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2008 Mac Pro end of warranty, upgrade?

calderone

calderone

Cancelled
Original poster
Aug 28, 2009
3,743
352
I rarely create threads, but I have been racking my brain over this for a few weeks now.

Have a 2008 Mac Pro, decently upgraded (no SSDs). Warranty ends in the middle of Feb 2011. Cost of entry on the newer machines is higher than it was (for six/eight core models).

Those with 2008 Mac Pro's, what are you doing as your warranty comes to an end? I am not hurting for speed, this is purely from a warranty standpoint.
 
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My warranty is up in 8 weeks. Because the machine have run flawlessly for 3 years I expect it to run another 2 years with no problems. Just in case I plan to kill a chicken on the last day of apple care.
 
As soon as my warranty ends I hop on the next revision. Currently waiting on the 2011 (or 2012?) Mac Pros. Gonna be buying the top end machine with 2 27" Cinema Displays, so I'm fine with waiting. Gives my wallet enough time to cope for the coming expense. :)

In the mean time, I'm just going to hope nothing breaks on my 08. Gave it an end-of-life upgrade of a Radeon 5870, so at least the video card is current, and non-defective.
 
I would have sold the unit about 4 months ago. that way there would be 5 months on the warranty a very strong selling point. Since that chance is gone. i would do nothing at all and hope it takes more then 2 or 3 years to break.

there is no legal move for you to extend the warranty. there are shady moves , but i am sure you don't want to do that as they most likely are fraud..
 
The warranty on my 2008 ran out two years ago. :) It should be good for another 2-3 years for my purpose. New Mac Pro is one of few Apple models that never get any cheaper over the years.
 
My warranty has been up for almost 25 months (I bought on release day). Still pretty satisfied with the machine. I have a SAS RAID and upgraded to 32 GB of RAM. I've been considering a pair of 5770s to tide me over for the 2011 Mac Pro or perhaps the 2012.

The memory bus in the newer systems is far faster. But if you're not hurting for speed today, there's rarely a reason to accelerate a computer upgrade. Something faster is always around the corner. :)
 
If you must have a warranty, try to get rid of it now. Worth more if it has some warranty.

However I do think it isn't worth selling and buying a new one, as a problem would have shown itself by now.

When mine runs out in 2012 (bought when the 2008 went EOL) I may sell it before, just depends on pricing of the previous generation. However it does do everything I throw at it. May even entertain an iMac!
 
I'm in the same situation warranty-wise but I'm planning to use it for a couple more years yet. It has 64 bit EFI and should be good for software and GPU upgrades for a bit longer. I'll be using the fingers crossed warranty method during that time. I blow dust out of it about 2 or 3 times a year but other than that you just have to hope it'll be OK. Normally, if something's going to go wrong, it usually does within a year or so but it's also down to luck as well.

If I get a logic board problem, I'll probably sell it for what I can get and put that towards a new machine. Don't know if that will be a Mac Pro or an iMac at this point. I hate to say it but I'm even considering a building a PC / Hackintosh since cost of entry is so much higher for a Mac Pro these days.
 
Use it until catastrophic failure occurs, then buy (By then hopefully we'd be on the next model of Mac Pros).

The 2008 models were particularly stable and not that many people reported problems with them, aside from the 8800 GTs. I'm expecting at least another 4 years out of mine. Maybe 6, if we're lucky.

Software is making this bad boy faster over time, rather than slower. Even without upgrades it'd be faster than the day I bought it, if only because the software I use now is better able to utilize the hardware.

"Most users don't need more than 3 GB of RAM," Adobe said. I used 6 GB within 50 seconds of firing up photoshop CS5 for the first time.
 
TheStrudel said:
Use it until catastrophic failure occurs, then buy (By then hopefully we'd be on the next model of Mac Pros).

The 2008 models were particularly stable and not that many people reported problems with them, aside from the 8800 GTs. I'm expecting at least another 4 years out of mine. Maybe 6, if we're lucky.

Software is making this bad boy faster over time, rather than slower. Even without upgrades it'd be faster than the day I bought it, if only because the software I use now is better able to utilize the hardware.

"Most users don't need more than 3 GB of RAM," Adobe said. I used 6 GB within 50 seconds of firing up photoshop CS5 for the first time.
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I actually have an 8800GT and was planning to get rid of it since I have been getting some freezes/lockups lately and I don't get them with just my GT120.

