Re: I guess it's So Long and Thanks for all the Fish!

[Craig Seeman] "
Granted one can get a more powerful PC than a Mac Pro and iMacs have limited expansion, I'd be cautious to generalize about price. Once you put together a powerful professional PC workstation it's not going to be that much cheaper than some Macs. Look at what a decked out HPZ400 or Z800 workstation costs. Consider why the cost what they do compared to other PCs."

I've seen this a couple of times from you Craig and I think you need to do a little more research on the PC side. In a general sense, you're absolutely right, a high-end, professional system cannot be had for chump change. However, to systematically dismiss the total cost of ownership differences between Mac and PC for ALL video editors isn't appropriate either.

There are a couple of key points that I would make here:
- A similarly equipped PC is generally less expensive than it's Mac counterpart. I was excited for a time when this wasn't so and Mac's were basically the same price, but it seems (again in general) that PC's costs are less expensive than similarly equipped Macs.
- The HP Z line (of which I am a huge fan) is a product line and not a single chassis with different guts like the current MacPro. This gives you a ton more pricing and configuration options. If you need to go cheap but have a PCI-E slot or two, you can go with the Z400. If you need more power and a slim chassis design, there is the Z600. If you need monster power (and a better tooless chassis) then there is the Z800.
- That 'decked out' PC that costs as much or more than a Mac Pro will generally run rings around the MacPro. This isn't a scientific fact from yours truly, just my general observations at having used both platforms for many years. Many other people have taken the time to run tests and I believe my statement has a lot of support.
- Choice...There are MANY more CPU, GPU and motherboard choices that you can make with any single vendor. In this tech-aware/educated world, we as content creators can make many of the choices that Apple makes for us. We can create the best balanced system (which is particularly important for Adobe users) for us based upon our current budget. This choice can also be represented by purchasing a PC from a vendor like HP, or a white-box from a video reseller or perhaps the most exciting of all - build your own box. On the Apple side, you have a choice of where you build the Mac - Apple website, Apple Store, Apple dealer: you get the same net results but not the same control and choice.

And since we're picking on HP and I've seen some FUD around it...even if HP spins of the PC unit to another company or as a new entity, it will be the largest PC company in the world. We've also seen a successful example of this in the past with IBM spinning off it's PC business to Lenovo.

Cheers,
Dennis - Adobe guy