Post Magazine: Work Stations
By Adam Noyes
With so many options for video post production professionals when it comes to NLE’s, a lot of this decision comes down to the workstation. True professionals need a system that supports their workflow.
Postmagazine.com created an excellent article breaking down some great post production workstations. Check out some highlights from that article, below.
APPLE
Apple’s all-new iMac features a more compact design that’s powered by the company’s M1 chip. The new iMac is just 11.5 millimeters thin, and is available in a choice of seven vibrant colors.
The 24-inch 4.5K Retina display features 11.3 million pixels, 500 nits of brightness and over a billion colors. A 1080p FaceTime HD camera is joined by studio-quality mics and a six-speaker sound system. Touch ID comes to iMac for the first time, making it easy to securely log in, make purchases with Apple Pay, or switch user profiles. The iMac combines the power and performance of M1 and macOS Big Sur to help apps launch very quickly. iMac comes with a new power connector that attaches magnetically and a woven, two-meter-long, color-matched cable.
The 24-Inch 4.5K Retina Display iMac has anti-reflective coating for an improved viewing experience. Compared to the standard models of the 21.5-inch iMac, the new release offers 85 percent faster CPU performance, up to 2x faster GPU performance for certain apps, like Affinity Photo and Photoshop, and up to 50 percent faster performance than the most powerful discrete graphics in the fastest 21.5-inch iMac.
The workstation has the ability to edit up to five streams of 4K footage, or one stream of 8K footage, without dropping a frame in Final Cut Pro. Complementing the 1080p camera is a three-microphone array that helps with clearer calls and voice recordings. The mics are positioned to reduce feedback from the rest of the system, while directional beamforming allows them to better ignore background noise and focus on a user’s voice.
The new iMac also features the best sound system ever in a Mac. It has two pairs of force-cancelling woofers placed side by side for impressive bass response, while reducing unintended vibrations. Each pair is balanced with a high-performance tweeter. The result is a six-speaker sound system. All of the speaker innovations, coupled with advanced algorithms, enable iMac to support spatial audio when playing video with Dolby Atmos.
There are thousands of Universal apps available that take full advantage of M1 and macOS Big Sur, including Photoshop and DaVinci Resolve, with more arriving each week. iMac features two Thunderbolt ports for fast data transfers and support for up to a 6K display, like the Apple Pro Display XDR. The eight-core iMac configuration offers two additional USB-C ports and also features a 1Gbps Ethernet port in the power adapter, allowing for a less cluttered desktop.
Apple began taking iMac orders on April 30th and was expected to begin deliveries to customers in the second half of May.
iMac with the seven-core GPU starts at $1,299. It features an eight-core CPU, 8GB of unified memory, 256GB SSD, two Thunderbolt ports, Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse.
The iMac with an eight-core GPU starts at $1,499 and features an eight-core CPU, 8GB of unified memory, 256GB SSD, two Thunderbolt ports, two additional USB 3 ports, Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, Magic Mouse and Ethernet.
Boxx Technologies
Boxx Technologies (www.boxx.com), which specializes in high-performance computer workstations, rendering systems and servers, introduced the Apexx Everest back in March, making it one of the first manufacturers to ship systems equipped with the powerful new AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro processor. The Apexx Everest workstation features the 64-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000WX Series processor, which is AMD’s most versatile desktop platform to date.
With support for up to 128 PCIe lanes and a boost GHz of 4.2, AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro gives Apexx Everest a high-level of multi-processing power for demanding 3D content creation workflows. Whether rendering complex 3D scenes, powering simulation or quickly rebuilding assemblies, AMD’s 64-core Ryzen Threadripper Pro enables Apexx Everest users to experience full spectrum compute capability rivaling competing dual-socket systems.
The Boxx workstation also supports up to four professional-grade GPUs: AMD Radeon Pro or Nvidia RTX (including Ampere, Nvidia’s 2nd generation RTX architecture). Additional features include multiple hard drive options, up to 2TB of system memory and IPMI for remote system management. The Apexx Everest is highly configurable and delivers a high level of performance for multi-threaded applications, such as Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya and Revit, as well as Avid, Adobe CC, DaVinci Resolve, Cinema 4D and V-Ray.
At the GTC show back in April, Boxx highlighted a number of product lines, including Flexx. A multi-node, data center-ready system, Flexx is capable of simultaneously supporting multiple types of compute nodes, providing the highest application performance for professional content creators who are working on-site or remotely. Compute nodes include Nvidia Virtual Workstation nodes that can be accessed from any connected device, delivering performance previously available only in desk-side workstations, as well as multi-CPU render nodes and multi-GPU workstation or render nodes. Flexx systems are recommended for Autodesk Revit, Maya, 3ds Max and Arnold, as well as Solidworks Simulation & Visualize, Chaos V-Ray and other applications.