $5100 for the main components. (CPUs, MB, RAM, HDDs, GPU.) The total would probably come to about $1000-$1500 more, so $6500.
JM
Same specs, including the 27″ monitor and the hard drives, etc…? That’s basically the HP machine which I would not use. I’m not going to use a cheap Windows box to replace the Big Iron Systems. I already know the iMac can outperform several of my Mac Pros here because I’ve tested them. Not going to run a super cheap Windows box just because I can.
Why would I want to do that? I’m running a business, not running a tech support center. Anything goes wrong I have to address it. Much prefer to have a vendor have to take care of the problem.
“Why would I want to do that? I’m running a business, not running a tech support center. Anything goes wrong I have to address it. Much prefer to have a vendor have to take care of the problem.”
I never expected you would want to do that… I wouldn’t ether in your shoes. I was just pointing out other possibilities and what they would cost as a comparison, perhaps more for other readers then for you.
The reason I pointed out consumer windows machines is that you could stick your Konas into them.
In your iMacs and one big iron setup, you have 3 or 4 Konas floating around unused, replaced by Io XTs.
I guess another option is to stick the Konas in Thunderbolt expansions, and use them that way.
We have transferred our Kona board to the Dell, but in the case of the iMacs, we’ll sell off the Mac Pro’s complete with the Kona boards and just go with the thunderbolt externals. If we ever want to use them with Big Iron again, there will definitely be thunderbolt on-board or PCI cards to connect to thunderbolt if we needed to go back to internal.
Why not a lesser HP like the 210/620/420? Quick lookup on all of those was favorable in price to the iMacs and included a Quadro card – even if you’re not seeing the Adobe benefits, (If you’re working in DNxHD you probably won’t anyways) Sorenson Squeeze can use CUDA.
I foresee desk configuration issues (cables, monitor height, heat, etc) and hardware replacement issues (bad NIC requires new motherboard) on the iMacs.
Also, I don’t personally have any experience with Apple’s Support outside of iPods but HP and Dell on workstations have their own phone queues, next day on-site techs and replacement parts, etc.
As you said, you aren’t in tech support – having support that understands your configurations, deadlines, et al may be worth the extra dough.
That being said, if you need to encode to ProRes or need legacy FCP support, the iMac idea looks good.
“We still use a ton of tape” – remember that Media Composer right now does not support LTC on third party devices.
P.S – Great choice on the Flanders Monitors!
If we go desktop, we go full on, best system we can get. Don’t want a “lesser big iron” system.
If you look at our desks on our website, you’ll see we’ll have zero issues with configurations. We run only Anthro Fit Consoles.
AppleCare support has been perfect for us for over 12 years. In addition, all of our equipment is purchased through the WH Platts company here in Atlanta who gives us over 20 years experience in broadcast configurations.
Media Composer has been spot on capturing / mastering to tape using the AJA Kona boards, I expect the same via the IoXT since that was being shown here at our Atlanta Cutters meeting recently. Also remember AJA has been building the OEM products for Avid for quite some time, so they’re quite familiar with the Avid technical team.
I don’t really agree with the “all or nothing” stance on towers when the comparison is iMacs but I understand the point.
Yeah, the Anthros are absolutely incredible – your editors must have loved that decision. Not enough people invest in ergonomics.
Like I said, no experience with Apple’s support but not having the option of spares would scare me. The ease and timeliness of popping a new ATTO card in a tower appeals to me.
I’m guessing you’re using embedded TC or RS422 on the AJAs? I should have clarified that the LTC port isn’t supported though I’m sure that will change soon.
I meant to ask earlier why you’re putting a 2TB drive in the iMacs.
There’s no doubt that as we move forward, the hardware to run the software gets more and more mainstream. Back when the G3 was making a style statement, who would have guessed you’d be able to spec an iMac with 16GB RAM and 4 processing cores…
With all the rumblings toward cloud/distributed computing an (extremely) thin client could very well become the smartest choice.
I really didn’t say “all or nothing.” In our case we’ll have iMacs in all the edit suites, if we go that route, and towers to run the big iron finishing systems.
My point if you are a one man or small operation, you probably want THE fastest machine you can purchase. That’s going to be a Tower.
I don’t understand why you are not comparing the HP Z1 all-in-one workstation to the iMacs. Z1 series are faster, has CUDA, infinitely upgradeable and configurable to match iMac’s price. The only think (so far) missing is Thunderbolt. Not to mention that you are not trapped in a consumer-centric company and a very consumer product.
The last reasons to me are enough to stay away from iMacs. You liked Dell’s approach because they acted as a pro company would. I wonder how much help will you get from the ‘genius’ at the Apple store.
The Z1 doesn’t show up at all on HP’s product page, that’s why I didn’t include it in the comparison. I had to search on Z1 after you mentioned it. Definitely a better machine from a PC standpoint.
