New MacBook Pro Looks Very Impressive

FCPX has not been updated since eGPU support has come to the Mac. Next major update, you may see it. At present, FCPX is much more optimized to run way more efficiently than Resolve. Resolve NEEDS that eGPU, FCPX really doesn't at this point. The app itself has to be written to take advantage of eGPU. Eventually, all the NLEs and motion graphics and 3D apps will. It's brand new, give it time, this stuff doesn't materialize overnight. Geez...

Going as far back as the G4 tower, I have always used my editing workstation for 5+ years so I choose carefully. Yesterday, I bought the 2.9 i9/32GB/1TB version to replace a 9 year old cheesegrater stuck on El Capitan. Already waited too long for a Mac Pro update that is now 2019. Plus, I never buy the version 1.0 of anything from Apple. Never. SO it was going to be a long time for a viable Mac Pro replacement.

So a week ago, I bought an Apple Refurb 8-core Mac Pro (about $1K more than a tricked out MBP) but after a week, I couldn't resolve that it froze 10-20 times a day. Best theory was the aging D700 GPUs were incompatible with modern 4K monitor etc. But nobody really could say as so few Apple techs know the nMP.

If you must buy a desktop for editing, the lack of an updated Mac Pro is problematic. Choices are 2014 Mac Mini, tricked out iMac, iMac Pro. When you read the articles about Apple's briefing on the future Mac Pro, it's clear the iMac Pro is their main offering for the "Pro" community but that a big chunk of community is actually using MBP. That's when the light went on that this model, configurable with 32GB and the i9 is a viable "desktop" in the absence of a real pro desktop Mac (I consider the iMac Pro a stop gap product) that is not an all-in-one.

So for those of us who need a desktop for use with multiple monitors, audio interfaces, raids, legacy eSata drives etc, the MBP floats to the top. It hasn't hung once and is as snappy or snappier than the 8-core nMP was (when it wasn't frozen). Time will tell.

The keyboard is junk and the aircraft carrier sized track pad a joke. But it's off to the side. The touch bar could be handy with a reach and the retina display a nice video output monitor. Plus I finally have a camera and built in mic. So there's a couple mice aspects to it over a classic desktop. Otherwise, for me, it's a very small desktop computer. YMMV

LesWilson wrote: So a week ago, I bought an Apple Refurb 8-core Mac Pro (about $1K more than a tricked out MBP) but after a week, I couldn't resolve that it froze 10-20 times a day. Best theory was the aging D700 GPUs were incompatible with modern 4K monitor etc. But nobody really could say as so few Apple techs know the nMP.


So for those of us who need a desktop for use with multiple monitors, audio interfaces, raids, legacy eSata drives etc, the MBP floats to the top. It hasn't hung once and is as snappy or snappier than the 8-core nMP was (when it wasn't frozen). Time will tell.

The keyboard is junk and the aircraft carrier sized track pad a joke. But it's off to the side. The touch bar could be handy with a reach and the retina display a nice video output monitor. Plus I finally have a camera and built in mic. So there's a couple mice aspects to it over a classic desktop. Otherwise, for me, it's a very small desktop computer. YMMV

I actually can't complain about the keyboard I find much better then the latest desktop Keyboard.
But I am interested in what monitors you are using, on my side we have a few Mac Pros with the D300, D500 and D700 GPU cards. No issues powering dual 4K screens plus a monitor over HDMI on all systems.

It's a Dell U3818 which is a 3840x1600 38" curved monitor. I'm not saying the problem was the display and not the fundamental D700 flaw but being manufactured so long after the problem was found and the fact it had already been returned and "Refurbished" by Apple, I was burned out trying to solve the problem. I spent a week. It basically left me with these choices:
A) Throw the dice on a "new" 5 year old Mac Pro for another $700
Suffer through the hardship of trying to get Apple to repair it
C) Return it for full refund and buy something else.

I was already in the hole $1000 for the Dell and already in love with single display equal to the old twin Cinema HD displays. iMac wasn't an option. That left MBP or Mini.

In case you haven't seen:



Seems like in his tests the 2.9 i9 is thermal throttling so much the 2017 model is faster in many cases! :ohmy:
And the Blackmagic eGPU doesn't improve exports in FCPX... (maybe 10.4.3 silently fixed that?)

(obviously this is only one persons experience, but a bit worrysome anyway, don't you think?)

I saw those videos. They underscore how problematic the Apple platform is for pro users. There is no good choice. The only good news is there is still a non-windows option.

In every option, there are lots of compromises which is always the case but they seem a far greater magnitude than ever before. If you sit down and plunk down $5K to upgrade a workstation, you see the dilemna. The compromises are huge at every turn. The lack of an Apple monitor solution is the beginning.

I'm pretty sure that the next gen iMacs with 6 cores are gonna be great and probably offer the best performance value... Problem with the promised new Mac Pro is that it's gonna be all XEON, etc making it super expensive (and for many things the xeons are not even better).
Would be nice with an upgradeable Mac with room for extra HDs etc based on i7/i9... but that won't happen. Which is why I went the hackintosh route... but that is not without it's own issues...

I didn't expect it but I have come around the the Trash Can view of desktop computing. I really like a small desktop unit separate from a RAID connected only by a small flexible cable (at the same performance of internal of course). It's no different than the backup enclosures. It also enables freedom of monitor configurations that the iMac inhibits. I think the Mac Mini coming out this fall is Apple's chance to solve the non-all-in-one desktop crisis it has. I would have waited for it had I known the disaster that awaited me with the nMP. YMMV