I am still on the fence, but I got an auction ready just in case. I am thinking I might go with the refurb hex if i do sell.
 
calderone said:
I actually have an 8800GT and was planning to get rid of it since I have been getting some freezes/lockups lately and I don't get them with just my GT120.

I am still on the fence, but I got an auction ready just in case. I am thinking I might go with the refurb hex if i do sell.
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As The Strudel says, most issues with the 2008's are around the GPU. That's certainly been the case for me, along with a few superdrive failures. Neither of these are catastrophic or expensive to remedy (relatively). A logic board failure on the other hand is a different thing.

What do you use your Mac Pro for? Would you truly gain from any speed increase in a newer model or is the motivation for the upgrade purely the idea of being covered with Apple care?

If the answer is no to the first question, I'd suggest it's better to hold on to your money and run your current machine for a couple more years. By that time, if you've saved up enough, you can buy a better performing system than you could now.
 
Gomff said:
As The Strudel says, most issues with the 2008's are around the GPU. That's certainly been the case for me, along with a few superdrive failures. Neither of these are catastrophic or expensive to remedy (relatively). A logic board failure on the other hand is a different thing.

What do you use your Mac Pro for? Would you truly gain from any speed increase in a newer model or is the motivation for the upgrade purely the idea of being covered with Apple care?

If the answer is no to the first question, I'd suggest it's better to hold on to your money and run your current machine for a couple more years. By that time, if you've saved up enough, you can buy a better performing system than you could now.
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I am well aware of logic board pricing (I have seen it now that I am an ACMT). And that is precisely why I am pondering selling.

What I use it for? Aperture, Xcode, CS5 quite, other coding among other things. As I said, I am not hurting for more power, I simply don't want to be caught in a situation where I have to decide between shelling out for repair or scraping the machine for parts and buying a new one.

I am not terribly concerned with getting the best out there, but if I am upgrading, getting an actual upgrade (in terms of performance) would be ideal. I think the hex offers that and at refurb pricing I can throw some nice hardware in there.

That is where I am leaning, but we shall see.
 
calderone said:
I am well aware of logic board pricing (I have seen it now that I am an ACMT). And that is precisely why I am pondering selling.

What I use it for? Aperture, Xcode, CS5 quite, other coding among other things. As I said, I am not hurting for more power, I simply don't want to be caught in a situation where I have to decide between shelling out for repair or scraping the machine for parts and buying a new one.

I am not terribly concerned with getting the best out there, but if I am upgrading, getting an actual upgrade (in terms of performance) would be ideal. I think the hex offers that and at refurb pricing I can throw some nice hardware in there.

That is where I am leaning, but we shall see.
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I guess there's no correct answer to your dilemma. I do 3d rendering that truly utilizes as many cores as you can throw at it, so I would in theory benefit from more CPU power but I don't think the margins are worth it yet in terms of what's available compared to what I have.

The reliability thing is important though and it does seem that the 2008's were a good vintage in many respects, including this one. Perhaps another permutation is would you rather have a reliable 2008 machine out of warranty or a potential more modern hex which is also a lemon with Apple care? You'd have to be unlucky, but it happens and can be a PITA.

Like I say, no right or wrong answer but good luck whatever you decide....Hope it works out for you.
 
Gomff said:
I guess there's no correct answer to your dilemma. I do 3d rendering that truly utilizes as many cores as you can throw at it, so I would in theory benefit from more CPU power but I don't think the margins are worth it yet in terms of what's available compared to what I have.

The reliability thing is important though and it does seem that the 2008's were a good vintage in many respects, including this one. Perhaps another permutation is would you rather have a reliable 2008 machine out of warranty or a potential more modern hex which is also a lemon with Apple care? You'd have to be unlucky, but it happens and can be a PITA.

Like I say, no right or wrong answer but good luck whatever you decide....Hope it works out for you.
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I understand what you are saying. As far as getting a lemon, I am not too worried. I have strong connections at Apple, so it would be solved quickly.

There really isn't a right or wrong answer, and truthfully I very much like my 2008 and it has been reliable.
 
If anything is a lemon, the problem will crop up in the first few months. I have never bought an extended warranty on any electronics.
 
So, how many people have been benefited by the extended warranty due to a bad capacitor after a year? Dell customers excluded. :)
 
Einz said:
So, how many people have been benefited by the extended warranty due to a bad capacitor after a year? Dell customers excluded. :)
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http://www.apple.com/support/imac/repairextensionprogram/

This hit Apple as well. The point was, things happen after that first year. I had my 8800GT replaced a few times after the first year. There is no evidence to suggest that problems only crop up in the first few months. That statement is thrown around a lot though.

