Best iMac/Macbook Pro for BMCC workflow???

Hey guys, Im sure its been discussed somewhere here on this forum. Im a mac user but I will be purchasing a new mac this week and just wanted some advice on which macbook pro or desktop would be the best for the BMCC workflow with davinci resolve. I have about $1800 to spend and would like to save as much as possible. Any Blackmagic reps please feel free to jump in as well. Also what do you guys think about the retina display models??

I would go for the top of the line iMac with 16gb of ram. A few on here have said that the 15" retina macbook pros don't run resolve that well.

I would go for the top of the line iMac with 16gb of ram. A few on here have said that the 15" retina macbook pros don't run resolve that well.

Thanks, this helps a lot. Im definitely open for getting another iMac but I would've preferred a Macbook pro this time around...but if a desktop is best for the workflow then so be it. Anyway thanks again.

I don't mean to intrude, but have you considered running a PC built machine and running MAC OS on it? It'd be a far more cost effective solution and better way to utilize your budget.

@Innerspark: When you go down that route, why run MAC OS on top of a PC? Resolve runs just fine on Windows and you avoid any licensing issues with OSX (which you are NOT allowed to just install on a non-MAC hardware anyway).

However, I assume that there is some reason for asking for an OSX solution, even if it is significantly more expensive.

Probably I can help

About the iMac: I own a iMac 3.4GHz i7 27"" with 32GB RAM and SSD - it is a great machines and the only problem I had was the cooling system which was broken on two of them. Besides that, everything else about it is just awesome!

About the MacBook: I own a MacBook Pro Retina 15" with 2.7GHz, 16GB RAM and SSD. My fist one arrived broken, the sound was awful and the fan went crazy. The second one was better, that little thing did editing HD and even RAW without problems in the first minuts. After a half a day editing I wasn't so pleased any more. There were some reasons, the fan started to be annoying again, sometimes fcp stopped working for some reason. But about Retina - it is great

@Innerspark: When you go down that route, why run MAC OS on top of a PC? Resolve runs just fine on Windows and you avoid any licensing issues with OSX (which you are NOT allowed to just install on a non-MAC hardware anyway).

However, I assume that there is some reason for asking for an OSX solution, even if it is significantly more expensive.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not "condoning" a hackintosh build, but the OP said he was a "mac guy" and I wanted to run it that route because the LAST thing Macs are, are cost efficient machines.

I know this is totally not the correct place to start this type of discussion, but if you can build a computer from parts, your money is best spent on a PC. If the MAC case and screen is that important, and the OS, you can go the iMAC route, but to the OP, if you want a more future proof solution, PC is the way to go.

Thanks guys for responding and for all the advice. I've considered pc but I've been a mac user since 2006 so I have too much mac software investment and really don't want to loose out on what I've invested. But from what it sounds like looks like another iMac may be my best bet for my workflow.

For working in your office it is simply the best option

The MBPR isn't bad and especially the Retina is great but it also is very tiny to work on.
If I'm working with my MBPR in my office, most of the time it's connected to my 27" thunderbolt display.

win based machine for only resolve would be also viable if you would need that kind of gpu power.

Imac could also be really nice option. Have not used it as i have mac pro but for home use i'm really
thinking of imac.

Hey guys, hope you don't mind me piggy backing on this topic, but I'd love a clear answer on Ultrascope.
I'm not looking to run Resolve on a laptop, just Ultrascope.
And I wouldn't mind if it was just the two up display.
Does anyone think you could run Ultrascope on a non-retina 13" macbook pro?

Thanks for any help,

You can try "quickres", a program that simulates 1920x1080.
Works on my 15" MacBook Pro.

You can try "quickres", a program that simulates 1920x1080.
Works on my 15" MacBook Pro.

Thanks David, the 15" has the NVIDIA grafx card in it but the 13" only has the intel HD. I've heard that some people have had luck getting it to work on a 13" with Retina, which also has the intel card, but I haven't heard yet of anyone trying it out on the non-retina.

I wouldn't expect much from the integrated Intel graphics processor, but the discrete chip in the 15" Retina model is a Kepler, so hopefully it will do reasonably well. My MBP is due to arrive next Wednesday, I'll try Resolve out on it. I don't have my BMCC yet obviously, but I have some 2.7K footage from my Hero 3 that I can try it with.

