Considering recent or new Mac Pro now

[Hiroodotus]

I have followed most of the threads in this forum for the past six months or so and pay a fair amount of attention to the rest of the industry, and I have just about given up hope on Tim Cook and the new Mac Pro of 2013/2014. I am about to purchase one or two Mac Pros that are 2010 or later and possibly new. My applications/work are those of a small production house working mostly in print with Adobe apps and some small databases. All work is multilingual. I use video but do not edit it. My reasons for using Mac Pros are that I do not like the 30-inch Apple displays or keyboard, require at least 32GB of RAM for everything to run smoothly, will not use Microsoft anything, and don't mind the desktop format. My main aim for my next Mac Pro is simply reliability. I will use SSDs.
I would like any advice re what to stay away from and what processor specification is optimum for maximum reliability and resale value. The only modifications that I will make are graphics card, RAM and SSDs for storage. I expect more streaming video, videoconferencing and Internet speed of 1 Gbit/sec (currently 160 Mbit/sec) in the next two years.

 

[Macsonic]

Hi Hiroodotus. You may want to consider the 2012 6 Core 3.33ghz with its high clock cpu and midrange pricing. For now in my opinion I would avoid the quad models if you are also considering resale value. For print design work, as far as I know Adobe apps only use a maximum of 2 cores except After Effects and Premier Pro.

 

[Derpage]

Hi Hiroodotus. You may want to consider the 2012 6 Core 3.33ghz with its high clock cpu and midrange pricing. For now in my opinion I would avoid the quad models if you are also considering resale value. For print design work, as far as I know Adobe apps only use a maximum of 2 cores except After Effects and Premier Pro.

PS:CS6 can utilize more than 2 cores. It just depends on the process or plugin being used.

 

[Hiroodotus]

Thanks for both replies. We use CS6 and although we don't get anywhere near high CPU demand now, it's possible that our applications will change some over the next 4-5 years. I will look at the 6 Core 3.33 GHz specs more closely.

 

[DanielCoffey]

The single processor model will have 4 memory slots which you would normally fill with 4x 8Gb strips of third-party ECC ram. Apart from the price issue, I believe some 16Gb strips can be used too.

 

[DPUser]

You could pick up a couple of used 2009 4,1's single processor and upgrade to 5,1 hex. If you will be upgrading video cards anyway, you gain nothing with a 2010 or 2012, (other than a warranty.) Cost per 4,1 mac/W3680 cpu: between $1600 - 1900 and an hour of your time.

 

[Macsonic]

PS:CS6 can utilize more than 2 cores. It just depends on the process or plugin being used.

Thanks for the tip. Good to know Adobe is doing something to make processor usage more efficient.