MP 7,1 Anyone buying a 2019 Mac Pro Intel because of the 2023 Mac Pro M2 Ultra?

[smckenzie]

I bought a certified refurb 16 core 7,1 directly from Apple last Jan for 3D rendering. I purchased a 6800X Duo at full price (ouch) but later OWC were clearing out inventory for half price, so I got another one. There's still space to stuff an 6900XT in there, or I've had an Nvidia A4000 in it instead to use in Bootcamp with 3DSMax.

Software issues aside, it's been a great machine offers a ton of flexibility.

Just a shame Apple doesn't love it or the people who need something like it anymore.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I think macOS 15 will likely be the last Intel release. 2024 will mark 6 years since the 2019 Mac Pro launched, 5 since the last Intel Mac launched. It will be a good send off with 2 years of security updates which will carry through to the end of 2026. Its not like its gonna stop working either. Macs tend to be very compliance like in nature. The fact that my 2001 PowerBook G4 with Mac OS 10.1 still works should be confidence that your 2019 Mac Pro will likely still be working in 2040.

Here is the thing. The 'upgraded' features on Sonoma are so UNcompelling, I really dont care. This is the first time, ever, I absolutely do not give a ... darn... about upgrading on a Mac. Ventura, IMO, was mostly a downgrade. The only thing about it is the Messages update to let me edit/unsend messages. Otherwise, sys prefs, is a UI disaster of embarrassing proportions. Nothing on this update really is interesting at all. And Sonoma, really, apple should be embarrassed by it. It was like talking about jumping the shark in slow motion with those stickers. I was truly embarrassed for apple, and frankly, by apple with what they laid out.

WatchOS has been a bore fest basically since watchOS2. And iOS/iPad OS have also reached this level of, I really don't care.

Which is a long-winded way of making the following point. Being stuck on an older version of the OS, for now, is not a penalty at all.

 

[SDAVE]

I bought a certified refurb 16 core 7,1 directly from Apple last Jan for 3D rendering. I purchased a 6800X Duo at full price (ouch) but later OWC were clearing out inventory for half price, so I got another one. There's still space to stuff an 6900XT in there, or I've had an Nvidia A4000 in it instead to use in Bootcamp with 3DSMax.

Software issues aside, it's been a great machine offers a ton of flexibility.

Just a shame Apple doesn't love it or the people who need something like it anymore.

Apple just moved on from Intel, doesn't mean they don't love it.

ARM is a completely different architecture than x86-64

The fact that they added full PCIe lanes in the 8,1 on a custom in house made ARM chip is incredible. Give them some kudos on this.

Next years and the following years Mac Pro with M3 / 3nm tech most likely will have 384GB RAM and M3 Extreme with more CPU and GPU cores. Also I wouldn't be surprised if they allow PCIe GPUs. They have in the past supported iGPUS and dGPUs with no problem.

 

[mode11]

I think macOS 15 will likely be the last Intel release. 2024 will mark 6 years since the 2019 Mac Pro launched, 5 since the last Intel Mac launched. It will be a good send off with 2 years of security updates which will carry through to the end of 2026. It’s not like it’s gonna stop working either. Macs tend to be very compliance like in nature. The fact that my 2001 PowerBook G4 with Mac OS 10.1 still works should be confidence that your 2019 Mac Pro will likely still be working in 2040.

Whilst it won’t stop working, it’s arguably unwise for a machine that doesn’t get security updates to be connected to the Internet. It will also suffer from progressively less integration with Apple services / the current macOS / iOS, if this matters to you.

 

[Longplays]

The fact that my 2001 PowerBook G4 with Mac OS 10.1 still works should be confidence that your 2019 Mac Pro will likely still be working in 2040.

If your financial and privacy data is worth anything I'd avoid using any unsupported devices for those transactions

If disconnected then it should work for a total of 1-2 decades.

 

[avro707]

would hope they make the drivers available for AMD 7000 series GPUs, and maybe even the W7800 or W7900x too.

Nothing stopping it in terms of the hardware, they are basically close enough to the power and specs of the existing GPUs.

There will be no drivers for the AMD 7000 series, it would enable existing 7,1 owners an avenue to keep their machines going for longer rather than giving Apple more $$$.

We’ve all asked Apple to support newer GPUs and their response has been to totally ignore the requests. Not even acknowledgement.

My vote was to move to Windows. I already have a 7,1 and will upgrade it but eventually I’ll get rid of MacOS and go back to Windows permanently. W11 is quite good.

