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Assuming portability is no issue, If you guys could buy a 12 core 2.93 MacPro 2012 with 1TB SSD and 16gb of ram VS a 2.8 quad core top of range 2014 MacBook Pro with 1TB SSD and 16GB ram, what would you choose?

Also assume price is identical.

Task: running dp8 and komplete ultimate and omnishpere.

Mactracker does not list a 12 core 2.93 processor for the 2012 MP. There are several other speeds and configurations, and the geekbench results range from 10K to 22K. But assuming it has two processors the MP score will be up around 20K. The 2014 MBP performance is not listed yet, but the geekbench results for the i7 listed on their site are around 12K. So unless portability and space are the critical factors, the Pro is a no brainer.

The Mac Pro is the tower version, right? I'd take the Mac Pro.

You are talking about the difference between an ox and a turbocharged rabbit on steroids. Unless you need to fit it in a backpack, go with the ox.

Seriously, no one can answer this for you since you haven't told us how you plan to use it.

Either will run DP and do it well. If you are treating it like a big tape recorder, either is good.

The Mac Pro will be far more robust if using a lot of VIs and is expandable if you need more RAM and want to add drives. Certain plugs and VIs are heavy on CPU use and like lots of RAM.

The MBP can only add drives externally and more RAM is not an option.

Thank you for all responses so far.

The MacPro in question has been upgraded from Octo 2.4 to TwinHex 2.93.

I will be using heaps of Vsts and plugins, not so many audio tracks..maybe 10 at most.

So I imagine outright CPU grunt is the important issue here..OR will the newer architecture of a 2014 MacBook Pro offset that, even though its Geekbench score is about 8-10k off the MacPro??

skk wrote:OR will the newer architecture of a 2014 MacBook Pro offset that, even though its Geekbench score is about 8-10k off the MacPro??

No. GB measures overall system performance, so any advantages of the architecture will be reflected in the score. I'd expect the architecture work in the MBP to be about things like battery performance, graphics, etc.more than calculation oomph.

If you look at the Geekbench Brower, you can select specific systems, and look at some performance components. The Floating Point performance would be important for VIs and plugins. E.g. a mid 2010 single processor Mac Pro gets about 25,000 for floating point performance. A new MacBook Pro with an i7 processor gets about 16000 on the same measure, a little better than an early 2008 Mac Pro. To put that in perspective, there are instances of the new Mac Pro with Floating point performance scores about 60,000 and overall performance over 40,000.