I wouldn't expect much from the integrated Intel graphics processor.

Right, I hear ya. But the 13" MBP retina has the same card and it works. I'm just trying to find out if anyone has actually tried it.
Thanks.

Right, I hear ya. But the 13" MBP retina has the same card and it works. I'm just trying to find out if anyone has actually tried it.
Thanks.

Do you mean the mediocre (it's improved from crappy ) Intel chip? That I probably won't be able to test, so maybe my experimenting won't hall as much as I'd hoped. :-/

Its a bummer that the cheapest gtx 670 equivalent with 27inch screen on a mac is 1999. Thats without an i7 too.

Like I've said, I have the new 2.7 GHz 15" MBPR with the (only option) Intel Graphic Chip.

I can't tell about Resolve Pro cause I'm still waiting for my BMCC so I had a go with Resolve Lite and this works great. Besides that I still try to figure out how to set up the window configuration. Like I said, working in my office combined with a 27" cinema display it does a great job, but if I'm staying in a Hotel or if I'm just sitting in the garden the MPBR's 15" is doing a great job too.

@Innerspark: When you go down that route, why run MAC OS on top of a PC? Resolve runs just fine on Windows and you avoid any licensing issues with OSX (which you are NOT allowed to just install on a non-MAC hardware anyway).

However, I assume that there is some reason for asking for an OSX solution, even if it is significantly more expensive.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not "condoning" a hackintosh build, but the OP said he was a "mac guy" and I wanted to run it that route because the LAST thing Macs are, are cost efficient machines.

I know this is totally not the correct place to start this type of discussion, but if you can build a computer from parts, your money is best spent on a PC. If the MAC case and screen is that important, and the OS, you can go the iMAC route, but to the OP, if you want a more future proof solution, PC is the way to go.

Not trying to start a Mac vs Pc thing here but I built my first PC this past summer and it has been the best computer I have ever had. I own a brand new mid 2012 Macbook Pro with all the bells and whistles including 16gb ram 2.7 GHz i7 and retina display and my PC with 32 GB Ram, 17 -2600k 3.4GHz, and two EVGA GeForce GTX 670 SuperClocked 4096MB GDDR5 cards SLIed costs less and runs better.

I love both of my computers and they both serve me well, but building your own computer has a lot of advantages. Again, I am not trying to claim that PC is better than Mac but if you want something powerful and cost efficient then building a PC is an excellent option. Try not to buy a brand computer, it's much better to research and buy quality parts yourself. Also, it's not as hard to build a computer as you might think. I honestly knew very little about computer components before I began, but it didn't take long to figure it out.

Also, I have never understood the people who talk about PCs like they are the most counter intuitive things in existence. I even read a review on the BMCC where the reviewer spent a whole paragraph bashing PCs saying that things just "Don't work" like they do on Macs. Sure if you buy a low end brand PC with crappy parts full of bloatware then you'll have problems. But if you build something with quality parts and install MSE and a disk defrager (unless your using an SSD) then you will be just fine.

For the record my Macbook runs Resolve just fine. I haven't seen any issues with it so far.

Edit: I know the OP is looking for a Mac solution, my post was just a rant to the world. Too many people giving misinformation about things and people avoid them when in fact it could be the perfect fit for them. Just like the people who last used Premier a decade ago when it was terrible and still try to deter people from using it despite that it is now an excellent NLE especially if you do a decent amount of AE work. For example I worked for a production company full of hardcore FCP guys and when FCP X came out and didn't have the features we needed and FCP 7 no longer had support... I suggested we go the Adobe route since I had been using it on my home computer and really liked it. They looked at me like I was crazy and then continued to stress out about where they should take our post workflow. We can be a real close minded species when it comes to certain things. :/

Like I've said, I have the new 2.7 GHz 15" MBPR with the (only option) Intel Graphic Chip.

I can't tell about Resolve Pro cause I'm still waiting for my BMCC so I had a go with Resolve Lite and this works great. Besides that I still try to figure out how to set up the window configuration. Like I said, working in my office combined with a 27" cinema display it does a great job, but if I'm staying in a Hotel or if I'm just sitting in the garden the MPBR's 15" is doing a great job too.

