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eBay bargains - what's your latest conquest?
- Thread starter Hughmac
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A complete Mac of which the CPU has dozens of times the performance of the 2.8k Euro 7448 offer for just 2.5 times the price? You must be lucky...Here's a candidate for the other thread: almost six thousand, three hundred British pounds with free delivery but an additional charge of £10 GBP if you want to collect it yourself from the seller.
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With all the recent discussions about the 2013 Mac Pro, I was tempted to open my wallet and grab one for £180 GBP - including shipping. Here's a couple of photos from the listing:
It arrived today and it's essentially in immaculate condition beyond a couple of minor scratches. There's no dents or signs of rough physical handling that other members have encountered with used units. The seller reset Monterrey and included the password in the packaging. From my end, I connected a keyboard, mouse and HDMI cable to my TV and switched it on.
Let's log in and look around.
Not bad on the RAM front. The SSD...
...is on the small side but at this price I can track down a larger drive and a third-party adapter when I'm ready. From what I've read, the method will be similar/identical to that of upgrading my 2010 MBA's SSD. Now that I've had a chance to check this computer out myself, contrary to the negative opinions from some quarters, I can certainly see its appeal.
The potential surrounding 6 TB ports has me quite eager to tinker and see what I can achieve and I'm already thinking of using this new addition to manage my Thunderbolt RAID array and I have two eGPU Thunderbolt enclosures so there's scope there as well.
Some niggles that I've encountered concern USB functionality. The Mac Pro/Monterrey doesn't appear to like my Kingston DataTraveler 4GB USB stick because when I attempt to play even standard definition video clips from the device there's severe lagging, stuttering and pausing in QuickTime. This doesn't happen on any of my other Macs - even the G4s! Of course, the clips play normally when copied to the SSD.
I also tested a USB 3.0 multi-HDD enclosure and this issue was non-existent but there is a glitch where the enclosure's HDD sleep feature after 10 minutes of inactivity comes into action even though the drives are in use and then there's a slight pause whilst they're reawakened. Again, this doesn't occur on my other Macs and other versions of macOS. If anyone has suggestions, please share them.
It arrived today and it's essentially in immaculate condition beyond a couple of minor scratches. There's no dents or signs of rough physical handling that other members have encountered with used units. The seller reset Monterrey and included the password in the packaging. From my end, I connected a keyboard, mouse and HDMI cable to my TV and switched it on.
Let's log in and look around.
Not bad on the RAM front. The SSD...
...is on the small side but at this price I can track down a larger drive and a third-party adapter when I'm ready. From what I've read, the method will be similar/identical to that of upgrading my 2010 MBA's SSD. Now that I've had a chance to check this computer out myself, contrary to the negative opinions from some quarters, I can certainly see its appeal.
The potential surrounding 6 TB ports has me quite eager to tinker and see what I can achieve and I'm already thinking of using this new addition to manage my Thunderbolt RAID array and I have two eGPU Thunderbolt enclosures so there's scope there as well.
Some niggles that I've encountered concern USB functionality. The Mac Pro/Monterrey doesn't appear to like my Kingston DataTraveler 4GB USB stick because when I attempt to play even standard definition video clips from the device there's severe lagging, stuttering and pausing in QuickTime. This doesn't happen on any of my other Macs - even the G4s! Of course, the clips play normally when copied to the SSD.
I also tested a USB 3.0 multi-HDD enclosure and this issue was non-existent but there is a glitch where the enclosure's HDD sleep feature after 10 minutes of inactivity comes into action even though the drives are in use and then there's a slight pause whilst they're reawakened. Again, this doesn't occur on my other Macs and other versions of macOS. If anyone has suggestions, please share them.
With all the recent discussions about the 2013 Mac Pro, I was tempted to open my wallet and grab one for £180 GBP - including shipping. Here's a couple of photos from the listing:
It arrived today and it's essentially in immaculate condition beyond a couple of minor scratches. There's no dents or signs of rough physical handling that other members have encountered with used units. The seller reset Monterrey and included the password in the packaging. From my end, I connected a keyboard, mouse and HDMI cable to my TV and switched it on.
Let's log in and look around.
Not bad on the RAM front. The SSD...
