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Author Topic: A Question for LuLa Readers  (Read 3539 times)

jed best

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A Question for LuLa Readers
« on: February 14, 2017, 07:12:17 am »

I presently have a 2013 MacPro with 64 GB. In addition I have dual monitors, printer, Raid of images and back up raid. I have the following key apps: Quikbooks; Word, Excel; Powerpoint; LR and Photoshop. I am trying to plan for the future with maximal flexibility. I presently also have a new MacBook Pro 13 inch with four USB-C ports. If Apple does not come out with a new "trashcan" how can I adapt this laptop to be my main business and photography computer.

Thank you in advance for any and all comments.

Jed Best
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Joe Towner

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Re: A Question for LuLa Readers
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2017, 02:05:02 pm »

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Chris Kern

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Re: A Question for LuLa Readers
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2017, 05:39:23 pm »

I presently have a 2013 MacPro with 64 GB.

Are you currently experiencing limitations with that platform?  The reason I ask is that I have what I presume is an identical or near-identical machine (6-core 3.5GHz processor, 64GB memory, 1TB flash filestore, AMD D500 GPUs) and I still am quite happy with the performance of Lightroom and Photoshop.  I back up everything across a wired gigabit network, which, if anything, is probably slower than your RAID.  The design may be more than three years old, but I wouldn't be ready to invest in a replacement if Apple introduced it today.

Having said that, although I have no inside information, I would be surprised if Apple abandoned the Mac Pro product.  It may not be a major contributor to the company's bottom line, but I can't imagine Apple's management wanting to give up the cachet of being an important player in the professional graphics market.  Plus—and I don't think this is insignificant—internally, Apple's software engineering staff needs a high-performance machine to run the development environment and tools for its operating system and application products.  I can't claim any special insight as to when a new product will appear, but I don't see the Mac Pro going away.

Schewe

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Re: A Question for LuLa Readers
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2017, 12:15:11 am »

https://eshop.macsales.com/preorder/owc-thunderbolt-3-dock/?_ga=1.193507885.1895984195.1487099039

Jed has a MacPro not a MacBok Pro...there is no way to add Thunderbolt 1/2/3 to the older Mac Pro towers. Sadly, because I would but I've retired my tower and am doing work off my laptop which is faster than my tower was–though with a max 16 gigs, I miss having more ram :~(

We'll see if Apple does something to update the MacPro line...one can hope (but I also wouldn't hold your break :~(
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davidgp

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Re: A Question for LuLa Readers
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2017, 02:23:39 am »

With the program's you mention Jed, unless you are working with lots of big images at the same time with Photoshop, I don't see you are in a hurry to switch platforms... From a MacPro to a MacBook Pro as you mention...

For the programs that you are using... The main thing you will miss is the RAM as Schewe has mentioned, again, in Photoshop in particular.

The OWC dock with some dongles will make you able to connect everything there... You don't specify which two monitors you have, not 100% sure that the 13" MacBook is able to drive two 4K monitors...


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Joe Towner

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Re: A Question for LuLa Readers
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2017, 12:51:31 pm »

Jed has a MacPro not a MacBok Pro...there is no way to add Thunderbolt 1/2/3 to the older Mac Pro towers.

I was suggesting the dock to adapt the 13" MacBook Pro to be a replacement to the trashcan.  Generally speaking, unless there is a specific task that bogs down the MacPro, upgrading the internal flash and adding external SSDs is about as much as you'd need.
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jed best

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Re: A Question for LuLa Readers
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2017, 04:39:45 pm »

Jeff is correct that I am talking about the "trashcan" and trying to plan for the future. I also have a new Macbook Pro but my primary machine for Lightroom is the MacPro. While at present it does the job, it is 4 years old and technology does advance.

Jed
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davidgp

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Re: A Question for LuLa Readers
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2017, 04:53:38 am »

Jeff is correct that I am talking about the "trashcan" and trying to plan for the future. I also have a new Macbook Pro but my primary machine for Lightroom is the MacPro. While at present it does the job, it is 4 years old and technology does advance.