Not sure how the iMac is any more “consumer centric” than the Z1, they’re essentially similarly spec’d. So I’d consider both of those consumer centric.
On the back of the iMac is says “There are no user serviceable parts inside. Opening the case will void your warranty”. Whereas on the back of the Z1 it says “press this button to open the case” and the case open on hydraulic arm to bear the internals to the user so that he can install new parts or change parts.
Which one is pro do you think?
Just because you can open something up yourself does not make one machine “pro” and the other “not pro.” If you have absolutely no idea what you are doing after you press that button and do something incorrectly inside that machine, does that make you “not pro?”
I know a LOT of extremely good professional editors, sound designers, graphic designers, special effects artists, and the like who have no idea how to do anything on the inside of their machines because they don’t have or they don’t want to. Doesn’t make them “not pro.”
Allow me to clarify what I commented. I have commented on the qualifier of the machine not the operator. iPad ‘is’ a consumer device which is used by by pros with great effect. There is nothing to stop a pro to use a consumer device.
All I was commenting is when there is a tool specifically designed for pro use, one should look at it as well when making informed decisions. Z1 is a designed from ground up pro tool for us, video pros. There really is no comparison to iMac when it comes to specs that should count. This doesn’t make iMac not usable by pros but it does make Z1 more suitable.
CPU options – Z1: i7 and Xeon E3, iMac i5 or i7
GPU options – Z1: NVIDIA Q4000M with 4GB RAM max, iMac: AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB max
Disk options – Z1: Any two 2.5″ + one 3.5″ drive, multi-card reader PLUS optical disk inc. BD, iMac: 2TB Serial ATA Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive NO optical disk NO card reader
Display: Both 27″ 2560×1440, Z1: Matt IPS-Pro panel 10-bit, iMac: Glossy S-IPS 8-bit
Certification: Z1: HP-IVS, iMac: None
Especially the certification is a definer at many shops. You may not require to have a certified machine at your shop but many do.
Once again, I’m not trying to rebuke what you are doing. I’m indebted that you are putting up your experience and knowledge up for us to read. Thank you. Al, I’m trying to do is to extend that so that we can make more informed decisions.
Warm regards
When I make my decisions I make them based off my own personal testing and experience along with that of a few very trusted colleagues. As none of us have any experience with the Z1 line, I can’t speak on that. I only write about what I know so when I recommend something to the readers of my articles and blogs, I’m speaking on experience. The Z1 is not something I’ve tested nor have plans to test, so folks can go by your specifications and decide if they’d like to purchase and try it out themselves.
We all have a LOT of experience with the iMacs and as the iMacs are certified for many of today’s NLEs and software packages, they serve our purpose and I feel very confident recommending that folks consider the 27″ iMac as a viable alternative to a Big Iron system.
I was in love with this idea. Then I saw the IOXT did not have analog audio in… Do y’all have any qualms with the blackmagic ultra studio 3d? I prefer AJA, but not enough to have to convert everything to embedded audio.
We convert ALL of our analog audio to SDI via the AJA converters before the Konas. Even our microphone coming out of the VO Booth is converted to SDI via an AJA converter. Makes everything so easy to only have to patch SDI wherever we need something to the edit suites. And we still have access to the analog audio via audio patch when we need it such as to the DVD Recorder.
Haven’t used any BlackMagic external boxes, so I don’t know.
Walter,
I’d also like to thank you for all your work on this. You’re saving me a ton of work!
As for switching some or all of the macs to PCs, what are your thoughts on dealing with Windows in general as on OS? Do you have an “IT” guy on staff? I know enough about Macs to deal with any issue we’re likely to encounter but just don’t think I have it in me to learn Windows to that level. What will be your approach?
Overall, not bad, certainly clunky compared to the Mac OS. Formatting new drives is a royal pain the rear that requires multiple steps along the way. But that seems to be the worst thing.
Hi Walter,
You definitely want to shop around before making your your final decision. I was in the same boat as you a few months back. I needed to upgrade all my Mac Pros and a few HP and Dell workstation. After lots of testing, number crunching and shopping. The Z800 was the clear winner in my case.
You can get a 12 core @ 2.66 Ghz, 12 GB ram, 500 GB @ 10k boot disk, Quadro 600 for $ 4000 or even less. Needless to say, this config just killed the biggest/fastest iMac that i’ve tried. It performed the same as the 12 core Mac Pro i tested, which cost well over $ 6000 with similar config.
So 5 x Z800 with the above config will set you back 20K just 4K shy of your iMacs quote but way more powerful machines and tons of room to expand. As for the ”big gun/finishing” machine, simply add more ram, quadro 4000 etc…
I’m running Avid MC and Symphony 6, Adobe Production premium, Protools HD soon to be upgraded to HDX and for the finishing i’m on Avid DS but still undecided wether to invest in a new DS or Smoke.