The 15" MacBook Pro Retina model comes standard with a Kepler graphics chip. That's the model that I just ordered. The Intel graphics chip is integrated into the CPU so you have that in addition, and you don't get any option to exclude it. For tasks that are not graphics intensive you'll probably be using the Intel chip, but the machine will automatically engage the nVidia chip when you push the graphics subsystem. The only downside to the nVidia chip is that it's more power-hungry than the Intel one; you can't get the extra computing power without burning more energy.

Like I've said, I have the new 2.7 GHz 15" MBPR with the (only option) Intel Graphic Chip.

I can't tell about Resolve Pro cause I'm still waiting for my BMCC so I had a go with Resolve Lite and this works great. Besides that I still try to figure out how to set up the window configuration. Like I said, working in my office combined with a 27" cinema display it does a great job, but if I'm staying in a Hotel or if I'm just sitting in the garden the MPBR's 15" is doing a great job too.

The 15" MacBook Pro Retina model comes standard with a Kepler graphics chip. That's the model that I just ordered. The Intel graphics chip is integrated into the CPU so you have that in addition, and you don't get any option to exclude it. For tasks that are not graphics intensive you'll probably be using the Intel chip, but the machine will automatically engage the nVidia chip when you push the graphics subsystem. The only downside to the nVidia chip is that it's more power-hungry than the Intel one; you can't get the extra computing power without burning more energy.

Cool, good to know - thanks

Have fun with your new MBPR, you will love it!

Cool, good to know - thanks

Have fun with your new MBPR, you will love it!

No problem,and no doubt.

I still intend to get an iMac for a dedicated workstation at some point, but for now mobility is a big plus. I've been getting more portrait clients, and sinc I shoot on location I need a mobile computer to show them the pictures and get the selects immediately.

That said, I'm doing a lot of editing on a Mac Mini, and it's been working quite well overall. It's not that well equipped in the graphics department, but it's not bad. Even on that bix, Resolve is a LOT faster than Compressor and Premiere's export, even though I have to use proxies to make Resolve responsive on that box.The MBP I'm awaiting has 2x as many processors, 4x as much display ram, and 2x as much ram. Plus newer processors that have a 1.1GHz edge with Turbo, and a faster architecture overall.

At least I'll get to know Resolve a bit before I bet my BMCC.

Like I've said, I have the new 2.7 GHz 15" MBPR with the (only option) Intel Graphic Chip.

The 2.7 15" retina has the NVIDIA chip + the intel.

And I guess there is nobody who has tried to run ultrascope on a 13" mbr non-retina.

Thanks.

This is the first time I have ever posted something on the internet so please be gentle and kindly let me know if there is an etiquette I am not following.

I hope this is the right place for this post since it relates partly to MacBook Pro and workflow but also to lenses. Here goes...

So far I have spent numerous months researching, 25-30k on equipment (full details below) and another 8 months waiting, in order to begin filming for a new online Pilates business I hope to start with my wife (a Pilates instructor).

This post is for any professional out there who is willing to help a rank amateur who desperately needs to start filming. Despite all the time and money I have already invested, I'm still not adequately equipped to use my camera or support a RAW workflow. Can you help me?

Tokina 11-16mm
I read a forum response about my infinity focus issue from a BM rep that said to contact my dealer and that BM would get me sorted (words to that effect). So I contacted my dealer who said BM was working to fix it in firmware. I then contacted BM support to find out when they expected the the firmware update to be ready (I really need to start shooting) and was informed that it was a hardware problem and that they “probably wouldn’t be able to fix it.” Can anybody tell me who is correct?

Aside from potentially now having to buy 2 new lenses to replace my two new lenses, I can’t find anything comparable. Whilst not quite wide enough for the area we have built for filming, I borrowed a friends’ Canon 14mm and should be able to get away with it (trying to ignore the difference in price) assuming I can find a new ND solution to replace my new Heliopan vario ND filters.

Can I use the rear filter slots on that lens for ND or do I need to buy matt boxes now? What is the cheapest way I can get out of this without compromising the quality?

