One thing I'm definitely purchasing to accompany either Mac I choose is one of the Thunderbolt RAID arrays, my ultimate goal to be able use it as a shareable/portable media drive between multiple Macs (home workstation, office workstation, mobile workstation, etc.)
I'm really excited about this idea of Mac Minis as slave/render stations, but I have exactly ZERO experience setting up render farms, server networks, anything like that.
If those turn out to be an option, I'll probably buy the iMac + Thunderbolt RAID first, then add Mac Minis and portable options as money and business allows.
Can anyone point me toward a reliable how-to or overview of using Minis as render stations?
I think you're on the right track with your thinking overall. The iMac with that Pegasus Thunderbolt set up looks a bit of a beast combo.
I was reading about an artist only the other day. He works on his iMac and passes off a job for his Mini to render. Maybe it was 3D work. (eg doesn't Lightwave allow render nodes?)
This sort of stuff isn't mainstream...yet? But the parts look like they're there and it's upto software to catch up...and maybe someone like Apple to make it 'just work...?'
It's an area I'm looking into myself. ie to have Fusion on my iMac for programs and 'in work' projects and pass them over to external drives when I'm done. That way, if the iMac goes down...my data is safe. If I then buy a Mac Mini with the Haswell update (better gpu...*Moans...at lack of gpu grunt in current one...) then I have a Mac I can keep working on.
I have no doubt that SSD drives are plummeting.
My cousin missed out on a 1 TB SSD drive on Ebay that went for over £200 quid (from China..). He kicked himself for not putting a bid in. If 512 gig SSDs are going for £250-300 now...the 1 TB ones will be soon behind them in a year's time at this rate of going.
Well, Jeff, looking at Apple's 'Mac' computer strategy...that may be the way things are going. Laptop power has caught up with desktop power (at least in terms of Apple's solutions and maybe in PCs generally...) bar Multi-processor and GPUs. But as Marv' points out the 680 MX is no slouch at 75% more or less of it's desktop counter part. The gap is closing.
My super skinny iMac will kick the snot out of an entry Mac Pro. Something unthinkable when the iMac began all those years ago.
As Marv' points out above...you have a quad core laptop that about performs the same as the iMac bar the GPU!
...and with the retina you get the 500gig SD which you get for a £100 cheaper than I payed for my Fusion drive iMac (I'm still waiting...)
So...yeah. The retina Macbook Pro has to be seen to be believed. I may be getting the iMac...(I'm not a big fan of laptops...) but the retina screen beats it hands down.
RMBP may be as fast as an iMac, but filmjr mentioned that they had a reputation of getting hot under continuous heavy load. I don't know if that's true.
RMBP may be as fast as an iMac, but filmjr mentioned that they had a reputation of getting hot under continuous heavy load. I don't know if that's true.
That's probably true. I find most Apple 'thin' kit...tends to get hot under duress. I suppose it depends upon workload. I noticed that about plastic Macbooks years ago when I used one. Doing anything where the cpu has to work for a little while the cpu fan 'whirrrrred' up. Apple have pushed the 'thin' enclosures thing. With that must come some compromise re: temperature at times.
Take this Core 2 Duo iMac of mine...just take an old game engine which demands more of the cpu than gpu and the fans spin up... Gets really hot on the left side as I look at it. Though on a more modern game engine? The cpu doesn't fire up at all. Still, even at idle...the top left is 'warm' when the machine is on a while. On a Summer's day doing anything I consider 'moderate' I wouldn't want my face gaffa taped to the left side of my machine. *Cooking eggs comes to mind. And not comfortable to the touch.
Same with a 27 incher (old iMac) sitting in Apple stores doing nothing. Very warm/hot to touch on the left side. Under very heavy workstation load mode...?
Maybe without DVD and HD moving parts the next gen iMac I have might run cooler with Ivy Bridge. I'll be able to find out in the new year. Hopefully that solitary fan will keep the i7 happy even under load. We'll see when I start doing Photoshop style work again if it will get 'spin up' under load...or an extended 3D render.
My iPad is always ice cold...but then...I never do anything heavy duty with it...or my iPhone.
RMBP may be as fast as an iMac, but filmjr mentioned that they had a reputation of getting hot under continuous heavy load. I don't know if that's true.
I'm a little biased in favor of the imac due to greater max ram, which a program like after effects eats, superior gpu, and I have no idea what his current display is like. A notebook screen would be quite small for cutting commercials, especially with the amount that would typically be dedicated to various track or graph editors. 15" is tiny to me. In my experience if I'm stressing out the entire machine, my macbook pro battery will drain even plugged in. Others mentioned the same thing on Apple discussions. The typical scenario seemed to be transcoding. In my experience the discrete graphics seem to draw quite a lot of that.