Its funny that you say Windows is clunky when I think the exact same thing about my biz partner’s iMac and OSX (I’ve always been a Windows guy except for Amiga and C64 back in the day).
I know that Apple could care less about offering discounts, but I do know that both Dell and HP go to great lengths to offer their customers customized systems and reduced prices. Heck, I got 25% off my HP Z800 WITHOUT even asking. Thus, your numbers should be updated to reflect the savings that HP offers as well as what Dell will offer you. I have set up many small businesses with PCs and always use Dell because they have worked with me on pricing. They have routinely discounted their $600 OptiPlex + LCD packages as well as higher priced PCs.
You really should consider that more and more software is being written to take advantage of CUDA acceleration; so, using a closed system like the iMac will limit what you can do and upgrade.
Also, CUDA acceleration with Premiere Pro, the new After Effects CS6 and most likely SpeedGrade CS6 can provide significant advantages to your workflow. I rendered a 5 minute XDCAM EX video to H264 with 2 layers and a few effects on each, and with MPE, it took 8 minutes to render and without MPE, it took 51 minutes. We all have deadlines and sometimes a client needs to see an edit and you only have a short time to edit and render. Having that extra muscle for rendering is worth every dollar, which is why I spent $6k on my 12-core Z800.
Btw, the new Z820, Z620 & Z420 are now available and provide 16-cores and as much ram as you want at a greatly reduced price when compared to the Z800’s ram pricing.
For ergonomics, how will the iMac work on the desk with the editor’s keyboard and tablet?
The iMacs will work beautifully on our Anthro edit consoles. You can see images of them on my site.
Mr. Biscardi,
At NAB this year, it seems like this suggestion is popping up a lot with all the new Thunderbolt peripherals at the show, and it had me look up this post. It certainly seems like a viable and cost-effective option, especially for your purposes, and I appreciate the post!
I know you’re not thinking of going out and buying these systems tomorrow, but you should note that Intel just release the new Ivy Bridge platform processors that would be good fits for the new iMac systems, and the chipset upgrade includes second generation Thunderbolt tech, and native USB 3.0 (which may or may not be useful for you).
with these processors now available, the helpful Buyers Guide at Macrumors (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/) notes that the iMac is overdue for a refresh compared to its’ usual product cycle (Obviously the Mac Pro is also past due, though who know about that one). That means New GPU options (definitely), and perhaps slightly upgraded displays, among other features may be in the works.
It might be good timing for you.
PS. I’d consider throwing in a Solid State Drive for the iMacs. I imagine prices may drop on this upgrade in the next model.
Thanks for your contributions here, and in the Creative Cow communities.
Hi Walter
Very interesting post. In the afterglow of NAB, our facility is considering routes to take as we replace several aging workstations and edit systems. In reading your post (and subsequent dialog) I found a couple of quotes that I think are somewhat at odds:
“So from a business standpoint, I have to look at the most effective way to spend our dollars.”
“If we go desktop, we go full on, best system we can get. Don’t want a “lesser big iron” system.”
Personally, I think “full on best” is rarely the most cost effective way to do things. If your systems don’t require full on power then you are wasting your money–kind of like killing gophers with hand grenades–buying the full on best.
That said, I don’t see why you would take issue with a “lesser” HP workstation in your day-to-day edit suites. Compared to an iMac they would be more versatile, more expandable, would take advantage of Mercury Playback and could be equipped with a professional grade monitor–I’m sorry, but when it comes to monitors, glossy=consumer grade. Now if you adamantly prefer OS-X it all becomes a moot point. iMac would be the way to go.
On another note, regarding RAM. Aside from the comfort of being under Apple or HPs warranty umbrella, is there any real advantage to buying RAM from them vs OWC or Crucial? The latter both offer workstation RAM at a substantial savings and both offer lifetime warranty with cross-shipping of replacements. Of course, at such a considerable savings, it would be cost effective to keep a few extra sticks on hand in the unlikely event of RAM failure. Anyhow, just wondering if you have any experience that indicates the “official” RAM performs any better than third-party.
Again, very interesting post. I find your blog very helpful when considering technical issues.
Hi
I was very interested to read your blog. We are a college in London thinking about doing a similar thing. We currently have Mac Pro’s with a dual screen setup and a preview monitor (via HDMI with a Black Magic card). We are also thinking of changing the setup and using iMacs instead. I understand it is easy to link two imac’s together and using them as a dual screen setup in FCP, but the question is ‘can you also also connect a TV somehow via HDMI’?
I welcome any comments.
You can connect any LCD screen via the display port.
For output to a television you can use the AJA IoXT if you need I/O or the new T-Tap for just output to television.