...is on the small side but at this price I can track down a larger drive and a third-party adapter when I'm ready. From what I've read, the method will be similar/identical to that of upgrading my 2010 MBA's SSD. Now that I've had a chance to check this computer out myself, contrary to the negative opinions from some quarters, I can certainly see its appeal.
The potential surrounding 6 TB ports has me quite eager to tinker and see what I can achieve and I'm already thinking of using this new addition to manage my Thunderbolt RAID array and I have two eGPU Thunderbolt enclosures so there's scope there as well.
Some niggles that I've encountered concern USB functionality. The Mac Pro/Monterrey doesn't appear to like my Kingston DataTraveler 4GB USB stick because when I attempt to play even standard definition video clips from the device there's severe lagging, stuttering and pausing in QuickTime. This doesn't happen on any of my other Macs - even the G4s! Of course, the clips play normally when copied to the SSD.
I also tested a USB 3.0 multi-HDD enclosure and this issue was non-existent but there is a glitch where the enclosure's HDD sleep feature after 10 minutes of inactivity comes into action even though the drives are in use and then there's a slight pause whilst they're reawakened. Again, this doesn't occur on my other Macs and other versions of macOS. If anyone has suggestions, please share them.
£180 quid and it looks more like a surround sound speaker or a 1970s Sci-Fi prop.
Congratulations on what, hopefully, won’t turn into an albatross. I look forward to reading more about your escapades with the Trash Can.
Thanks. Let's see what the coming weeks/months brings.
The TC uses a Fresco Logic FL1100 for USB 3.0 (no native support in its chipset) — just like Belkin‘s TB1 dock. Does the issue also occur when using the dock, just out of interest?
£180 quid and it looks more like a surround sound speaker or a 1970s Sci-Fi prop.
The curves, I guess, aren’t Starck at all and I take back what I said.
More Eames, Aarnio, or Magistretti.
This has been a periodical reminder to book an annual eye exam. 👓
Just so that I perform the right test, using the dock with my other Macs or using it with the TC via a TB port?
With one of your other Macs, to see if it’s an issue with the FL1100 or the TC. Monterey might also be at play so do any of your other Macs that like the drive run it?
I've just connected the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock (F4U055) to my 13" 2012 MBP running Ventura and plugged the USB stick into a 3.0 port and tested the same video clips and they play normally.
I can test the 2011 MBP and the 2011 MBA with the dock tomorrow if needs be but I suspect the outcome will be the same with them also playing normally.
Congratulations TheShortTimer,With all the recent discussions about the 2013 Mac Pro, I was tempted to open my wallet and grab one for £180 GBP - including shipping. Here's a couple of photos from the listing:
It arrived today and it's essentially in immaculate condition beyond a couple of minor scratches. There's no dents or signs of rough physical handling that other members have encountered with used units. The seller reset Monterrey and included the password in the packaging. From my end, I connected a keyboard, mouse and HDMI cable to my TV and switched it on.
Let's log in and look around.
Not bad on the RAM front. The SSD...
...is on the small side but at this price I can track down a larger drive and a third-party adapter when I'm ready. From what I've read, the method will be similar/identical to that of upgrading my 2010 MBA's SSD. Now that I've had a chance to check this computer out myself, contrary to the negative opinions from some quarters, I can certainly see its appeal.
The potential surrounding 6 TB ports has me quite eager to tinker and see what I can achieve and I'm already thinking of using this new addition to manage my Thunderbolt RAID array and I have two eGPU Thunderbolt enclosures so there's scope there as well.
Some niggles that I've encountered concern USB functionality. The Mac Pro/Monterrey doesn't appear to like my Kingston DataTraveler 4GB USB stick because when I attempt to play even standard definition video clips from the device there's severe lagging, stuttering and pausing in QuickTime. This doesn't happen on any of my other Macs - even the G4s! Of course, the clips play normally when copied to the SSD.
I also tested a USB 3.0 multi-HDD enclosure and this issue was non-existent but there is a glitch where the enclosure's HDD sleep feature after 10 minutes of inactivity comes into action even though the drives are in use and then there's a slight pause whilst they're reawakened. Again, this doesn't occur on my other Macs and other versions of macOS. If anyone has suggestions, please share them.