Capture, Scope or Edit?
I upgraded my 17” Macbook Pro to the new 15” Retina with 16GB Ram & 750GB ($4,400). Based on the BM NAB interviews I had watched online I had expected to use it to scope while capturing via thunderbolt (saving me the cost of 1 SSD & a monitor).

It was also a higher spec than the iMacs available at the time so I thought it would be good enough for editing since my research said even my old 17” could run resolve. I knew I would be spending a lot of time in post given the volume of videos we need to make so I decided to beef it up with a Sonnet external thunderbolt chassis ($600) fitted with BM’s Deklink 4k extreme ($1,000) and added a sony LED TV which I have calibrated as best I can without using a device ($1,000). I had seen examples of a Mac Air / Sonnet / Red Rocket combo breezing through RAW 4K so I thought the Decklink 4K Extreme would scream through the 2.5k output of the BMCC, especially given the superior power of my swanky new laptop compared to the MacBook Air.

You pros can stop laughing now and for those who don’t already know, if you want to capture to your laptop 1) You can’t capture in Cinema DNG. 2) You can’t scope and capture at the same time and 3) Forget about editing RAW files in resolve on "any" laptop (as BM support kindly advised when I rang to ask them why I could only play my RAW files back at 3fps (sadly that was after I had already laid out $7,000 for my new “editing suite”).

Apparently the red rocket is a GPU accelerator whereas the Decklink is only a capture card, despite being "the solution you need when you’re looking to go well beyond regular HD workflows." (I thought they were both PCIe cards)

So should I just sell everything and start again (again)? How would you spend that money better? Should I trade my MacBook for a Mac Pro or should I give up on RAW altogether and use internal SSDs to record ProRes and use the laptop for scoping since it edits Pro Res files without a problem? How helpful are the scopes? I am still learning to understand them so whilst they look impressive, I don’t yet appreciate how important they are/not?

We plan to shoot at some of the beautiful locations available here in Bali where we live so while Pro Res would be OK for the more controllable area we have built, I am thinking the extra room for colouring in RAW would be handy for sunsets behind temples and the like. I understand you can render the RAW files to ProRes for editing in FCPX, export the XML back to Resolve and then colour referencing the original RAW files before rendering them out again but I have tried that and it takes many, many hours with my setup.

Note to BM: Your website shows a Mac laptop running Ultrascope with 6 scopes up. Even when my laptop is set to 1920 wide resolution per your instructions, scopes will only show two at a time?

Also to BM: I bought a Manfrotto Lanc MVR901ECLA along with all my other gear in anticipation of collecting my cameras last August, before you recommended the pan bar version on your website. Is there likely to be a firmware update that will support that relatively soon or do I need to buy a new(er) one?

To any pros out there, any advice you are willing to provide would be greatly appreciated. I know the answers are out there, probably even on this forum but I have already spent countless hours researching all this (look where that got me) and have reached the point where I feel like I really need some professional guidance to get me over this hurdle, otherwise I risk wasting even more money and time.

All that said, I have to say I’m blown away by the image quality and dynamic range of the camera when compared to my friends’ 5d ii that I have been playing with while waiting for mine and even compared to the BMCC footage I have seen online (I had no idea the compression would make so much difference).

As masachistic as it sounds, I really do still love this camera and I hope that one day soon I may even be able to film something with it

Thanks for reading, please help if you can.

My setup / soon to be for sale: 2 x BMCC, 2 x Tokina 11-16mm, 2 x heliopan vario ND, a Macbook Pro 15” Retina (16GB Ram & 750GB SSD), Sonnet External PCIe Chassis, BM Decklink 4k Extreme, Crucial M4 500GB SSD, Sony LED TV, G-Tech thunderbolt RAID, Cambo Crane with mechanical head & Manrotto tripod, Manfrotto Lanc MVR901ECLA, Digital Juice Dolly with flexible tracks, Sachtler Tripod, Lectrosonics wireless audio system.

This is the first time I have ever posted something on the internet so please be gentle and kindly let me know if there is an etiquette I am not following.

Troll? I'd say start a new thread for this, but i'm sure you would still get backlash for it. Your name is kind of unfortunate. hard time believing this is your first internet post. etiquette, ha!

So far I have spent numerous months researching, 25-30k on equipment (full details below) and another 8 months waiting, in order to begin filming for a new online Pilates business I hope to start with my wife (a Pilates instructor).

