Macbook Pro or Desktop for CS6 Studio?
DTBD Films Nov 28, 2012 11:16 PMI've just switched from FCP and am trying to decide b/t three options. I'll be using Premiere mostly, but with a bit of AE, Photoshop, and probably some others once I learn them. So the options are:
1- Desktop #1
3.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
32 gigs RAM
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD Superclocked 1280 MB GDDR5 Graphics Card (or a EVGA GeForce GTX570 HD 2560MB GDDR5 SLI Ready Graphics Card)
120-250 SSD as boot
Gigabyte Intel Z77 Dual Thunderbolt ATX Motherboard
Video video storage through external SSD through USB3.0 (Thunderbolt possibly later)
- can't do internal for video storage. Will have to buy two desktops, one for work and one for home.
2- Desktop #2
3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
16 gigs RAM
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Superclocked 1024 MB GDDR5 SLI Ready Graphics Card
120-250 SSD as boot
Gigabyte Intel H77 LGA 1155 AMD CrossFireX DVI/HDMI Dual UEFI BIOS ATX Motherboard
Video video storage through external SSD through USB3.0 (Thunderbolt possibly later)
- can't do internal for video storage. Will have to buy two desktops, one for work and one for home.
3- 2012 nonRetina Macbook Pro
2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
16 gigs RAM
512 SSD as boot
Video drive will either be another internal SSD (with an OWC data doubler) or external with a SSD through USB3.0 (Thunderbolt possibly later)
Intertestingly, two of the Desktop #1 would only be slightly more expensive than the Macbook Pro and I could get 3 of the Desktop #2 for the same price. I would have to buy 2 of the desktops if I went that route as I need a solution for work and home.
So, what I really want to know is what would be the performance difference amongst the three options. I would image the desktop solutions would be faster than the Macbook Pro (believe they have better video cards) but how much faster practically? I like the options of a portable studio in a laptop, but lugging it around is tiresome and the performance of my 2009 17" MBP (8 gigs RAm, Core2Duo 2.8, 1 TB 5400 Boot, 750GB video drive in Data Doubler) has been way too slow in FCP.
Thanks ahead of time for any thoughts or suggestions!