I've been looking on and off over the last few months, but in Germany the Mac Pro 6.1 is not available for less than €350 (£300). That's too much for this hobby.
Have fun and good luck
I probably ought to wait to post this until after everything arrives and tested successfully.
Without detailing more, I picked up an i7-4771 Haswell CPU and a used, but still OEM-warranted WD Blue 3D 500GB SATA SSD, together, for $77, shipping inclusive (in freedom dollars, not loonies).
Both were found on from the flea market floating in a body of water and sold by sellers from over the border (cross-border shipping tends to be a frequent dealbreaker, but not with these). Both are going into a planned upgrade which will probably be posted on another thread once all is in place. [Some other, low-dollar stuff from AliExpress will also be involved.]
The WD Blue 3D SSD departs from my insistence to buy fresh SSDs always (and not used ones), as there’s no easy way to know how worn (even with wear-levelling) the NANDs are. The seller, an individual (who found troubles with the WD Blue after upgrading some Windows-related stuff), had to turn to a different SSD brand and was selling it, with a transferable, 5-year OEM warranty. As I own a couple of these, I know they’re rock-solid. It’ll be used as a data volume.
But I realized I’ve erred here each time I’ve posted how the WD Blue SSDs all have DRAM caches.
This isn’t quite true!
WD Blue 2D (like, pre-2019) and 3D (2019–2022ish) do have DRAM caches; the current WD Blue SA510, meanwhile, does not — meaning, WD cut corners and are sotto voce about it… booo. Another boo-urns about the SA510: the OEM warranty is only two years, not the five for the revision it replaced. And buying a new SA510 in the same size would have cost about $20 more, so this wasn’t a difficult decision.
Without detailing more, I picked up an i7-4771 Haswell CPU and a used, but still OEM-warranted WD Blue 3D 500GB SATA SSD, together, for $77, shipping inclusive (in freedom dollars, not loonies).
Both were found on from the flea market floating in a body of water and sold by sellers from over the border (cross-border shipping tends to be a frequent dealbreaker, but not with these). Both are going into a planned upgrade which will probably be posted on another thread once all is in place. [Some other, low-dollar stuff from AliExpress will also be involved.]
The WD Blue 3D SSD departs from my insistence to buy fresh SSDs always (and not used ones), as there’s no easy way to know how worn (even with wear-levelling) the NANDs are. The seller, an individual (who found troubles with the WD Blue after upgrading some Windows-related stuff), had to turn to a different SSD brand and was selling it, with a transferable, 5-year OEM warranty. As I own a couple of these, I know they’re rock-solid. It’ll be used as a data volume.
But I realized I’ve erred here each time I’ve posted how the WD Blue SSDs all have DRAM caches.
This isn’t quite true!
WD Blue 2D (like, pre-2019) and 3D (2019–2022ish) do have DRAM caches; the current WD Blue SA510, meanwhile, does not — meaning, WD cut corners and are sotto voce about it… booo. Another boo-urns about the SA510: the OEM warranty is only two years, not the five for the revision it replaced. And buying a new SA510 in the same size would have cost about $20 more, so this wasn’t a difficult decision.
Danke!
You deleted the reply? That's a shame because the suspicions were correct - Monterey is the culprit. I've just booted the 2013 Mac Pro into High Sierra via TDM and Thunderbolt from my 2011 MBP and then tested the same USB stick connected to the MP and the videos played fine.
Now I need to think about which macOS version I should install to replace Monterey given this massive bug. I'm open to suggestions.
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The lowest price a working one sold for on eBay.de was 250 €. I spotted one on Kleinanzeigen.de for 250 as well a few weeks ago but it sold quickly.
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I’ve been looking for one of these at the right price for a long time - the teeny, tiny (pictured on 12” Powerbook for reference) Sony ICF-SW100 World Receiver.
Insane performance for such a small device and classic Sony over-engineering - pity Sony are not inclined to make such things nowadays.
Insane performance for such a small device and classic Sony over-engineering - pity Sony are not inclined to make such things nowadays.
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That’s beautiful and brilliant. And now I must find one I can afford.