I've been researching cameras and equipment to get for over 3 years now. Information overload. No need to mention your wife and her occupation.

This post is for any professional out there who is willing to help a rank amateur who desperately needs to start filming. Despite all the time and money I have already invested, I'm still not adequately equipped to use my camera or support a RAW workflow. Can you help me?

define desperate. To use a camera all you need is: a camera, instruction manual, lens, charged battery, an SSD, tripod, make sure the camera is on, that the lens cap is off, and that you hit the record button when you want to record something. i recommend taking a class at your local community center/college.
If you cant support a RAW workflow you haven't spent enough money or you wasted what you've spent. Good news though: you don't need RAW for Pilates, ProRes will work just fine. actually it would be the only logical way to go. 2 hours of RAW will take up 1 TB of space, edit files, and final master and encodes will most likely take up another 500 GB. it adds up quick. shooting ProRes will give you 10 hrs per 1TB, and it is the edit files

Tokina 11-16mm
I read a forum response about my infinity focus issue from a BM rep that said to contact my dealer and that BM would get me sorted (words to that effect). So I contacted my dealer who said BM was working to fix it in firmware. I then contacted BM support to find out when they expected the the firmware update to be ready (I really need to start shooting) and was informed that it was a hardware problem and that they “probably wouldn’t be able to fix it.” Can anybody tell me who is correct?

Hardware issue, you can send it back to Blackmagic and they will fix it. check the support page or search the forums for more info.

Aside from potentially now having to buy 2 new lenses to replace my two new lenses, I can’t find anything comparable. Whilst not quite wide enough for the area we have built for filming, I borrowed a friends’ Canon 14mm and should be able to get away with it (trying to ignore the difference in price) assuming I can find a new ND solution to replace my new Heliopan vario ND filters.

Can I use the rear filter slots on that lens for ND or do I need to buy matt boxes now? What is the cheapest way I can get out of this without compromising the quality?

I assume you are filming outdoors? or why would you need to use an ND? no need for matte box. just get a large diameter ND filter and step rings to fit on various lenses.

Capture, Scope or Edit?
I upgraded my 17” Macbook Pro to the new 15” Retina with 16GB Ram & 750GB ($4,400). Based on the BM NAB interviews I had watched online I had expected to use it to scope while capturing via thunderbolt (saving me the cost of 1 SSD & a monitor).

It was also a higher spec than the iMacs available at the time so I thought it would be good enough for editing since my research said even my old 17” could run resolve. I knew I would be spending a lot of time in post given the volume of videos we need to make so I decided to beef it up with a Sonnet external thunderbolt chassis ($600) fitted with BM’s Deklink 4k extreme ($1,000) and added a sony LED TV which I have calibrated as best I can without using a device ($1,000). I had seen examples of a Mac Air / Sonnet / Red Rocket combo breezing through RAW 4K so I thought the Decklink 4K Extreme would scream through the 2.5k output of the BMCC, especially given the superior power of my swanky new laptop compared to the MacBook Air.

You pros can stop laughing now and for those who don’t already know, if you want to capture to your laptop 1) You can’t capture in Cinema DNG. 2) You can’t scope and capture at the same time and 3) Forget about editing RAW files in resolve on "any" laptop (as BM support kindly advised when I rang to ask them why I could only play my RAW files back at 3fps (sadly that was after I had already laid out $7,000 for my new “editing suite”).

Apparently the red rocket is a GPU accelerator whereas the Decklink is only a capture card, despite being "the solution you need when you’re looking to go well beyond regular HD workflows." (I thought they were both PCIe cards)

So should I just sell everything and start again (again)? How would you spend that money better? Should I trade my MacBook for a Mac Pro or should I give up on RAW altogether and use internal SSDs to record ProRes and use the laptop for scoping since it edits Pro Res files without a problem? How helpful are the scopes? I am still learning to understand them so whilst they look impressive, I don’t yet appreciate how important they are/not?

We plan to shoot at some of the beautiful locations available here in Bali where we live so while Pro Res would be OK for the more controllable area we have built, I am thinking the extra room for colouring in RAW would be handy for sunsets behind temples and the like. I understand you can render the RAW files to ProRes for editing in FCPX, export the XML back to Resolve and then colour referencing the original RAW files before rendering them out again but I have tried that and it takes many, many hours with my setup.

