New Mac for Video / Design - (Work Computer)

Adam Senior · 3 May 2016 at 18:08

Hi All—I'm currently working as a Multimedia Designer—working on a Early 2009 Mac—at the time it was a monster:-
2.66 Quad-Core Intel Xeon
16 Gig Ram (which is noyce)
GT 120 512

The problem for me though is that even with these specs working in Premier then jumping into after Effects...or photoshop—multi program editing is getting to the point where it's taking 2 to 3 times what it should do when editing videos.

Currently I spend 30% of my time Editing Video—ranging from simple prem edits—2/3 video streams + audio — to full motion graphics in Adobe Edge—from rendering to exporting this becomes a complete chore.

70% Design, publications etc.

This percentage is slowly changing as our clients needs for video are growing, along with our portfolio....

With that waffle out of the way I was wanting input into what Mac you suggest going for—we do have the monitors—so the Mac Pro is an options—though I was wondering what other options you suggest would work.

I would like to say budget is not really a factor here—it's more of getting the right tool for my needs.

Happy to answer any questions.

Thanks in advance.

Adam.

Biz.Kid09 · 3 May 2016 at 19:05

Mac Pro the obvious choice if you need to stick with OSX. The 5k iMac is very nice but for raw power you can't beat the Mac Pro.

kitkat9933 · 3 May 2016 at 19:15

MacPro hasn't been updated since the end of 2013, so unless you desperately need it now, hold on here for a little longer as you're going to be paying a big price tag for dated tech. If you need now at least look for a refurb Mac Pro. Even the base model (quad core) will be significantly faster than what you have now. But you realistically want at least the 6 or 8 core model with 32GB RAM+ and the mid range (D500) gpus.

Hold on!

ajf · 3 May 2016 at 20:37

One possible thing to check, what versions of the Adobe products do you use and what graphics cards will they work with for hardware acceleration.
Not all cards work without fiddling and some don't work well, or at all.

Spit · 4 May 2016 at 08:41

I would hang on for WWDC as the Mac Pro should get a refresh next month.

bloodiedathame · 9 May 2016 at 14:29

Yes hang on until June. Personally I'd choose 5k iMac over the Mac Pro for most work.

http://barefeats.com/imac5k18.html

visibleman · 9 May 2016 at 17:19

It's worth looking at https://create.pro (hope they're not a competitor?) who do custom build MP5,1 - at least then you'll get some flexibility (further upgrade paths for storage and ram) and a dual X5960 should give a 6,1 a run for its money.

Alternatively, unless you need OSX (for the workflow etc) then it's worth considering workstations from the likes of Dell/HP.