What would you replace an old MacPro with these days?

[EricWillhelm]

Greetings all. Just putting feelers out as I ponder which route to take to replace my 2007 MacPro which Apple has deemed unworthy of Lion. Mind you, I'm actually quite happy with Snow Leopard, but I know how progress goes, and sooner or later something will force my hand (can you say "Pro Tools 11 requires Lion or higher"), and I'm trying to figure out what to buy next time. As it is, it seems a Mac Mini makes the most sense. Assuming Thunderbolt is going to be the connection of choice for the next round of interfaces, and since I have no need for PCI cards, a new MacPro seems like overkill these days. And of course, who knows what will change between now and the release of PT11. But in the current market, I'm wondering if anyone has any significant input either FOR or AGAINST the idea of going with a Mini over a new Pro machine.

Thanks and all that,
Eric

[jasonthurley]

Macbook Pro or just wait like 6 months or so until they bring out the new series of professional machines... If they do

[EricWillhelm]

Yeah, only thing about the Macbooks (and I should've mentioned this in my initial post) is that I like to work with two monitors, which I'm guessing you can't do with a laptop. Well, maybe using the laptop one and a 2nd attached via cable, but that's a bit awkward. Anyhoo...

[nst7]

With the Retina Macbooks, you can actually have 3 external displays, plus the Macbook's own display, as shown here:

http://blog.macsales.com/14241-macbo...ernal-displays

This works using the two thunderbolt ports, and the HDMI. And you can still daisy-chain other thunderbolt devices.


However, I would try to hold out for the new Mac Pros. They may be here sooner rather than later, as this article speculates:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/...es-new-mac-pro

[albee1952]

Just to share the info, I sat thru a demo last that was running a pair of MacBook Pro's(1 new Retina model and 1 older MBP). Each was using Thunderbolt, 1 to the HD/Native TB box and an OMNI , and the other to a Magma box with 2 HDX cards and an HD IO. Both ran quite nicely. Another route might be a nice 27" iMac i7(which might make more sense in a studio control room than a laptop). The Mini looks like another good option, but I have read about some heat issues from other users, so consider that

[agershon]

I run a MBP because my work gave it to me. I just got the Thunderbolt HD Native box with an Omni. I've just got it set up and it seems great.

If I were buying a machine, THE factor would be portability: do you need it? I don't, so I would do a Hackintosh tower with a Thunderbolt card. iMac is another good choice.

I used to run a second monitor via the TB port, so I purchased a DisplayLink USB to DVI adaptor. Haven't set it up yet but crossing fingers it will work fine. Supposed to.

[jasonthurley]

Macbook Pros can do multiple screens no problem...

Albee has a great point about being used as a studio computer that sits in the same place (never has to move and doesn't need to be portable) If you sometimes need to go location recording a laptop is great.... also you can get a dock for the laptop to use a regular (full) sized keyboard and mouse and have your 2nd or 3rd screen connected to the dock, so all you do is unplug the laptop from the dock without the hassle of unplugging all the gear to take the laptop out of the room...

Just food for thought

[CME]

I think the quad-core i7 mini would make a fine machine. If you need the features a Mac Pro has, PCIe slots, lots of hard drives, ect. Then a hackintosh is your best bet. both are relatively inexpensive when compared to a Mac Pro, but can have as much or more power as most of them.

[propower]

This thread has input for you

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=331218

Long story short, (my opinion of course!)
2011-2012 MAcMini if you don't mind 90degC+ CPUs
2012 MBP retina if you want portability
Earlier MBP if you want portability and don't mind their fan noise (and hot CPUs)
iMac if you like that kind of thing
2009 or better MacPro if you want a workhorse - 2009 quads can be had for $1K

[ejwells]

A new Mac Pro.