That's probably true. I find most Apple 'thin' kit...tends to get hot under duress. I suppose it depends upon workload. I noticed that about plastic Macbooks years ago when I used one. Doing anything where the cpu has to work for a little while the cpu fan 'whirrrrred' up. Apple have pushed the 'thin' enclosures thing. With that must come some compromise re: temperature at times.
Take this Core 2 Duo iMac of mine...just take an old game engine which demands more of the cpu than gpu and the fans spin up... Gets really hot on the left side as I look at it. Though on a more modern game engine? The cpu doesn't fire up at all. Still, even at idle...the top left is 'warm' when the machine is on a while. On a Summer's day doing anything I consider 'moderate' I wouldn't want my face gaffa taped to the left side of my machine. *Cooking eggs comes to mind. And not comfortable to the touch.
Same with a 27 incher (old iMac) sitting in Apple stores doing nothing. Very warm/hot to touch on the left side. Under very heavy workstation load mode...?
Maybe without DVD and HD moving parts the next gen iMac I have might run cooler with Ivy Bridge. I'll be able to find out in the new year. Hopefully that solitary fan will keep the i7 happy even under load. We'll see when I start doing Photoshop style work again if it will get 'spin up' under load...or an extended 3D render.
My iMac 2011 gets warm in idle, but that's OK. I think one concern is about heat generated vs. surface area to dissipate it. Another is to work on a notebook computer, your hands are on it, so you feel it more. On an iMac, you don't need to touch the machine.
My iPad is always ice cold...but then...I never do anything heavy duty with it...or my iPhone.
My iPad is never even slightly warm, but ditto on not really stressing it. I sometimes play video, but not demanding games or compute apps.
I'm a little biased in favor of the imac due to greater max ram, which a program like after effects eats, superior gpu, and I have no idea what his current display is like. A notebook screen would be quite small for cutting commercials, especially with the amount that would typically be dedicated to various track or graph editors. 15" is tiny to me. In my experience if I'm stressing out the entire machine, my macbook pro battery will drain even plugged in. Others mentioned the same thing on Apple discussions. The typical scenario seemed to be transcoding. In my experience the discrete graphics seem to draw quite a lot of that.
It wouldn't be an easy choice for me, I think it depends on the user's preferences and usage pattern. I think your case is a good one though, esp. if you benefit from more than 16GB of RAM. If there wasn't a chance of needing to change anything on the go, maybe use an iPad to demonstrate the work so far and the portfolio, and an iMac to actually do the work. I personally would chose the iMac, but I don't need a mobile computer for my work.
It wouldn't be an easy choice for me, I think it depends on the user's preferences and usage pattern. I think your case is a good one though, esp. if you benefit from more than 16GB of RAM. If there wasn't a chance of needing to change anything on the go, maybe use an iPad to demonstrate the work so far and the portfolio, and an iMac to actually do the work. I personally would chose the iMac, but I don't need a mobile computer for my work.
I have a reasonable level of familiarity with most of the software he's using. The rMBP isn't a bad machine. Some people seem to use it for similar stuff. I was going by the desire for longevity where it kind of just makes it in certain areas today and the fact that he mentioned his current machine is a little underpowered in spite of being reasonably good hardware. I could see staggering purchases, especially if he definitely requires a notebook. Personally I'd want to test power consumption prior to going forward. As I mentioned the 2011s can lean pretty hard on the battery during certain tasks. It's unfortunate that Apple doesn't have a charger available as an accessory purchase that can deliver more power.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by filmjr
One thing I'm definitely purchasing to accompany either Mac I choose is one of the Thunderbolt RAID arrays, my ultimate goal to be able use it as a shareable/portable media drive between multiple Macs (home workstation, office workstation, mobile workstation, etc.)
I'm really excited about this idea of Mac Minis as slave/render stations, but I have exactly ZERO experience setting up render farms, server networks, anything like that.
If those turn out to be an option, I'll probably buy the iMac + Thunderbolt RAID first, then add Mac Minis and portable options as money and business allows.
Can anyone point me toward a reliable how-to or overview of using Minis as render stations?
I think you're on the right track with your thinking overall. The iMac with that Pegasus Thunderbolt set up looks a bit of a beast combo.
I was reading about an artist only the other day. He works on his iMac and passes off a job for his Mini to render. Maybe it was 3D work. (eg doesn't Lightwave allow render nodes?)
This sort of stuff isn't mainstream...yet? But the parts look like they're there and it's upto software to catch up...and maybe someone like Apple to make it 'just work...?'
