Best MacbookPro Graphics/setup?

[lightbx]

^^ Do you happen to use a Blade with Resolume? Looking for any impressions from real users I can get.

I have heard that some models come with the GTX1080, but have only seen models with the 1060 advertised.

[Arvol]

I have both models. The pro comes with the 1080. That's my festival rig. The blades have the 1060 and it is more than enough power for everything I throw at it. Currently using those for vegas and theatre install shows.

[chenthemagician]

dinga - whats your setup like with the Blade/Blade Pro, i'm looking into investing in one, workflow physically that is.

and any other components you personally use to get the signal out to the screens.

[keolablue]

Thanks for all your replies and opinions!
Any more word on how the new Macbooks with raedon perform? The price point, touchbar and lack of ports is ridiculous, which is why I'm still leaning towards older refurbished models.

I don't know what it would take for me to switch to a gaming quality PC. Windows annoys the hell out of me. Perhaps a razer could be turned into a hackintosh?

[Joris]

The new 2017 MBP got benchmarked by Najrock: viewtopic.php?f=11&p=58465#p58465

[Arvol]

chenthemagician, My Benchmarks are at the bottom:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... 1522306833
Only edit that needs to be made is the price on the Razer Blade Pro 2016 was $4,500 not $5,000

With that being said, I like the size, and keyboards on the Blades better than the pro, and the additional $1,800 isn't worth the few extra layers you can play IMO, However, I do a lot of content creation and having the extra screen size and GPU umph, helps out in that aspect. Any future purchases will just be the Blades though. VERY satisfied with their performance for the price point ($,5000 for a MBP with a lesser GPU is a joke!)

In regards to my setup, I use a Midifighter Twister and icon iControls for my VJ'ing. I keep all my content on the HDD but also have a Samsung T3 SSD for anything that's given to me day of show (house VJ for festivals).
The software Mac Drive is a must have for everyone bringing me OSX Journaled HDD's of content. MPEG streamclip is also a must for batch conversions.

I've used the BMD Ultrastudio USB for incoming signal (HDSDI), But just recently switched over to the AJA U-Tap (HDSDI) input card. Both are great.

Chaser is plus if you're into multi-screen strobe chases and other fun FX.

I have a few RGB link and Analog Way scalers I never use, but it's nice to have them there just in case or to use as a Swiss Army Knife of signal converters.

Just got some Belden 1794a 300' HDSDI cables and paired them with some shielded cat6 cables for my FOH runs. Sometimes we get DJ's that want to have a monitor on stage, or guest VJ's that want to send camera feeds from the stage to FOH, having these snakes (4) really makes my life a breeze. I use the BMD Micro HDSDI to HDMI converters on both ends. Also have a BMD HDSDI DA/Reclocker that is amazing! Sends HD signal over 600'!!!!!
Got a few Gefen DVI to Cat6 converters that have been solid these last few years (Gefen gets a bad rep for some reason?) HD signal up to 460' over Cat6!

I use Novastar MCTRL660 Processors to send to my walls.

Other than that I really can't think of anything else in my rigs. We have a ton of installs and long term rentals, but they're all very similar in setup, sometimes they are DMX via MA2 or Avo.

Came into my position with my company using only Green Hippo's... What a freaking nightmare!!!! Run for the hills! Resolume has seriously been the saving grace of my sanity and full colored hair.

[Warspite]

Wow, 5000 dollar Macbook. Why not 25000 with swarowski crystals?
I will get mine at 2399+200 dollar for Radeon Pro 460 4GB.
Lets not manipulate with this numbers.
Hope will test it soon and post results.

[Warspite]

BMD Micro converters are great - they are tiny and work from any micro-usb smartphone charger or power bank (yes, you can put BMD Microconverter as a reclocker in the middle of you long SDI cable run and power it from power bank). But as always with BMD something is cut for price. They do not support RGB colorspace, only YUV. Sometimes colors are distorted (and you always loose some colors with this RGB-YUV-RGB convertions), sometimes it does not work because your final receiver-hardware support only RGB. So you always need other piece of hardware for this rare cases.

[najrock]

With that being said, I like the size, and keyboards on the Blades better than the pro, and the additional $1,800 isn't worth the few extra layers you can play IMO, However, I do a lot of content creation and having the extra screen size and GPU umph, helps out in that aspect. Any future purchases will just be the Blades though. VERY satisfied with their performance for the price point ($,5000 for a MBP with a lesser GPU is a joke!)

to be fair the MBP was almost $4000.00 exactly, not $5000... but still a ridiculous price. Also it was not purchased by myself, I was just allowed a couple hours to test it out.

I will say that it is a beautiful piece of kit, absolute joy to work on. I did some tests with after effects and C4D and it was perfectly fine for those applications. it runs the native mac os as smooth as one would expect.

I love the touchbar. When they upgrade to the kaby lake processors and 32 gb of ram with a pro card this will be the best portable solution on the planet... but they might never actually do that

apple is a very see and be seen style company at this point... their customer base is largely unprofessional well to do's that need to spend money for tax write offs and appreciate they way purchasing expensive things makes them feel...

and this machine is amazing looking and feeling... possibly a very impressive introduction to a new line of powerful desktop replacements... but most likely an introduction into phasing out of annoying hardware hungry power users while placating to their core consumers who make 100k+ a year working at blogs and doing unboxing videos.

as our industry pushes forward we will most likely all soon have to abandon apple for gaming and vr capable laptops... especially considering the future of live visuals inevitably leans towards realtime platforms like Unity and Unreal...

MSI and Razer right now are leading the pack IMO and asus and dell are pushing hard at the consumer market... Dell has a $800 laptop with a gtx 1050 TI!

the MSI stealth laptop tested insanely well when I had time on it... after you sort the graphics switching it really is a beast... albeit a tad large.

Razer Blades are the best... hands down... but they are pricey... if the extra $500 doesnt mean anything to you then by all means... there is no better option for a touring VJ than a 2016 Razer Blade


rant rant rant

[Arvol]

It was a $4,300 MBP. After taxes it was closer to $4,800. The Razer blade came to $4,500. But the regular Razer at $2,700 still destroys the MBP. I honestly was clueless that the razers or even msi's were in the same league, let alone one ups the MBP until just recent. Wanted to spread the knowledge. Hoping to save some people some money and have them get a better machine all at through same time.