2016 MacBook Pro - Data Wrangling discussion

Sid Tinney · October 27, 2016

Apple's long-awaited new MBP's are finally out - LINK.

And I think Apple has just made me a Windows user.

Thinner, lighter, new display... Touch bar on the top row of the keyboard, 2x bigger trackpad...
And ONLY 4x USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) ports and a headphone jack.

I'm in need of a new laptop for wrangling, but I'm not going to pay OVER AUD$5000 for a machine that's not functional out of the box.

Thoughts? What are other AC's using for wrangling?

Edited October 27, 2016 by Sid Tinney

Tyler Purcell · October 29, 2016

Yea, the last great machine is the FINAL standard 15" Macbook Pro from 2012 with the i7 and optical drive. The retina's started the whole downward spiral of apple and the whole laptop game. Now they're just making complete crap.

Most of my friends use Retina's, they work fine for downloading cards and stuff.

Phil Rhodes · October 29, 2016

If you've no need to run Mac-specific applications, Apple has long been a rather expensive way to get to a computer.

Personally I don't like laptops for this sort of work, anyway. Again, if you don't need desktop apps, it really ought to be a more integrated device. Thunderbolt cables are not, in my experience, particularly field-hardened.

P

Evan Walsh · November 7, 2016

I've been needing a laptop for a minute now and was going to wait and see about the new one before making a purchase.

After seeing its price tag and features I'm definitely not going the new MBP route.

I wanted to get some opinions on purchasing a laptop.

I do have some Mac specific apps, nothing crazy, mainly Shotput pro 6 and a few others so I'd like to stay Apple for now.

Would it be foolish to spend money on a suped up previous generation MBP that I could still get a few years out of, or would the better route be to dump mac and just buy a good Windows laptop?

Nathan Walters · November 7, 2016

I'm in the same boat, looking to soon upgrade my laptop for data wrangling purposes, or being able to edit smaller projects on the road when need be. I've been a Mac guy for a while now, and am a bit scared that they are going down the tubes.

One thought of input. Aren't HFS+ formatted cards only compatible with Mac, and thus could have troubles when trying to offload onto Windows? Assuming you had an AC that assumed to format the card to HFS+ without asking first.

Tyler Purcell · November 8, 2016

Supposedly there is a plugin for windows to deal with HFS+, but mac's are switching formatting yet again, so don't hold your breath. The new style of formatting is pretty clever and has a lot of potential for SSD's, but it's a non-starter for windows.

There was a recent test of the new Macbook's vs current PC models of higher spec and similar price. The Macbook blew the PC's out of the water on identical tests. This is the kind of thing that makes you think for a second about windows media integration vs mac's. Apple has done a great job with it and Windows has fell behind substantially.

Then you think the entire industry is quicktime based and windows is no longer supported. Right there, it's the nail in the coffin for windows and Apple knows it. They want to separate themselves and they're doing a good job at that unfortunately. I actually prefer windows to have the same tools as mac so people use the best tools on the market. Now its looking more like the great divide where each system is going to offer entirely different solutions to the same problem, which sucks.

Phil Rhodes · November 8, 2016

Supposedly there is a plugin for windows to deal with HFS+

There is, but the free versions are a pain in the backside.

Linux deals better, uncharacteristically, although I'd never recommend it for this sort of work.

Unless there's a piece of software that's mac-only and absolutely mission critical, windows all the way. You'd get a far better deal and way more choice - but then, I'd probably put together a proper computer system to do it rather than screwing around with laptops.

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Tyler Purcell · November 8, 2016

Yea, but desktops really suck for portable situations. Most people need laptops to download cards and do some basic color correction on set to insure things look good. At home, I think most of us use high-power desktops, I know I do.

It's also about integration, mac's are still better at working with video. Now that mac's are just intel computers, it's very easy to build up a very nice PC and run Mac OS on it, most of my friends do that and have the best of both worlds. An operating system that actually works without any tinkering and super powerful, low cost hardware.

I use a 8 year old mac pro tower and it's no slower then any new fancy PC I've used.

Mark Kenfield · November 9, 2016

Is carrying a usb3 hub or two really such a big deal?

I'm actually really excited about the new mbp because they allow you to now simply plug a high end gpu into your laptop and VASTLY improve performance in editing and grading software.

That's a BIG deal.

Phil Rhodes · November 9, 2016

It is if they break, or the cables break, and once you factor in the division of bandwidth.

All computers let you plug in a GPU. Except the new Mac Pro, of course. I facepalm expressively.

Tyler Purcell · November 9, 2016

Is carrying a usb3 hub or two really such a big deal?

I use ethernet, firewire, USB 3, HDMI/DVI and Thunderbolt constantly. Plus, people have tripped over my power cable literally hundreds of times working on sets and my laptop has never been damaged. Now without a magsafe adaptor, we're back to the stone age with that whole issue. Maybe Apple will think of a clever solution built-in to their actual adaptors cable, but I haven't seen anything.

I'm actually really excited about the new mbp because they allow you to now simply plug a high end gpu into your laptop and VASTLY improve performance in editing and grading software.

Thunderbolt has allowed you to do this since it's invention. It's a direct PCI bus device.

Mark Kenfield · November 10, 2016

I use ethernet, firewire, USB 3, HDMI/DVI and Thunderbolt constantly. Plus, people have tripped over my power cable literally hundreds of times working on sets and my laptop has never been damaged. Now without a magsafe adaptor, we're back to the stone age with that whole issue. Maybe Apple will think of a clever solution built-in to their actual adaptors cable, but I haven't seen anything./quote]

They've removed the magsafe? That's daft.

Thunderbolt has allowed you to do this since it's invention. It's a direct PCI bus device.

I think that's just theoretical. The only external gpu setups I can find for thunderbolt macs are hacked versions that may or may not break with OSX updates.

Tyler Purcell · November 10, 2016

You can plug a mini PCIE chassis into a Thunderbolt port and put any card you want in it.

I run a 100% PC graphics card in my Mac Pro tower. It just doesn't give you a boot screen, but once the finder opens, it works fine because the cards ARE supported by drivers.

Phil Rhodes · November 10, 2016

Ha, is that all the custom firmware does?

Tyler Purcell · November 11, 2016

Yea, I mean you don't need custom firmware anymore supposedly. I haven't tried, I like Apple hardware and have never needed "the best" computer. My laptop is from 2011 and my tower is from 2009, both were around $1000 bux total.