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>>(if anyone can convince Nvidia to change their mind on discontinuing development on the Mac I have money to spend) Nvidia would develop on Mac if Apple didn’t block their software. Part of the Apple Tax… Apple decides what you get to use. Usually not a big deal, but really sucks in this case. Cheers, Jim ------------------- Jim Tierney President Digital Anarchy Transcriptive.com From: After Effects Mail List [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv] My opinion is that there is no “best’ computer (or platform) for everyone in this industry - use cases and users vary quite a bit. The reason for that are the following workflow issues using Windows (and I’d love to hear solutions for these if people have them): • Quick Look replacement that can view all of the common production graphics files the Mac can in the finder/explorer window (including EXR’s). I’ve tried all the apps I can find and wasted a lot of man-hours looking for anything even close. It doesn’t exist as far as I can tell. I can search, preview, open and playback source files far quicker on the Mac than I can on Windows and I do that constantly. (I’ve tried SEER which kind of works except it’s slow and doesn’t support EXR’s - so it actually doesn’t work…) • ProRes - I can count on one hand the projects I’ve delivered in the past 5 years that didn’t require ProRes for at least one of the deliverables. (This is overwhelmingly my clients decision for final deliverables including two of the top PC manufacturers). IMHO it’s the best video codec available for final delivery, archiving, playback, etc...(Broadcast/Commercial/Corporate). I know there are ways of viewing and creating ProRes files on the PC but most of them have had issues and trying to quickly QC a final deliverable isn’t nearly as easy as on a Mac. • QuickTime - I can’t believe I’m calling out QuickTime X as a pro for Mac because other than performance in playing back H264’s it’s a real step backwards from QuickTime 7 but I don’t know of any lightweight, quick to open video player for the PC that allows easy previewing of video files that can step through a video frame by frame (and playback ProRes files). On Windows I’m currently using Assimilate SCRATCH Play Premium for video files and EXR’s but it looks like they’ve discontinued it and it’s really more than I want or need to just preview files anyway. • One company to deal with: If I have an issue with a Mac, I call Apple; they deal with it - no finger pointing, no what drivers are you using? etc. nightmare. I had a power supply go out in a Mac Pro that was 3-4 years outside of warranty in 2008-2010. My guess is they didn’t have the power supply in stock any longer so they offered to give me a brand new base level Mac Pro in exchange; I asked if I could pay the difference and get a high end one and they happily obliged. I’ll subtract about 4K off of any perceived Apple tax right there. With the machines I build, it’s totally up to me to figure out any issues which sucks and takes me away from what I get paid pretty well to do. (I’ve owned Dells and it doesn’t get much easier in that case - there’s still the Hardware/Software/Driver dance you may have to deal with). I don’t particularly enjoy building or fixing PC’s - I have other hobbies…
Dennis Wilkins On Dec 9, 2019, at 6:23 PM, Stephen van Vuuren <AE-List@media-motion.tv> wrote: > Apple computers may have a higher initial cost than a “white box” machine, but especially if they were top spec to begin with, their resale value usually makes up and more for the cost differential I don’t think this math holds up based on my experience with selling used Macs and high end used DIY built boxes used for ISR. Mac asking prices for used are higher but actual sold prices are not that high. And I routinely get 7+ years out of DIY PC boxes which is exactly what I got out of my Mac Mini. These components inside are not wildly different here in MTF and Apple thermals are more problematic on more recent machines.
My 2018 MacBook Pro seems to be holding about same depreciation as Dell XPS machines so I don’t see the numbers to justify it from a TCO. Best, stephen van vuuren 336.202.4777 A film is – or should be – more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later. –Stanley Kubrick From: After Effects Mail List <AE-List@media-motion.tv> The important thing to consider, cost-wise, is the TCO - Total Cost of Ownership. Apple computers may have a higher initial cost than a “white box” machine, but especially if they were top spec to begin with, their resale value usually makes up and more for the cost differential. For example, I expect to get 60% of retail for a 2yo machine still under AppleCare. But even if I keep it - I’m in the process of retiring a 2012 MBP that’s still quite usable, mainly because the projects I’m doing now require the 64GB of RAM and top GPU in my new 16” MBP. That’s a 7yo machine, still turning out shots. I don’t think it owes me anything. I’m looking on eBay at prices for used Dell and HP laptops. Pretty sad, though I guess one could make the point that one gets to keep the price difference right away rather than getting it back on resale. Tim Sassoon SFD Venice, CA
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