Jed

You are not to gain too much in terms of CPU power with the new laptops vs that Mac Pro machine... In terms of GPU and RAM your Mac Pro still has the advantage... One of the top configured iMacs could improve things since they have better single thread performance than those old Xeons in the Mac Pro.

The only reason right now to move to a laptop is because you need the mobility, in performance, you are not going to notice it too much... And if you are planning to do video in the future, that Mac Pro will be better.

For performance point of view I think you can wait and see what Apple  is doing this year... Curiously enough, looking at Intel processor offerings, the Mac Pro is the computer that will benefit most from an upgrade, not because the other machines are catching up, because it is where you will notice that Intel has done a lot of progress evolving their processors, specially for multithreading workloads... And we are not even talking in putting a new desktop GPU there...



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Stephen Starkman

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Re: A Question for LuLa Readers
« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2017, 11:51:45 pm »

Jed,

How many cores in your trashcan MacPro?

I think you can hang out a little longer and see what Apple may do in the Pro space - or what WinPC's may make sense.

The Late 13" 2016 MacBook Pro won't have the horsepower to compete with your 2013 Pro - it's limited to two cores, slower integrated graphics and (of course) 16 GB RAM. The SSD though is very very fast, which helps.

I opted for the 15" late 2016. It's more responsive in LR's develop module, and it launches Photoshop CC like a bat out of hell - but it's not a great step ahead in terms of comparing recent MacBook Pros (such as my late 2012 13" Retina) w/ 8GB. Faster yes. Not blazing so for LR/Photoshop (except launching apps).

I kinda went this way as my main machine (was) a 2009 MacPro with internal RAID 10. It keeps up pretty well with my new MacBook Pro - but it's officially discontinued (Apple won't repair it) and I had to run a firmware hack just to install Sierra.

Stick with your Mac Pro for now. Also, for external storage, go Thunderbolt 3 down the road.

My 2 cents.

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Stephen Starkman

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Re: A Question for LuLa Readers
« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2017, 11:55:00 pm »

Agree with davidgp
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Hans Kruse

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Re: A Question for LuLa Readers
« Reply #10 on: February 23, 2017, 05:43:01 am »

I presently have a 2013 MacPro with 64 GB. In addition I have dual monitors, printer, Raid of images and back up raid. I have the following key apps: Quikbooks; Word, Excel; Powerpoint; LR and Photoshop. I am trying to plan for the future with maximal flexibility. I presently also have a new MacBook Pro 13 inch with four USB-C ports. If Apple does not come out with a new "trashcan" how can I adapt this laptop to be my main business and photography computer.

Thank you in advance for any and all comments.

Jed Best

Jed, it is always difficult to advise others on what is best in their case. I have for years opted for only one machine which has been a MBP and have recently upgraded to the MBP 2016 15". I use Lightroom extensively and find the speed os good enough that I can live with it. What I mean by that is that for everything except the develop module the machine is very very fast and responsive. In the develop module the MBP can usually keep up with realtime updates as I drag sliders which is the most important part for me. In other words the speed og the MBP is not limiting my productivity in the edit process as I'm not constantly dragging sliders, I also look at the current edit state and consider what do next. I'm now shooting mostly the Canon 5DSR and also the Nikon D810. I also have some files from the Phase One IQ160 and the speed is ok with these files. When I'm editing the fans often starts but fairly quickly dies down again. So I can live with that. The reason I do not want to have two machines is that I'm travelling a lot and I like to have everything on one machine like e-mails, documents, etc. Also the most recent folders from shoots is on there. I need to be able to walk out of my office without having to synchronize between multiple computers. It is also more economic to just have one machine instead of multiple, I think, but that's not the main thing. So if you do not have that requirement as I have then maybe having multiple machines is the best option. But for me one MBP 15" 2016 can do the job.
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