I've been lurking on these boards ever since the days of workerbee, but I'm in a bad mood, have had too much to drink, and am tired of fighting the slow performance on my computer this evening. What better time to register at AI right!
I'm not a professional, but I am a 3d hobbyist. I have no deadlines and no particular timetable, and even so I can barely tolerate the performance I am getting out of my Mac. This is with a 733 G4 and Cinema 4D. I simply cannot imagine any 3d professional with demanding deadlines would choose to use a Mac. And frankly, I don't think that Apple cares.
The hardware disparities have reached such proportions that in some ways it seems like Apple has given up on the professional market. Yet they continue to make moves like buying Shake and pushing FCP. I think they are giving up on some markets, and trying to lock up others by buying out some companies and then thoroughly optimizing them for the G4.
For some reason they seem to be against programs which are available on both mac and wintel... I wonder why that is...
Do you people really believe that Apple is intentionally holding back their development of the Pro Macs? That they are "stalling" for some obscure reason bringing out an updated motherboard and faster processors? Jobs has one of the biggest egos on the planet and he would love nothing more then to brag about the Mac blowing P4s out of the water, not just beating them by a few seconds on a couple of Photoshop tasks.
I have read on these boards, and other places, that the current G4s can not take advantage of DDR ram and other faster technologies, so it would do no good for Apple to release a new motherboard until there are G5s or modified G4s. If these newer processors where available now I am sure Apple would be using them.
They are not idiots that don't realize that pro users want all the speed they can get. They are being held back by Motorola, a company that has laid off more then a third of its workers in the last year, workers that probably took with them a hell of a lot of expertise needed to boost the speed of the PPC. Apple knows all of this and is undoubtedly doing all it can to change it.
Another point is that the hardware is only part of the equation. Most Pro users have invested more money in software then the cost of their computers. All that software would have to be replaced. They would also loose a hell of a lot of productivity getting up to speed on a new operating system and software that may not work the same as it did on a Mac.
As evidenced by its opening of their retail stores, Apple is very focused on increasing market share and so are going to do every thing possible to not only keep their current customers, but attract new ones from the windows world.
I think it is really obvious that the current pro models where released to tide the market over while Apple is hard at work on the next generation of pro machines. They put out machines that were faster, but that didn't make a lot of radical changes that would have used up engineering talent that is focused on what is coming next. I am sure we will see the fruits of their labor come MWNY or Seybold at the latest. Just my guess.
<strong> I simply cannot imagine any 3d professional with demanding deadlines would choose to use a Mac. And frankly, I don't think that Apple cares.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
As you say, you're no professional. I do know professional 3D artists who prefer to use Macs, primarily because OS X is a killer OS to work on. If you professional and you want to render at top speed, you don't do it on a desktop machine anyway - you do it on a render farm.
Check out the INCREDIBLE performance of Lightwave under OS X - NewTek has done a great job with that.
Apple is totally up against it thanx to MOTO. A 1.4GHz or 1.6Ghz G5 will be pointless. We still won't have a clear cut case as the fastest computer on the planet and will have to rely on yet more half baked bake off to try to woo the pc crowd (Apple is supposeldy about increasing market share remmeber?).
The longer it goes on the better the G5 will have to be when it arrives. I like many others am still waiting for the performance supremacy that POwerPC was going to bring to mac users.
Has anyone seen a glowing report on the Dual Gigger in a pc magazine? or any of the new towers? I've read six this week so far and they all say the same thing: too slow, no DDR, ata66?, no NVidia Quadro?, Wildcat? blah blah blah.
I even read a review of the iPod in a pc magzine section about mp3 players. the ipod got a glowing review but the article simply ended by saying "Of course, to get any real joy out of the ipod you have to have a mac. We're not sure how many folks out there would be prepared to downgrade to apple's well designed but low specced offereings just to get the best out of the ipod"
Oh, I wasn't really complaining about render times. With os X, rendering in the background is a pretty good option for me. I was talking about modelling. I want changes to happen instantly, and instead there is a little wait. But I thought about it and it could be just because I don't have enough RAM. So I have to retract the complaint even though I suspect it is still valid.