Note to BM: Your website shows a Mac laptop running Ultrascope with 6 scopes up. Even when my laptop is set to 1920 wide resolution per your instructions, scopes will only show two at a time?

Also to BM: I bought a Manfrotto Lanc MVR901ECLA along with all my other gear in anticipation of collecting my cameras last August, before you recommended the pan bar version on your website. Is there likely to be a firmware update that will support that relatively soon or do I need to buy a new(er) one?

To any pros out there, any advice you are willing to provide would be greatly appreciated. I know the answers are out there, probably even on this forum but I have already spent countless hours researching all this (look where that got me) and have reached the point where I feel like I really need some professional guidance to get me over this hurdle, otherwise I risk wasting even more money and time.

All that said, I have to say I’m blown away by the image quality and dynamic range of the camera when compared to my friends’ 5d ii that I have been playing with while waiting for mine and even compared to the BMCC footage I have seen online (I had no idea the compression would make so much difference).

As masachistic as it sounds, I really do still love this camera and I hope that one day soon I may even be able to film something with it

Thanks for reading, please help if you can.

My setup / soon to be for sale: 2 x BMCC, 2 x Tokina 11-16mm, 2 x heliopan vario ND, a Macbook Pro 15” Retina (16GB Ram & 750GB SSD), Sonnet External PCIe Chassis, BM Decklink 4k Extreme, Crucial M4 500GB SSD, Sony LED TV, G-Tech thunderbolt RAID, Cambo Crane with mechanical head & Manrotto tripod, Manfrotto Lanc MVR901ECLA, Digital Juice Dolly with flexible tracks, Sachtler Tripod, Lectrosonics wireless audio system.

*facepalm
I've got a 15" 2.6GHz Retina MacBook Pro with Retina Display 16GB RAM 250GB SSD. Resolve Lite gets me 15fps max when working with dngs. It's great for having on set. and can still work hard at home or office with editing and color correction. No idea why you would get a 4k Extreme or a red rocket. shoot ProRes, will save you so much time and money. it may not be RAW but 10 bits is better than 8, and ProRes is way better than H.264. The only reasonable way to do all RAW is if you've got a production house and can spend about 30k on RAIDs, and a full blown DaVinci Resolve system.
"Nothing in film making is quick, or cheap." - pg. 1 Ch. 1 Film Making 101

Troll? I'd say start a new thread for this, but i'm sure you would still get backlash for it. Your name is kind of unfortunate. hard time believing this is your first internet post. etiquette, ha!

Thanks for taking the time to respond TZ (like your vimeo showreel). Not exactly sure what constitutes a troll but I know it's not good so I certainly hope not. It really was my first post, did you miss the bit about being gentle? Just kidding, I appreciate your honesty. Regarding my name, I can think of worse. For one thing, people seem to remember it and it has been at the centre of some pretty funny stories.

define desperate. To use a camera all you need is: a camera, instruction manual, lens, charged battery, an SSD, tripod, make sure the camera is on, that the lens cap is off, and that you hit the record button when you want to record something. i recommend taking a class at your local community center/college.

Desperate is moving overseas to start a new life, investing a significant amount of money (30k is significant for me) into equipment that you plan to use in order to generate an income for yourself and your family and then after waiting for 8 months without income, you find out that you still can't start on your project because the equipment you bought is not working as advertised. You now have to spend still more time & money just to reach the point you had planned to be at 8 months earlier and you are wondering if you have enough cash to get you through until the project that you haven't even started yet, can provide you with an income. Perhaps I should have just given you the Oxford version, would have been shorter .

I have all of the items you listed, the problem is the Tokina 11-16mm lenses I bought can't focus more than 2-3 metres away and so are unusable for my application. Your step down solution for the ND won't work on the Canon 14mm because it is a fisheye. I read that the filter slots on the rear of the lens could be used for ND but as you rightly pointed out, I have wasted a lot of money on my setup so far and I was hoping someone with experience using the lens might be able to help me avoid wasting any more.

No idea why you would get a 4k Extreme or a red rocket.

