ArsTechnica has a good article on the difference between these processors in the new Macs.
Honestly I hadn’t realized there was so little difference in the mobile versions except clock speed (and the quad over dual core versions), though I did think that the i7 desktops had superior performance, cache and hyperthreading (strangely both mobile versions have hyperthreading).
Ken Stone has an excellent and thorough review of the new FCP X Update with many photos.
It is an excellent look, and the program does look better, but I still won’t be giving FCP X a spin again anytime soon, and no I am not just a hater who feels wounded by FCP X.
Honestly while I love the metadata capabilities, and think they should be included in other programs, I hate the timeline. It is unintuitive and unorganized. Cutting DR, I usually have shows with 12-15 Video Tracks and I like to keep them well organized so it is easy to see what is what, and easy to jump in for anyone else and replace a shot if need be, but the magnetic timeline is not at all conducive to that.
And it is not set up to easily be used in a multi-user multi-machine environment, which is essential for how I work.
I still don’t see forcing an editor to work a certain as possibly being the future of editing, no matter how fast it can be. Editors have ways that they like to work, and adding new ways is great, and if they are better people will use them, but being forced to use them is just unacceptable.
Anandtech has a very good article on the Mac Fusion Drive, and how it works and who it is good for.
Sounds great to me personally, and I would love one for my MacPro if that is possible (probably not).
I like the idea of the pinning and moving, as I have about 1 TB currently on my main system hard drive, so the 3TB with Fusion would be awesome. Hopefully a 3rd party can figure this out and have 256MB instead of 128MB with the 3TB.
I know, I know I should just go SSD, but I just don’t have enough hard drive space. I have all 4 drives in my MacPro with 2TB hard drives (would love to have 3’s some day) and no room to add an SSD at all (even have 2 optical drives, a DVD-R and a Blu-Ray burner as well)..
Apple has updated FCP X to 10.0.6 with many new features, but the biggest being, having 2 viewer windows now. Seems that one viewer thing didn’t work out too well for Apple. There is also multi-channel audio editing, a unified input window, an MXF plug in support and RED Camera Support with 5K resolution up from 4K.
Personally I think the FCP X’s unorganizable timeline is still a mess, but they are slowly making it better. Having dual viewer windows is a huge step forward to normal editors feeling comfortable with the program. Still I am not going to invest in it, as I still hate the timeline, and I don’t think that will ever improve.
And Phil Hodgetts has been using a beta version for a while, so he has a look at it. It seems pasting features is now back (from FCP 7, now Premiere Pro needs to implement this feature better than an all or nothing). He really goes into all the new features.
ArsTechnica also got it’s eye caught by the new Fusion drive, and speculates on how it works.
Let hops 3rd parties can figure this out, and we can have these additions for MacPro’s in the future. I would love to move my main drive to a Fusion drive in the future.
The 1 TB is an additional $250 for the MacMini and you can’t pre-order the new iMac’s yet, so you can’t see what the 3TB will set you back, but the price of a 3rd parties would be less, and well worth the speed increase.
Apple has updated it’s Mac Mini. For $599 or $799 you either get a dual core i5 or a quad core i, though with only the intel Graphics HD 4000 for graphics. And for $999 you get the server version with 2 hard drives and Mountain Lion Server.
Still a very powerful desktop computer in a very small size, though not for CUDA unless you added a thunderbolt expansion chasis for way too much.
Impressively this can also be built with a Fusion drive for added speed.
Apple today released the 13″ MacBookPro with Retina Display. And unlike it’s 15″ Cousing which sports an NVIDIA Geforce GT 650m and a Intel HD Graphics 4000, the 13 model only has the Intel HD Graphics 4000, which means no CUDA support for Premiere Pro editing, and certainly not as good graphics.
It is still an impressive little machine, but not really a solution for editors.
It starts at $1699 and is shipping today.
I wouldn’t want one, as the 15″ would be much more conducive to editing.
Apple has updated it’s iMac and it is thinner and more powerful, and now sans a CD rom drive.
Most impressive for editing are NVIDIA Mobile processors across the line, so they should all be great for CUDA in Premiere Pro. The low end has a GT 640M with 512MB of RAM, the second has a GT 650M with 512MB, the 3rd has a GTX 660m with 512MB and the high end has a GTX 675 with 1GB of RAM (best for editing right there). Even better the high end is configurable to a Geforce GTX 680MX with 2GB of RAM!
Too bad ll the stock models have i5 processors, but you can upgrade to an i7 that is 3.4Ghz. The high end also has user addable RAM, though the smaller model is soldered, but comes with 8GB to start.
Another exciting upgrade is the Fusion Drive you can get in BTO. It has 128GB of Flash Ram tied to 1 or 3 TB of regular hard drive, so your system can be on the fast Fusion, but you seamlessly get FLASH speeds for your system.
Starting at $1299-$1999 and available in November to December.
You have to configure it, but it really could be a great editing machine, especially with Thunderbolt, though I would prefer a non-mobile video card personally.
Wow, 6 months out and Apple has upgraded the iPad from the new iPad to the iPad with Retina Display (iPad 4). It is basically an iPad 3 with an A6x instead of A5x processor, which is supposedly twice as fast. It has a 720p Facetime camera, and a lightning connector and is the same price as the last model, which is no longer available.
Very cool, and a damn fast update!
Apple has announced the iPad mini started at $329 for 16GB Wifi and up to $659 for 4G Celular with 64 GB. A smaller upgraded iPad 2 (same pixel density display). 7.9 Inch display versus 9.7 for full iPad, but thinner and lighter.
Pretty cool, but overpriced I think. Still bet it will sell very well.
ArsTechnica has an excellent hands on.