I’m lucky to not be too heavily anchored to Apple ecosystem - so it’s easy to switch to something else.

To buy a 2019 MP, it's starting at £4k+ (for a refurb), then updates.
Which is a lot of money for almost 4 years old tech.

I would never buy something like this from eBay either as anything could go pop, with no come back.
At least you can get AC with a refurb.

You’ll have to decide sooner or later to upgrade or ditch Apple and build an Intel/AMD workstation with Windows on it, or buy a pre built one. The longer you take the harder it will be to find good refurb 7,1 machines from Apple.

 

[Longplays]

There will be no drivers for the AMD 7000 series, it would enable existing 7,1 owners an avenue to keep their machines going for longer rather than giving Apple more $$$.

My vote was to move to Windows. I already have a 7,1 and will upgrade it but eventually I’ll get rid of MacOS and go back to Windows permanently. W11 is quite good.

I’m lucky to not be too heavily anchored to Apple ecosystem - so it’s easy to switch to something else.

Although the demand is shrinking worldwide, x86 has the economies of scale to cover the requirement upgradeability.

Although at a certain point this requirement will dwindle in demand to that of a mainframe.

 

[PeterLiu]

I was very lucky to buy the 2019 MacPro（50% off purchase） when I saw the Macpro released in 2023,

As for software updates, for someone who records and mixes like I do （Music）, they don't need it at all. I still use a Catalina 10.15.7 system,

and if you go to a recording studio you know that most of people are using the old system from a few years ago, because most of the plug-ins compatibility issues. So I never worry about system software problems.

 

[randy85]

It's a bad deal IMO unless you need to tinker for fun or run Windows.

On eBay in the UK, the used Intel Mac Pros are going for about £4k and most of them are 12/16 core models and you'd probably want to upgrade them further. Meanwhile the M2 Ultra has way better CPU performance than even the 28 core Intel.

£4200 gets you a M2 Ultra Mac Studio which will be faster (for most work) and have maximum shelf life in terms of software updates.

 

[goMac]

Without 7000 series drivers it’s kind of a lost cause (which may also be why Apple isn’t shipping them.)

 

[TECK]

Your poll is missing the “switching to Studio M2 Ultra” option.

 

[MarkC426]

It's a bad deal IMO unless you need to tinker for fun or run Windows.

On eBay in the UK, the used Intel Mac Pros are going for about £4k and most of them are 12/16 core models and you'd probably want to upgrade them further. Meanwhile the M2 Ultra has way better CPU performance than even the 28 core Intel.

£4200 gets you a M2 Ultra Mac Studio which will be faster (for most work) and have maximum shelf life in terms of software updates.

Good points...👍
Plus I wouldn't be comfortable paying 4k+ from eBay, I would want AC+ if I went this route.
Even though I am capable of replacing/repairing anything which could fail (from eBay) the 2019 mp components are very specialised, and will probably start becoming rare.

 

[Derek Morton]

Good points...👍
Plus I wouldn't be comfortable paying 4k+ from eBay, I would want AC+ if I went this route.
Even though I am capable of replacing/repairing anything which could fail (from eBay) the 2019 mp components are very specialised, and will probably start becoming rare.

All true, but so are the Xserve (which I still run) components and yet there is little problem finding spares on eBay... even after 14 years.

 

[Mac3Duser]

7.1 is a good workstation. You have 8 pci-e connectors, and you can put inside nvidia gpus, as you want.
Xeon is slow, but very useful, stable with ecc ram, and pro gpus. You can do calculations for hours and it still purrs the same way
windows pro and mac os in this computer, it's a very good option, too.
the 7.1 has only one big problem : the apple ssd

 

[macguru9999]

7.1 is a good workstation. You have 8 pci-e connectors, and you can put inside nvidia gpus, as you want.
Xeon is slow, but very useful, stable with ecc ram, and pro gpus. You can do calculations for hours and it still purrs the same way
windows pro and mac os in this computer, it's a very good option, too.
the 7.1 has only one big problem : the apple ssd

Whats wrong with the ssd ? you can buy a bigger one for the 7,1 from apple. at the moment. the speed is fine

 

[TobiasT]

This thread must be a joke. Intel MP is dead for apple. No more macOS/apps.

 

[Derek Morton]

Whats wrong with the ssd ? you can buy a bigger one for the 7,1 from apple. at the moment. the speed is fine

I would say the problem is the proprietary nature of the interface. Once again Apple has decided to think in a decidedly closed minded fashion.

