Need to benchmark Motion 5: MacPro vs iMac

I've used both, have a new Mac Pro installed in our studio now. The Mac Pro 6 or 8 core, D700 with a good T'bolt RAID will let Motion run better than an iMac. As for designing a template, you seem to know enough about Motion to design your own.

Start a new project, make it 4K Digital Cinema, 60fps. Create a text layer with your first and last name. Make that an Emitter. Set birth rate and initial number to 1000, speed to 500. Set the cell's color mode to Pick From Color Range, make sure you add points so there are about 5 or more differnt colors. Then play that back. Note the playback FPS as your meassure of playback efficiency. Then do a RAM Preview, and use the time it takes to create that RAM Preview as a second measurement of efficiency.

I can assure you, the Mac Pro, with at least 16GB RAM, D700 GPUs, and 6 or 8 cores, will prove the best.

And be sure they have the latest updates for OS X Macericks, the QT Codec latest updates, and the latest Motion updates installed, also.

As a pro who's used this stuff from version 1, and trainer, and has traveled extensively, visiting Apple retail stores across the country, don't listen to anything anyone at an Apple retail store tells you about FCPX, Motion, or any of the pro apps. I've yet to find anyone in one of those stores that really has a clue. Apple traines them as sales folks, nothing else.

I have a Speed Test Motion file that will push Motion it's limit. Just tried to find it on the internet... couldn't. Go to my profile and send me an email if you want this file.

Here is it on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/xeSEVO2BN6Q

I don't see an email on your profile. Send it to benb at bbalser dot com, if you would, please.

Sent...

Fixed email in the profile.

David -

What concerns me a lot is how well does the iMac hold up under heavy useage, and secondly, if the results are broadcast on the Internet, how will they be used.

As I look at my MacBook Pro and Mac Pro (3,1), there is a HUGE difference between the way the two are built. It's almost like comparing a Toyota Prius to a Mac Truck. Heck, the Prius can probably outrun the truck, and maybe even pull a truck trailer, but for how long?

Case in point: My MacBook Pro lost it's on-board speakers (not the speaker/headphone jack problem) because of circuit board meltdown and now it either (1) has to have a $600 Apple store board replace job, or, (2) I take it to someone and have the circuits re-soldered. Less expensive ($150) but chancy.

The Mac Pro is an older 2008 machine and is my video-only editing machine, The MacBook Pro, a 2010 model, was basically for simple documents and Internet but with only a little video editing.

I've seen people lugging their iMacs into the Apple store and to the Genius Bar for troubleshooting but I don't know how many of the problems are use-related. It would be interesting to know how many iMac machines have problems that were video-editing induced.

So, while coming up with benchmarks will show speed comparisons they won't show the whole picture.

Unfortunately, some consumers who see the results will think nothing of driving their iMac like a diesel truck.

Message was edited by: Searchin99 Spelling: lugging

I had a 2007 MBP loose the logic board, CPU, and drive. The Apple retail store told me all non-warranty work is a flat $300, or was it $350. They fixed it up, ran well for more years. One of my students bought it a couple of years ago, and it runs just fine now.

As for how well a laptop holds up to "workload" with a desktop? They're all the same. The car analogy doesn't work. A computer doesn't have mechanical parts that will stress and physically snap. We're simply talking about electrons running along circuts.

Thus, benchmarks ARE in fact how computers are measured for usage. Service records (JD Powers reports) tell you how reliable some company's product is compared to others. And Apple has rated far and beyond the top quality for several years in a row now.

A laptop may be more vulnerable to damage, only becasue folks tend to treat them more carelessly than they really should, but Apple's laptops in general have amazing track records compared to other brands.

As a retired IT engineer, and long time FCP trainer/consultant, I would only recommend a laptop if you must have the portability, only because the GPUs are not as robust as those found in desktops. Nor are the data buses as fast. Comprimises made to save on heat generation, which is a much less concern for desktops.

An iMac with a Thunderbolt RAID will handle about any video format for just about any broadcast work, and most film work. If you're working with 4K and larger formats, need very fast turn arounds, you'd need the 2013 Mac Pro tube (with a T'bolt RAID). Only due to speed.

I am working with one of my fellow authors and trainers for an article to be published soon comparing real world FCPX, Motion and Compressor tasks on a varity of new and older Mac models. Keep an eye out for the HUB section of macProVideo.com.

David - 1

My reply was for the original poster.

The new Mac Pro is a pretty capable machine. As I remembered the description from last December it seemed to be capable of being used by four users at one time. In a cubicle setup, with the machine placed somewhere near the middle of a four-desk cubicle, only one machine would be needed. Unit cost per workstation could be greatly reduced.

The other efficiency is power consumption as it was designed to be very energy efficient In fact, at the time I was wondering if there was a way to get a tax credit. Even so, with reduced power consumption per work station, there would be a savings.

Additional savings on the electric bill would be made during the time period when air conditioning is required to cool the office spaces due to heat generated from the workstations.

Heat is the bane of capacitors so it pays to keep the cooling fans clear of lint buildup. On the Mac Pro it's the graphics card that seems to get the bulk of lint build-up. Don't know how the iMac dissipates it's heat.

And don't forget reduced IT costs to maintain the systems. But if IT is your job then maybe not.

BenB -

Flat 300 or 350 cost for non-warranty work? Maybe I'll go back and enquire again. They diagnosed it as a logic board replacement, too. My MBP 5,1 was only worth, last fall, probably around $600 or so, so now probably even less so the repair bill is hard to swallow.. Haven't been following used prices lately but it is in absolutely mint condition and really does pretty much anything I need. Audio still works via headphones or speakers but that's a drag workaround. When the problem occurred we were vacation and using it to watch TV with an EyeTV USB stick so I suspect that was even worse than doing video editing.

All testing is done, and we're doing 4K and 1080 real-world editing tests, so it is up to the author and mPV to get it posted (I'm only doing testing). I can tell you this much, my '13 8-core D700 MP beats the pants off of my '13 rMBP 11,3. The rMBP is close to being on par with my 2008 MP, but neither comes close to the new MP "tube".

But, do you need a "tube"? What sort of work are you doing? If you're not regularly doing full 4K and 5K work, or regularly working on large 1 hour plus projects, an iMac with a T'bolt RAID will do you just fine. AND plan on a configuration what will meet your needs, not today, but in 4 years. Do you plan to move to larger projects with higher end cameras in that time? Plan for it, buy for that now. Average corporate life cycle of computers is 5-6 years. So plan on what you need 4-5 years from now.

"being used by four users at one time." No clue where you got that, but no, one user for a computer at a time, unless you're talking about other computers access its data, making it a file server, then your users are virtually unlimited.

As for electric use and heat, non-issues for current Macs. The Mac Pro is super cool, and about the most energy efficient desktop on the market. All Macs are way more energy efficient and heat efficient than most any PC on the market. Remember, that cooling fan not only pulls heat out of the Mac, it is also cooling it on the way out. Only the old, heavy, big silver box Mac Pros were really heat monsters, and only if you packed it full of PCIe cards and filled it up with large drives. My studio has rMBPs, MPs (old and new), and iMacs running daily doing real work. I speak from first hand exprience with them over many, many years.

I'd say in a couple of weeks start watching https://www.macprovideo.com/hub/category/final-cut for the article to be published. Some very surprising twists I can't leak just yet.