I watched this video and thought it looked like a great solution: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/davtechtable/ ... ed-rocket/

The only reasonable way to do all RAW is if you've got a production house and can spend about 30k on RAIDs, and a full blown DaVinci Resolve system.

I have 16TB of RAID storage and my plan was only to keep the finished, compressed versions that I upload to vimeo and trust (hope) they will be safe there (can you download something from vimeo that you uploaded at an earlier date?)

Thanks again for your comments

Btw, in case anyone was wondering, maybe not?? (Also not sure if this was posted elsewhere as I couldn't find it)
But, I just tested Ultrascope on a new MacBook Air 13" (w the Intel 5000 integrated GPU) and it worked with two up. Won't do fullscreen or run Resolve (of course) but it's nice to know that you can check scopes/levels and download footage via thunderbolt (and a trusty seagate ssd reader) on a lightweight speedy little machine.

Btw, in case anyone was wondering, maybe not?? (Also not sure if this was posted elsewhere as I couldn't find it)
But, I just tested Ultrascope on a new MacBook Air 13" (w the Intel 5000 integrated GPU) and it worked with two up. Won't do fullscreen or run Resolve (of course) but it's nice to know that you can check scopes/levels and download footage via thunderbolt (and a trusty seagate ssd reader) on a lightweight speedy little machine.

You can thank the Intel Haswell platform for that. The 5000 iGPU is a pretty decent chip. To those wondering though, Haswell is only on the Air at the moment and I wouldn't bother with the Ivy-bridge based Macbooks unless it's got the 650M GPU in it but even that really isn't too great. I just picked up a Linux based system for editing because I can't be bothered waiting for the next-gen Macbook Pros.

You can thank the Intel Haswell platform for that. The 5000 iGPU is a pretty decent chip. To those wondering though, Haswell is only on the Air at the moment and I wouldn't bother with the Ivy-bridge based Macbooks unless it's got the 650M GPU in it but even that really isn't too great. I just picked up a Linux based system for editing because I can't be bothered waiting for the next-gen Macbook Pros.

Scary thought Jace, but reports are the next gen Haswell MacBook Pros will not have dedicated graphics cards, only Intel's top of the line integrated graphics, out in September.

I'm holding off on upgrading for the new ones, but if they don't have dedicated graphics cards I'll be hunting for this generation... A desktop isn't that practical for me.

You can thank the Intel Haswell platform for that. The 5000 iGPU is a pretty decent chip. To those wondering though, Haswell is only on the Air at the moment and I wouldn't bother with the Ivy-bridge based Macbooks unless it's got the 650M GPU in it but even that really isn't too great. I just picked up a Linux based system for editing because I can't be bothered waiting for the next-gen Macbook Pros.

Scary thought Jace, but reports are the next gen Haswell MacBook Pros will not have dedicated graphics cards, only Intel's top of the line integrated graphics, out in September.

I'm holding off on upgrading for the new ones, but if they don't have dedicated graphics cards I'll be hunting for this generation... A desktop isn't that practical for me.

That's abysmal. I used to think highly of the MBPs even though I'm typically a PC/Linux guy. Dedicated won't do for any serious work. Glad I decided against waiting and got a higher spec'd notebook then.

Like I've said, I have the new 2.7 GHz 15" MBPR with the (only option) Intel Graphic Chip.

Sorry to rain on your parade Max, but Resolve will not run with an Intel chip. It won't even start.

Those Mac laptops where never build for heavy lifting. You don't need a "notebook", but a real workstation laptop, with one or two Nvida GPUs, to deal with DNG. Something like a Sager NP9370 or Clevo P370EM.

Scary thought Jace, but reports are the next gen Haswell MacBook Pros will not have dedicated graphics cards, only Intel's top of the line integrated graphics, out in September.

I'm holding off on upgrading for the new ones, but if they don't have dedicated graphics cards I'll be hunting for this generation... A desktop isn't that practical for me.

If they don't have dedicated GPUs my next portable won't be a mac.

My suggestion.. just wait, save money and buy the new Mac Pro. I find all these new iMacs and Macbook Pro's all underpowerd.. my personal option...

..or you could by a second hand current gen Mac Pro and upgrade the GPU, RAM, etc. You can save lots of money like that!