 

[Basic75]

Also I wouldn't be surprised if they allow PCIe GPUs.

Based on what?

 

[mcnallym]

Based on what?

Well NONE of the AS Macs support eGPU and Apple engineer interview basicslly said that non Apple GPU integration into the Apple vision for Mac with its Unified Memory is not a problem that they they are looking to solve.

so basically no support in current Mac OS on AS and Apple engineer telling people in an interview that not looking to add support.

not saying it could not be done but from apple engineer then is not something Apple interested in.

at the moment have what they like well they supply the whole kit and kaboodle of the Mac with own hardware and software over which they have 100% control.

 

[avro707]

This thread must be a joke. Intel MP is dead for apple. No more macOS/apps.

That’s nice and you’ve said it twenty times before, but what’s it got to do with the topic at hand?

Whats wrong with the ssd ? you can buy a bigger one for the 7,1 from apple. at the moment. the speed is fine

I added extra on mine via a Sonnet card - working nicely for windows and extra storage in general. Windows 11 Pro for Workstations almost seems faster than MacOS.

I still need to find some W6800X Duo cards and a W3275M processor for my 7,1 - that’s all I’d like to upgrade for now. Otherwise if I move solely to windows I can just add modern 7000 series Radeon pro.

There are rumours of 7000 series support in MacOS on the way but nothing concrete.

 

[jwestpro]

That’s nice and you’ve said it twenty times before, but what’s it got to do with the topic at hand?



I added extra on mine via a Sonnet card - working nicely for windows and extra storage in general. Windows 11 Pro for Workstations almost seems faster than MacOS.

I still need to find some W6800X Duo cards and a W3275M processor for my 7,1 - that’s all I’d like to upgrade for now. Otherwise if I move solely to windows I can just add modern 7000 series Radeon pro.

There are rumours of 7000 series support in MacOS on the way but nothing concrete.

Hey, I have a friend that I'm trying to help upgrade from a 5,1 4 core but he requires Bootcamp, or at least ability to run W11. Nobody seems to talk about Parallels on here so there must be a reason for that...? Anyway, with massive discounts now on the 7,1 this seems like a perfect solution for him to be as fast as Mac-possible while retaining old workspace options. Can you simply tell me why, or point me to a thread explaining, the Bootcamp/W11 reference to the "modern 7000 series" cards? It suggests to me that certain cards only work correctly for mac os space while others can work but only when used by the W11/Bootcamp space?

 

[Regulus67]

Can you simply tell me why, or point me to a thread explaining, the Bootcamp/W11 reference to the "modern 7000 series" cards? It suggests to me that certain cards only work correctly for mac os space while others can work but only when used by the W11/Bootcamp space?

I have not heard of anyone using the AMD 7000 series. Apple haven't sold/supported them. They will only work in Windows or Linux. The same goes Nvidia cards.

The mac Pro 7.1 can use only a few 6000 series cards. But not all, many are to long. Apple and AMD's bootcamp driver support up to 6900 cards.
Your friend should join this forum, as he is using a Mac Pro 5.1, and looking to upgrade. There is a wealth of information, for both machines. And people discussing both old and new.

 

[profdraper]

My 5,1 works just as well as the day I bought it; locked down at Mojave, many pro apps, plug-ins, VIs and audio hardware of the time, ie, the workflow still works & I can make music all day long; video not so much given the limitations of the hardware.

Similar for my 7,1: can still do all the same work as per last year & the year before that. The only thing that gets in the way is Apple's OS updates, so again, lock it down and don't do it. There's zero in the OS that does anything for me other than break things.

Therefore the only concern really becomes hardware & spare parts etc. The 5,1 has never needed this but recently the 7,1 EN stopped working, now only wifi; and it would seem not reparable becuase the EN is part of the MoBo (another idiot design choice there). In any case, I don't care. Everything works well for pro workflow in a nice studio, internet OFF, local networking only.

 

[avro707]

Can you simply tell me why, or point me to a thread explaining, the Bootcamp/W11 reference to the "modern 7000 series" cards? It

In windows you can install whatever video drivers you want.

In macOS you are locked down to Apple limitations which is a complete nuisance. They of course want you to buy a new computer for big $$$ rather than spend less and get more life out of the machine you are happy with already.

Sure Apple, we will buy a new computer like you want us to, a nice new Lenovo or HP workstation with dual Xeon CPUs and Nvidia 6000 series GPUs.