2013 Apple Mac Pro: Misses the Mark for Video Users

2013-06-11 • SEND FEEDBACK |
Related: 2013 Mac Pro, Mac Pro, PCIe, SSD, Thunderbolt, USB3, weather events

2013 Apple Mac Pro

An interesting perspective found in The beautiful new Apple computer most people won't buy.

Here’s what’s wrong with the 2013 Apple Mac Pro for video jobs:

• Apparent memory limit of 64GB— too little for big jobs, including my own, including some types of effects processing (future developments will offer 128GB via 32GB modules at some serious expense).
• No more than 12 real CPU cores. Video processing can use all the real CPU cores it can get: 16 or 24.
• No PCIe cards. Professional video users rely heavily on these for processing and connectivity. Bandwidth of Thunderbolt is limited to 1.25 GB/sec and requires external enclosures with fans and suitable power supply.
• While for most video users Thunderbolt will suffice, high-high-end users have existing and proven investments in SAS and similar, and Thunderbolt options might not suffice in quality or bandwidth, especially for the next year or so.
• Thunderbolt is MIA as far as variety and quality of products, and Thunderbolt 2 chipsets are a 2014 affair, let alone hardware built with TB2 chipsets. TB2 is likely to be MIA for at least a year, if not two.

All in all, serious video users face some practical challenges with the 2013 TMP.

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