Thinking of Switching... PC to Mac

[Michael LaHatte]

Have the best of both worlds... Upgrade your current computer from crappy core2 duo to i7 920, get i7 mother board and ddr3 ram... then if you want you can get an aftermarket heatsink/fan and over clock the 920 i7 to 3.3ghz (easy as hell to do) or up to 4ghz if you get a good i7 batch. For the money, an overclocked i7 wipes the floor with everything available to date. Then you could still get an apple too for FCP. So, $250 for cpu, $200 for mobo, and $200 for 6gb of ram (get DDR3 1600)... run win7 64bit and render problem solved! 8 threads of power now! Plus you will spend a LOT of money to get an apple as fast as that set up. You can also upgrade your main hard drive (one that you run only windows and programs) to an Intel G2 SSD (which is the single best upgrade you can do for a computer right now). You could even get 2 SSD's and put them in raid...

[Steve Brame]

After using Avid Media Composer for several years, I switched to Adobe Premiere Pro CS3(now 4). I also dabble with FCP, after sitting through some wonderful demos at NAB for the past few years, but I shy away from Macs. I find Premiere CS4 and FCP to be very similar in editing process. However, we've kept our Avid Media Composer system around because we have a few MC editors that we hire at times. Just to keep my hand in it, I'll jump over to the Avid sometimes and do a small project. After using Premiere Pro(and FCP), I'll swear that Avid Media Composer feels like I'm chiseling the video in stone. Nothing seem intuitive. Now, if it's the only thing you use, it WILL seem intuitive - I know, it did when I used it exclusively.

Do yourself a favor and jump over to Videoguys and take a look at their guides...especially their Do-It-Yourself guide. Their specs are what we build our systems to now. We've done 2, and couldn't be happier.

Steve Brame
creative illusions Productions

[Robert Lane]

I've always been a huge Avid fan. The majority of FCP customers, both current and potential, rarely consider it because the price-point is 2.5x higher than FCP so it's immediately dismissed based solely on cost. However if I were starting fresh with a brand-new NLE choice - based on what's available today - Avid would win hands down, but I'd stay with the Mac platform to avoid Windows issues. But on the Windows side it's quite the strong performer with both DVD & BR authoring via the Sonic add-on included.

It will be interesting to see what Apple will bring to the playing field later this year; the new MacBook Pro's are due to be released this month sometime and the hope is the new Mac Pro's and then later the new version of FCP. Then we'll see just how strong a contender it is against the king of the hill.

[Steve Brame]

Yeah...we're feeling the FCP pressure more and more, and it's hard to find an editor nowadays that isn't FCP centric. So we're probably going to have to invest in a system this summer. I really dread having to go the Mac route, but if it's what we've got to do, I'll do it.

[Simon Wyndham]

I really dread having to go the Mac route

Hehe, you won't after you've tried it! :-)

[Steve Brame]

No, it's not that. I don't have a problem with Macs per se, and I've used plenty of them. There's nothing I can't do with a PC that I could do with a Mac, except one very important one. I can build a PC. I can't build a Mac. I also can't fix a Mac if it breaks...and they DO break. Filmriot has had 2 catastrophic failures with their Macbook Pro in the past month costing them quite a bit of downtime and money. My desktop here had a BSOD the other day, the first I'd seen in about 7 years - and we have 5 of them. I diagnosed the problem as an impending HD failure, so I cloned it and was back in action in 2 hours. Couldn't have accomplished that with a Mac without voiding warranty.

[Cris Daniels]

I ran built and ran windows machines until about 2007, and have run Mac since then. I am contemplating switching back to a Windows machine for compositing. The Mac is nowhere near bulletproof, I have seen the spinning beachball of death more than I ever saw a BSOD. The MacPro towers are unbelievably overpriced for what you get, but I will give them credit that their build quality is always good.

I find it hilarious that they (Apple) write "designed in the USA" on everything, even if it is ALL built in China. Talk about ridiculous marketing. I would be happier to pay a premium for their products if they weren't outsourcing everything.

[Steve Brame]

I have watched an Mac-based Avid Meridien system lock up several times in a 14 hour session, and the editor simply reboot, and never say a word. Then, when using Media Composer on our Windows machines and MAYBE get a system lockup once in 3 days of editing, and they jump up and down about hating that they have to put up with "PC crap" at our studio, and "when are we going to get a real computer"? I've actually called them on the contradiction before, and they'd swear up and down that the Mac never crashes.

[William Hohauser]

It's curious. I have a lock-up or crash maybe once a month on all my Macs put together. Let's see, I have about 9 Macs operating FCP (4 full-time) and another 16 Macs with clients. So with about 25 Macs running Apple based software with few third-party items installed it's very stabile. No comparison with new PC edit stations as I have avoided them since having to wrangle absurdly creaky (but frequently powerful) XP stations years ago. Hopefully they've improved a lot.

Macs are home/office repairable, especially if you know how to build PCs from scratch. There are plenty of on-line, illustrated or video instruction tutorials on line. I've done it on out-of-warranty computers although I really recommend the service agreement for new computers. I'm not sure how backing up a failing hard drive would void a warranty, in fact it wouldn't unless the back-up method involved disassembling the computer beyond the normal user options.

Also laptops (Mac or PC) should never be used as a primary editing station without a strict daily back-up plan and some form of cooling support for the computer (active or passive). My editing laptop lives on a USB powered fan base at it's home base and it has a light passive cooling pad for road work. It's run for 4 years without a crash or breakdown.

Stick with a PC, be happy. Get a Mac, be happy. Use both, be happy.

[Cris Daniels]

Both platforms crash periodically, save frequently. I didnt make uo the spinning beach ball of death.......

[William Hohauser]

I'm sure you didn't. It indicates something might be up with your computer that can be fixed.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Steve Brame

My desktop here had a BSOD the other day, the first I'd seen in about 7 years - and we have 5 of them. I diagnosed the problem as an impending HD failure, so I cloned it and was back in action in 2 hours. Couldn't have accomplished that with a Mac without voiding warranty.

Why on earth do you imagine that replacing a hard disk in any model of Mac would void the warranty?

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by William Hohauser

Stick with a PC, be happy. Get a Mac, be happy. Use both, be happy.

Originally Posted by Cris Daniels

Both platforms crash periodically, save frequently.

Excellent advice. We're done here.