Lightwave may perform great on a Mac, but Cinema4D runs at half the speed of an Athlon. The fact of the matter is that applications have to be thoroughly optimized for the G4 and OS X to perform well. My guess is that Apple has just decided it is easier to buy a few strategic companies rather than try to convince them to rewrite their apps for new processor, new os, and 3 percent marketshare.
Comments
I'm not a professional, but I am a 3d hobbyist. I have no deadlines and no particular timetable, and even so I can barely tolerate the performance I am getting out of my Mac. This is with a 733 G4 and Cinema 4D. I simply cannot imagine any 3d professional with demanding deadlines would choose to use a Mac. And frankly, I don't think that Apple cares.
The hardware disparities have reached such proportions that in some ways it seems like Apple has given up on the professional market. Yet they continue to make moves like buying Shake and pushing FCP. I think they are giving up on some markets, and trying to lock up others by buying out some companies and then thoroughly optimizing them for the G4.
For some reason they seem to be against programs which are available on both mac and wintel... I wonder why that is...
<strong>
For some reason they seem to be against programs which are available on both mac and wintel... I wonder why that is...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Maybe Steve Jobs went to the Al Davis School of Management.
I have read on these boards, and other places, that the current G4s can not take advantage of DDR ram and other faster technologies, so it would do no good for Apple to release a new motherboard until there are G5s or modified G4s. If these newer processors where available now I am sure Apple would be using them.
They are not idiots that don't realize that pro users want all the speed they can get. They are being held back by Motorola, a company that has laid off more then a third of its workers in the last year, workers that probably took with them a hell of a lot of expertise needed to boost the speed of the PPC. Apple knows all of this and is undoubtedly doing all it can to change it.
Another point is that the hardware is only part of the equation. Most Pro users have invested more money in software then the cost of their computers. All that software would have to be replaced. They would also loose a hell of a lot of productivity getting up to speed on a new operating system and software that may not work the same as it did on a Mac.
As evidenced by its opening of their retail stores, Apple is very focused on increasing market share and so are going to do every thing possible to not only keep their current customers, but attract new ones from the windows world.
I think it is really obvious that the current pro models where released to tide the market over while Apple is hard at work on the next generation of pro machines. They put out machines that were faster, but that didn't make a lot of radical changes that would have used up engineering talent that is focused on what is coming next. I am sure we will see the fruits of their labor come MWNY or Seybold at the latest. Just my guess.
Cheers,
Craig
There is no moto conspiracy.
Apple and Moto are trying to increase speed as fast as they can.
<strong> I simply cannot imagine any 3d professional with demanding deadlines would choose to use a Mac. And frankly, I don't think that Apple cares.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
As you say, you're no professional. I do know professional 3D artists who prefer to use Macs, primarily because OS X is a killer OS to work on. If you professional and you want to render at top speed, you don't do it on a desktop machine anyway - you do it on a render farm.
Check out the INCREDIBLE performance of Lightwave under OS X - NewTek has done a great job with that.
The longer it goes on the better the G5 will have to be when it arrives. I like many others am still waiting for the performance supremacy that POwerPC was going to bring to mac users.
Has anyone seen a glowing report on the Dual Gigger in a pc magazine? or any of the new towers? I've read six this week so far and they all say the same thing: too slow, no DDR, ata66?, no NVidia Quadro?, Wildcat? blah blah blah.
I even read a review of the iPod in a pc magzine section about mp3 players. the ipod got a glowing review but the article simply ended by saying "Of course, to get any real joy out of the ipod you have to have a mac. We're not sure how many folks out there would be prepared to downgrade to apple's well designed but low specced offereings just to get the best out of the ipod"
Lightwave may perform great on a Mac, but Cinema4D runs at half the speed of an Athlon. The fact of the matter is that applications have to be thoroughly optimized for the G4 and OS X to perform well. My guess is that Apple has just decided it is easier to buy a few strategic companies rather than try to convince them to rewrite their apps for new processor, new os, and 3 percent marketshare.