3200 for a mini hex core PC with no GPU, that is hilarious. The new Mac Pro clearly makes sense for large facilities doing multiple 8K streams of debayer / transcode / streaming or colorists pushing Resolve. I really don't feel they are a wise business purchase for a solo freelancer, especially for motion graphics, but it's your money. I'm extremely skeptical the metal versions of redshift / octane will be at all usable until 2021, considering how buggy the current production versions are. Anyway, let us know how compatibility with all the major AE plugins goes, Jim. I'm curious.Â
Another option to consider is the new MBP 16”, fully loaded. The iMac Pro is basically a 2017 model, not terrible with the 5K 500-nit P3 display, but the MBP 16” with an 8-core i9 max GPU and 64GB RAM and 2GB SSD boot drive is $4300, including a 2560x 500-nit display that may be a hair too Retina for small type. A lot for a laptop, but it’s a powerhouse, specially with 64GB RAM - I can easily run projects that blow up a 32GB machine in Fusion/Resolve or Nuke, and there are a lot more of them these days. I wouldn’t hesitate to grade a 4K feature with lots of comp shots on it. Plus you can take it anywhere :-) I got one of each this year.
A similarly-equipped iMac Pro (to the MBP 16”, so base model, pretty much) is about $5800, and Mac Pro similar $7800, without a display. Apple’s best bang for buck, though, has long been the Mini. No display, but similarly equipped (6-core i7) only $3200 with 10GE on board. Crappy graphics (because so many people buy them for file servers - very reliable), but get an eGPU for it.
with the benchmarks coming in, a loaded i9 imac for less than 1/2  the price and a free 5K monitor equals the base mac pro, or even the next CPU ver up. At least for CPU performance. On GPU the iMac Pro has some better BTO that keeps it in the same playing field as the MP2019 for less and still includes the free 5K screen.  imac regular BTO options are also GPU competitive with base model. The only way a MP2019 could sort of make sense is to get a stripped base model, then upgrade the CPU, RAM and SSD yourself…Â
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If you have not seen this two looks at a complete hardware teardown and test of PCIe expansion options, they are must view:   &   Mixed bags of news for those thinking buying base model and upgrading. RAM, yes, CPU, yes, PCIe SSDs, yes with some caveats. GPUs and other cards, YMMV.  The one thing missing is unclear how Apple will respond to all of these upgrades – only the memory and approved PCI cards/storage kit(s) is clear from what I can tell.  It does appear there is a lot of wisdom in waiting the first round out to see if third party (especially internal cables) and hack world opens up the box.  And absolutely confirms that the thing is ridiculously overengineered with crazy markup margins, so unless you are going to load it with top end config, that engineering goes to waste. It’s simply impossible to configure a reasonable price performance rig out of it at this time.  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   Dennis said: "As far as the new Mac Pro goes, I’m withholding judgment until I see how Redshift, Octane and Unity work in their Metal incarnations on the new machines." This is totally where our motion department is right now. We're running propped up cheesegraters with 1080 cards in them, would probably all prefer to use OSX if we could, but it's going to come down to support for the software we need to use. Which, in addition to AE, is C4D, Octane, Redshift, Houdini, and a little bit of Nuke and Maya/Arnold. From the day of the announcement, I was worried about them not having Nvidia cards and how that is going to play out with a bunch of software companies that have larger user bases on Windows/Nvidia to support. We actually have the budget to spend a bunch of money on computers but its just feeling so hard to justify the Mac Pro for reasons in addition to price. Very curious to see what the price differential for comparable hardware ends up being. It's not even a question which way I'd go if it was my own money. This has been a good discussion to read. Thank y'all,   On 10/12/2019 15:55, Stephen van Vuuren wrote: Windows OS will never be Mac OS and vice versa. But you can get 99% of either on either. I move back and forth between both every day...
 The other life saving application on Windows: Directory Opus: https://www.gpsoft.com.au/
Think of it as Windows Explorer with a PhD. Â Mike
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_____________________________ Teddy Gage President Shotgun Inc. 360 VR | MOGRAPH | VFX BKLYN NY 11215
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