Message-ID: <4F170BB6.3030905@fxtech.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:13:10 -0600
From: Paul Miller <paul@fxtech.com>
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To: After Effects Mail List <AE-List@media-motion.tv>
Subject: Re: [AE] The Future of the Mac Pro in Video Post
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On 1/17/2012 3:46 PM, Carey Dissmore wrote:
> This ease of platform transition is an important development for our
> industry.

FWIW, Digital Film Stools also supports both platforms on the same 
serial number. Switching machines/platforms is a simple matter of 
deactivating a plugin on one machine and activating on another.

> I also appreciate having frank conversations with developers about the
> performance they are seeing on a give platform. For example, I have seen
> numerous benchmarks, and had conversations with developers that have
> noted that functions such as CUDA and OpenGL are simply higher
> performance, and drivers receive far more frequent updates on Windows.
> That alone may not be a reason to make a platform switch, but it's
> certainly grist for the mill.

Apple has a slight advantage here because you're using their drivers. 
OpenCL, for instance, "just works" on Apple because they control the 
whole driver.

On the other hand, the latest bleeding edge drivers or new GPU 
functionality is usually just a download away on Windows. Things you 
usually have to wait until the next big OS release on Apple to take 
advantage of.