Re: Working Over the weekend...

Hmmm... A shop with 30 Macs but only 4 edit suites is hardly a large post house. Granted that may be the case today, but if you come from the days of large linear bays and machine room infrastructure, it's hardly the same thing.

Unfortunately today's reality dictates frugality and yesterday's edit boutique is today's large post house. If you expect to survive these days, you really need to develop a business model that allows for a complete refresh every 3 years (or less) and to have most of that paid for by active projects and not by loans. Smart companies have alays done that. It's called having an annual Cap Ex budget and sticking to it.

Like it or not, the direction Apple is taking is supportive of that environment. I see plenty of places that are still running FCP 6 on G5s or early Mac Pros. They followed the philosophy of not replacing it because it worked. Now the stuff is so long in the tooth that it's not a simple matter of upgrading but rather a complete, expensive overhaul of the facility. Having smaller, cheaper gear with comparable (or more) power makes it easier to pursue a plan of more frequent refreshes without breaking the bank.

Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com