Re: Working Over the weekend...

[Oliver Peters] "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."

It's very new that there is smaller, cheaper gear with comparable power. You could run Smoke on a iMac today if you wanted to, but it wasn't practical to use iMacs instead of G5s for editorial in 2005.

The cash flow advantages of buying a $2500 iMac every two years instead of a $5000 Mac Pro every four are real, but that's only a viable option if the iMac suits your needs.

You don't need a workstation for editorial anymore, but there is still a workstation market for creative professionals around editorial. I'd argue that by handicapping the Mac Pro, especially in conjunction with the other ripples they've made in the professional space, Apple is inviting studios to consider PCs.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
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