Who pays for your Macs?

Do you guys pay for your own Macs or does your company pay for them?

What are your thoughts on having your email and stuff on the same machine as your editing, audio, etc. ?

Ideally I would eventually like to have a separate machine for editing, audio (sound/music) then a personal machine (laptop?)

Thoughts?

thats an odd question. im not sure the array of answers are going to give you any kind of solid information.

at the times in life when ive been employed, my mac was provided. BUT i still always had a (usually better outfitted) self-purchased one at home.

if i were currently employed by someone i would NEVER have ANY personal email on that machine. id keep a yahoo/gmail/personal webdomain/etc... web based email for that.

but im guessing what youre asking is is it wise to have your edit station web-connected. you kind of have to these days. posting clips for clients, downloading updates, authorizing installs etc... so it's not going to hurt you to have email as well on that machine.

what i did before my old g4 powerbook got wonky. was work on my desktop powerhouse (which only had rudimentary web and ftp function installed) then slide over to my laptop for communicating with clients.

1. Both

2. All apps are on all my Macs - internet / grafix / edit / 3D / etc.

3. The days of having a straight up edit machine without internet is extinct (old school Avids). I use 3 Macs (OctoCore / MBP / Quad G5) and all of them are fully loaded running multiple apps & internet all at once. Why would you want to render something...then MOVE it to another machine just to FTP it to the client for approval? It makes good business sense to have everything on one machine...and it WORKS WELL on Macs.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I buy my own kit and hire in decks like HDCAM/SR or DVCproHD as the vast majority are only needed for a fraction of the edit time and I don't need to re-finance my house to buy one!

I have EVERYTHING including my games on my Mac and usually no issues - certainly nothing from having the personal stuff on there.

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Ideally I would eventually like to have a separate machine for editing, audio (sound/music) then a personal machine (laptop?)

A waste of time/space unless you have more than just yourself working on them. The laptop for portability - but audio/visual suite only if you need loads of specialist gear to surround your systems and cannot kit out a single MacPro to do it all.

Having said that I do have my Mac Pro, G5 and MBP and the G5/Laptop is useful for client email and working on find tracks of music whilst I edit...



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

As a freelancer my best answer would be "it depends". I have my own system, work on others systems in their shops, or on rental machines from yet a third party.

In all cases I keep my laptop at hand for communications. My personal email, web browsing, etc. I also use that second machine for other editing tasks, as my audio monitoring suite and waveform rasterizer. I have tools I like to have at hand no matter who's system I am using.

I have no reservations about using Mac editing stations on the internet.

-Vance

back in the early days of digital video. it was pretty much a rule not to have ANYTHING on the machine that wasnt REQUIRED for video. but that was because it was just barely possible in the first place and you didnt want to overtax the system.

but in the last 5 years or so. its no longer a voodoo situation. i frequently have an ftp transfer going and am responding to email while im rendering fcp, and all works well.

Do you guys pay for your own Macs or does your company pay for them?

Answer: "You can have anything your client will pay for"

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Answer: "You can have anything your client will pay for"

Ummmm...no. Unless you have it in a contract, the client can walk away from a job and take every piece of gear, plug-in, art-beats clip, whatever. They own it...unless YOU state different in the start-up contract.

Let's get this clear...my company pays for the Mac I use IN THEIR STUDIO. That belongs to THEM as well as all software on it...I just beat the crap out of it and try to break it every chance I get

My company DOES NOT pay for my LAPTOP and software or the use of that item at all. As far as they're concerned, that is a personal item. Even though I take projects home every night and render on it.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I think what Chris meant was that

1. You get a job.

2. Your client gives you some money.

3. You buy better gear.

4. You get the next job.

And so on. In this way, you can have anything your clients will pay for.

grafixjoe Wrote:
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> Why would you want to render
> something...then MOVE it to another machine just
> to FTP it to the client for approval?


I did this for so long Then i finally hooked my mac up permanently to the net and hmmm, doesn't that make life easier.

I'm self employed and buy all my own equipment, but have kept a pc for mail, open office and my music etc.. Sure this isn't going to help any, but you did ask

Hmmm this is a bit of an odd one... but here goes anyway...

I pay for "my" Macs and all the software on them. (Mac Pro & MacBook Pro etc)

Work pay for "their" Macs, Servers, RAIDS & software then I try to keep them working...

I like to have the Mac Pro and the MBP (laptop) @ home cause I can separate my time. If I am in my 'office' giving the Mac Pro a good smacking I am working and then hop onto the laptop when the TV has been highjacked or I just want to chillax and use the interwebs.

My 2 pence.

...and don't forget...when pricing out a gig...if the client wants YOU to edit on THEIR GEAR = smaller rate. If they want YOU AND YOUR GEAR = CHA-CHING!! They are NOT going to buy you gear and let you walk off with it unless they are blithering idiots with money to burn.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

unless they are blithering idiots with money to burn.


Oh man, those are my favorite kind of clients, but so hard to find. Blithering idiots are two a penny, but blithering idiots with money to burn ..... Mmmmmmm.

Yeah, in my experience the blithering idiots never have any money. It's the smart cookies who come with the big bucks, and they're not trusted with the big bucks for nuthin.

I was being facetious...thought that was obvious

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.