I don't want this to turn into a debate on whether or not extended warranties are beneficial. Some buy them, some don't. Some are absolutely against them, to each their own.

For me, I don't buy them on anything except for Apple hardware (only on things north of $1000) as I have first hand experience with replacement part prices.
 
calderone said:
I rarely create threads, but I have been racking my brain over this for a few weeks now.

Have a 2008 Mac Pro, decently upgraded (no SSDs). Warranty ends in the middle of Feb 2011. Cost of entry on the newer machines is higher than it was (for six/eight core models).

Those with 2008 Mac Pro's, what are you doing as your warranty comes to an end? I am not hurting for speed, this is purely from a warranty standpoint.
Click to expand...

In the same situation...my warranty will be out the first of May. I've boosted the RAM to 16gigs, and done nothing at this point with my stock (and still working fine) 8800gt. Considering a 5870, primarily because I play flight simulators on both OSX and Windows...but other than that, I'm with you. Speed is fine and I've got no complaints at this point. I have considered selling it and even jumping in to a souped up 27" iMac with the dual drive (SSD for apps) config and core i7 power...but I'm not so sure I'm excited to give up the option to expand in the future.

I'd like to be able to wait another two or even three generations of Mac Pro before I buy...as my primary concern for multi core and BIG power is FCP, which hasn't even been optimized for the power I have on a 3 year old machine. I think as Mac expands all the software to 64 bit on the creative side, the question will be easier to answer. I don't think there's a significant enough performance advantage right now between mine and the newer machines. Shaving 10 or 15 seconds off a two minute render seems unnecessary.

J
 
Keeping my MP '08 (2.8 Ghz) till the wheels fall off. Have a Bondi Blue still running over a decade later (1 major rebuild included), a G4 iMac still going 8 years on and a G5 iMac steaming on past 5 years old. Apple make reliable a design feature on desktops apparently.
16 gb ram, 120 gb SSD, 1.4 TB HDD space and a Sapphire HD5870. I pimped my ride now I'm going to cruise till the cliff appears. :D
 
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My 2008 has been humming along nicely. if I don't use it for an extended period of time, I will put it to sleep. Warranty is due to expire in March.

I have the original 8800GT video card as well and (knocks wood) haven't had any problems. Upgraded to 14 gigs of RAM, 80 gig Intel SSD for the boot drive, two 1 TB drives in RAID-0 for the Users file and storage, and a 2TB drive for SuperDuper duties. Since the RAID array is only about half full I have been able to SuperDuper the OS and the array to the 2TB on a weekly basis.

If anything I'll upgrade the video card. Once the code has been cracked to use AMD's 6950's / 6970's I'll upgrade with one of those.
 
I plan on keeping my 2008 8-core for as long as possible. I bought mine as an EOL (end of life) in March 2009, so I'm good until March 2012 on my AppleCare. I've upgraded the RAM, added a flashed 8800 GT (no problems with this card, so far) and added more hard drives since I've bought it - still works like a charm.

My Early 2008 15" MBP has been in for repair more times than I can count, but my MP has been as solid as a rock (zero issues). At this point, selling this machine to buy new makes very little sense. I'd be lucky to get $2000-2200 for the machine itself and I would have to come up with at least $1500 more to get a 2010 model configured like the one I already have for maybe a 10-15% performance advantage.

I think I'll keep my 2008 for now. ;)
 
CaptainChunk said:
I plan on keeping my 2008 8-core for as long as possible. I bought mine as an EOL (end of life) in March 2009, so I'm good until March 2012 on my AppleCare. I've upgraded the RAM, added a flashed 8800 GT (no problems with this card, so far) and added more hard drives since I've bought it - still works like a charm.

My Early 2008 15" MBP has been in for repair more times than I can count, but my MP has been as solid as a rock (zero issues). At this point, selling this machine to buy new makes very little sense. I'd be lucky to get $2000-2200 for the machine itself and I would have to come up with at least $1500 more to get a 2010 model configured like the one I already have for maybe a 10-15% performance advantage.

I think I'll keep my 2008 for now. ;)
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We are in the same boat. If they ever do EOL on another mac pro I may upgrade, but not planning to unless this thing dies or it gets close to applecare running out.
 
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