It's an area I'm looking into myself. ie to have Fusion on my iMac for programs and 'in work' projects and pass them over to external drives when I'm done. That way, if the iMac goes down...my data is safe. If I then buy a Mac Mini with the Haswell update (better gpu...*Moans...at lack of gpu grunt in current one...) then I have a Mac I can keep working on.
I have no doubt that SSD drives are plummeting.
My cousin missed out on a 1 TB SSD drive on Ebay that went for over £200 quid (from China..). He kicked himself for not putting a bid in. If 512 gig SSDs are going for £250-300 now...the 1 TB ones will be soon behind them in a year's time at this rate of going.
Lemon Bon Bon.
RMBP may be as fast as an iMac, but filmjr mentioned that they had a reputation of getting hot under continuous heavy load. I don't know if that's true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
RMBP may be as fast as an iMac, but filmjr mentioned that they had a reputation of getting hot under continuous heavy load. I don't know if that's true.
That's probably true. I find most Apple 'thin' kit...tends to get hot under duress. I suppose it depends upon workload. I noticed that about plastic Macbooks years ago when I used one. Doing anything where the cpu has to work for a little while the cpu fan 'whirrrrred' up. Apple have pushed the 'thin' enclosures thing. With that must come some compromise re: temperature at times.
Take this Core 2 Duo iMac of mine...just take an old game engine which demands more of the cpu than gpu and the fans spin up... Gets really hot on the left side as I look at it. Though on a more modern game engine? The cpu doesn't fire up at all. Still, even at idle...the top left is 'warm' when the machine is on a while. On a Summer's day doing anything I consider 'moderate' I wouldn't want my face gaffa taped to the left side of my machine. *Cooking eggs comes to mind. And not comfortable to the touch.
Same with a 27 incher (old iMac) sitting in Apple stores doing nothing. Very warm/hot to touch on the left side. Under very heavy workstation load mode...?
Maybe without DVD and HD moving parts the next gen iMac I have might run cooler with Ivy Bridge. I'll be able to find out in the new year. Hopefully that solitary fan will keep the i7 happy even under load. We'll see when I start doing Photoshop style work again if it will get 'spin up' under load...or an extended 3D render.
My iPad is always ice cold...but then...I never do anything heavy duty with it...or my iPhone.
Lemon Bon Bon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
RMBP may be as fast as an iMac, but filmjr mentioned that they had a reputation of getting hot under continuous heavy load. I don't know if that's true.
I'm a little biased in favor of the imac due to greater max ram, which a program like after effects eats, superior gpu, and I have no idea what his current display is like. A notebook screen would be quite small for cutting commercials, especially with the amount that would typically be dedicated to various track or graph editors. 15" is tiny to me. In my experience if I'm stressing out the entire machine, my macbook pro battery will drain even plugged in. Others mentioned the same thing on Apple discussions. The typical scenario seemed to be transcoding. In my experience the discrete graphics seem to draw quite a lot of that.
My iMac 2011 gets warm in idle, but that's OK. I think one concern is about heat generated vs. surface area to dissipate it. Another is to work on a notebook computer, your hands are on it, so you feel it more. On an iMac, you don't need to touch the machine.
My iPad is never even slightly warm, but ditto on not really stressing it. I sometimes play video, but not demanding games or compute apps.
It wouldn't be an easy choice for me, I think it depends on the user's preferences and usage pattern. I think your case is a good one though, esp. if you benefit from more than 16GB of RAM. If there wasn't a chance of needing to change anything on the go, maybe use an iPad to demonstrate the work so far and the portfolio, and an iMac to actually do the work. I personally would chose the iMac, but I don't need a mobile computer for my work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
It wouldn't be an easy choice for me, I think it depends on the user's preferences and usage pattern. I think your case is a good one though, esp. if you benefit from more than 16GB of RAM. If there wasn't a chance of needing to change anything on the go, maybe use an iPad to demonstrate the work so far and the portfolio, and an iMac to actually do the work. I personally would chose the iMac, but I don't need a mobile computer for my work.
I have a reasonable level of familiarity with most of the software he's using. The rMBP isn't a bad machine. Some people seem to use it for similar stuff. I was going by the desire for longevity where it kind of just makes it in certain areas today and the fact that he mentioned his current machine is a little underpowered in spite of being reasonably good hardware. I could see staggering purchases, especially if he definitely requires a notebook. Personally I'd want to test power consumption prior to going forward. As I mentioned the 2011s can lean pretty hard on the battery during certain tasks. It's unfortunate that Apple doesn't have a charger available as an accessory purchase that can deliver more power.