My 2008 MacPro was leagues behind my 2014 MBP in processing ability on large files, not even in the same state let alone zipcode.
By all accounts the newest MacPro is the cat's pajamas for editing and connectivity, but you want the fast single 6-core for photography, not the slower dual quad or dual hex. And then for the price, you might as well load it with ram, drive and GPU to the max -- $6600 US when you're all said and done.
That said, my 2014 MBP does a fine job with D800 files, though the limited connectivity is getting to me and I'll likely spring for the MAcPro above later this year.
I see a lot of those comments on MacPro 2008 users - but isnt that because of the HDD ?
My MBP is a 17", 2010 i7 2.7ghz dual core one and I just gave it a breath of life by installling a SSD.
Couldnt the same be done on a MP 2010 ? Plus with a current GPU ( lets say a ATI r9 or a GTX680 ? )
My current-model MBP (2.3GHz Core i7) is about 5x as fast as my 2010 MBP (2.6? Core i7) was. A lot of progress bars that once made sense just flicker by on it. It's FAST.
The 2010 MBP was slightly faster than my 8-core 2008 Mac Pro. Basically, the current MBP just leaves the 2008 MP in the dust.
This includes just about any workload that you can throw at it. Add in USB3 and all the other good little upgrades and it's really, really nice. (The built-in SDXC slot is also on USB3.)
That 2010 is my current one.
The i5, i7 malarchy reminds me the Pentium days. Its confusing now.
i7 that are 4 and 5 times faster than... same speed i7's... doesnt make sense.
Intel should be smarter by now, but it isnt.
In the 386, 486 days everything was easy - the faster the speed, the better the CPU
Then Pentium cpu's came along and intel had a hardtime educating the public that a Pentium III at 1500ghz was much better than a Pentium II at 2000 ghz.
You would have expected by now they would have learned. But no
I'm probably going to upgrade my 8-core 2008 mac pro within the next year. Not because it performs poorly, but because it's currently the oldest desktop supported by the newest OS, which means the obsolescence clock is ticking. Better to sell before that happens.
I would replace with a 2010 or 2011 6-core model, running 3.33ghz. This has proved to be the fastest configuration for photoshop. Unless you're doing some heavy multitasking while processing photos, there's more cost than benefit to the additional cores.
I would absolutely not get the latest mac pro. While it could be configured to be marginally faster, the performance / price gain would be terrible. Most of the cost of these machines can be attributed to the two workstation-class video cards, which would only slightly and occasionally be taken advantage of by photoshop.
If you're doing video, 3D, visualizations, or scientific computing, the new mac pro is beast. It's really not designed for us.
I also don't like that it requires us to have an external drive enclosure. Video guys have these already, but for me, the 4 bays of the old mac pro are perfectly adequate. I'm confused by something with such an elegant form factor, if the design requires adding a nest of wires and external appliances.
I'm really struggling here.
I find the price for a New Mac PRO 6 core a bit high - and specially because it is very much video orientated.
I **could** be ALMOST ok with the price if I knew that it was a killer photo machine ( which it is, on its own right ) and the best - but an iMac 27" fully specced just trounces the nMP for photo editing and cost 1000 usd less.
"so buy a iMac27" everyone says. well.. it buggers me to spend 3000 euros on a imac with ZERO upgradability on the near future. And knowing that in 3-4 years a replacement is to be bought... so for that I would rather have a MacPro ( new or old ) that IF I want, I can upgrade the ram, the cpu, the videocards.
Its easier with the 2010 models - GPU versions are abound, ram is cheap and the whole thing cost half the price of a nMP - but zero warranty, zero support from apple and if they just want to leave on the side with upgrades and so on, they will ( MacPro 1.1 is now confined to 10.7. No upgrade possible )
In the end, my MBP does "okayish" with my D800E files - I think I will buy a decent 27" monitor and save some money for a newMacPro in the future... but I would buy a different thing in a heartbeat - MacPro orientated for photographers, MacMini beefed up with ram and discreete GPU, old Mac Pro with two year warranties..
New laptop is a no no - specially because I bought a new Mac Air for my wife ( her bday ) and she rarely uses it..
