Re: FCP X hardware performance

[Walter Soyka] "Jeremy, you know all the criticisms -- some justified, some historical but now incorrect, and some totally unjustified -- that you get when you suggest that FCPX is a viable solution? That's what I'm seeing when I suggest that Windows as a viable solution.

Just like you, I'm trying to help the community here move past perceptions and stereotypes, and see that the situation has changed drastically while no one was looking."

The funny thing is though, Walter is that I'm not saying Windows sucks like people say FCPX sucks, as a matter of fact, I have said that the two OSes are probably fairly even. My argument is that Mac's are slower and always have been, yet still I somehow feel that we are disagreeing and that I'm cathching sh*t for it! ;)

Macs are slower and have allowed significantly less simultaneous peripheral connections since I have been using Macs professionally for work. Mac used to advertise that speed was better, but rally what I found this to be was that Microsoft Windows needed more maintenance and needed to be reinstalled more than MacOSX (but don't let me fool you about stability, cause that's just ridiculous!). Once a Windows system was rebuilt, the speed returned.

[Walter Soyka] "Microsoft's server OS is a bit different than their desktop OS, as is Apple's (and Microsoft doesn't design hardware whereas Apple does), so I'm not sure where this fits in."

What I alluded to was that Microsoft has a completely different business model. Microsoft needs to support a wide variety of computer hardware (servers included). It is in their best interest to get as many copies of that software in to as many hands as possible through new computer/OEM sales, and through OS upgrades if the hardware can handle it.

Apple, on the other hand, has a very inexpensive OS, and once you purchase it, can pretty much be installed on any machine you own; totally opposite of Microsoft's model. Apple is trying to get their hardware in to as many hands as possible through various methods. You don't even need to own a Mac to have Apple hardware anymore, but I bet those little gadgets sell Macs.

[Walter Soyka] "I can only half-agree with this. Apple is very inconstant in CPU speed race. Every Mac Pro is a speed demon at its launch, but after launch, competitors get updates with speed bumps while the Mac Pro stagnates. I see Apple's commitment to CPU speed as stop and go, and as a user who likes OS X and cares about performance, I've found it absolutely maddening. It would be easier for people like me if Macs were either always competitive or never competitive on speed, but while I agree that Apple fails to consistently offer the fastest CPUs, I don't see how you can deny that their workstations are competitive at their launches. "

OK, I would see it as you whole agree, not half agree. Of course when Apple launches a new computer with brand new procs, it's going to sort of compete with a similar specced windows machine (although windows still seems to run video applications faster). Apple doesn't keep up with every single speed bump or proc refresh. That's not their game. They don't care about CPU speed enough to keep refreshing their line. See? We agree. Ha!

[Walter Soyka] "If they release a dual E5 sizzle core beast Mac Pro next week, then the Mac Pro will again for a time be among the fastest systems available. "

Yes, they will choose to use the newest processor as it probably has some architecture gains (perhaps Thunderbolt, perhaps USB3, and all the other upgrades that have been mentioned on the interwebs). But that's it. It will fit in to their system, and once it fits in to their system and you can connect the things they want you to connect (like their fancy thunderbolt monitor) then speed won't matter. They care more about the design, the architecture to support their "ecosystem", and then CPU speed is a result of the advanced technology.

I hope they do make a MacPro type thing that could be tested against the ProMAX One or HP zWhatever so we can have a good test. The current barefeats one is older generation Mac vs newer generation PC. It's not a "fair fight". The Mac gets trounced.

Jeremy