The industrial design alone hearkens to the very end of Sony’s run of not only being over-engineered, but also of a UI-robust feature set (durable physical buttons and switches) packed into a turn-of-decade minimalist, black metal-plastic hybrid case which still felt (and typically was) expensive and designed to hold up for a long time.
It shares so much, aesthetically, with 1990’s flagship Discman D-35 and the MiniDisc Walkman MZ-1 of 1992:
After this period in the early ’90s, the cost-and-corner cutting, along with dialling back the over-engineering, lamentably, began really seeping into most lines of Sony’s hardware products.
If you hadn’t brought up the MZ-1, I would just have had to. 😍 And the WM-D6C.
I've booted back into Monterey for further testing and the problem no longer occurs. Nor has it recurred during several reboots across the past few hours with video clips playing from the USB stick in loops. How strange. Maybe there was some temp glitch or blip during the initial session or Spotlight was indexing the stick and that caused the sluggishness?
Given that the TC utilises the same hardware for USB as the Belkin F4U055, then that means it also suffers from the same shortcomings that you documented here. Another MR member posted about this and pointed out that:
This means that if the user wants to enjoy decent results then only one USB storage device can be connected and used at a time. The other ports would be fine for keyboards, mice etc but little more. It's very disappointing but unsurprising that Apple chose this spec on a computer that cost almost $3k dollars for the entry level model. However, it's not the end of the world because this machine has 6 TB ports and in my case, I have various options at my disposal including my Belkin TB3 dock which will give the TC three ports with full USB 3.0 operability.
Un-ticking "put hard disks to sleep when possible" was the most obvious thing that I should've done.
It didn't make a difference with my HDD enclosure - I still experienced moments with slight occasional pauses whilst the enclosure's drive LEDs flashed. I'm currently using a TB to USB 3.0 & eSata dongle in High Sierra and this aspect is now solid, so I can only guess that the FL1100 doesn't work well with my enclosure.
I'll carry out some further tests with other enclosures and/or macOS versions and see what happens. Any further developments on that front will be posted in the Early Intel forum.
As a kid, I was always eager to see the latest consumer electronics releases by Sony. For me, they were tied with Apple in imbuing their products with a flair and distinctiveness that their rivals seldom matched. They've both fallen victim to what you've described.
A peculiarity with the TB1 dock is that the FL1100 gets one 2.5 Gbps PCIe 1.0 lane there (even though it’s a PCIe 2.0 device) which may help explain the abysmal performance. If it connects using PCIe 2.0 in the TC I‘d expect it to be faster there (5 Gbps; 400~450 MB/s or so?).
Do you have a USB 3.0 SSD to see how fast it will go on the TC?
The TB3 dock‘s USB 3.0 controller (which one is it? System Profiler will tell under PCI cards) probably uses a single PCIe 2.0 lane and shares that 5 Gbps bandwidth among all of its ports too.
Update: the TB3 dock also uses the FL1100.
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Yes, although the pre-1990 Sony products were more slab-shaped and decidedly metal throughout, last seen around the time of the D-Z555 (truly overkill in every possible way) and D-90 of 1989, as well as on the 1990 ES series of home entertainment components.
The 1981–1990 slab period, as with the WM-D6C is, without contest, my favourite of Sony’s industrial design style, followed by the above, 1990–1994ish period.
[My third-favourite is the brushed aluminium (much of it mimicking Dieter Rams’s style) and the early anodized era from the mid ’70s, through about 1980.]
Specifically, my favourite from the slab period was in their seldom-seen and gorgeous, colour-anodized variants of products (like the Walkman WM-10, WM-20, and WM-30):
The above is still one of maybe two of my dream Walkman cassette players.
The 1989 Walkman WM-DD30, right during that transition from the slab period, to the very early ’90s metal-plastic hybrid period (as with @Dronecatcher ’s new handheld shortwave radio), in red, is my favourite. It has all the best slab features and the start of the metal-plastic hybrid period.
The transition is seen most prominently in the frosted, metallized plastic buttons and bevelling along the edges.
Just… chef’s kiss level.
If only there had been a red-anodized Discman from this period, such as the D-100 or D-150/250 — the limited-edition, Japan-only, D-50 from 1985 (below, but never was a big fan of the D-50’s glossiness) and the rarer-than-unobtanium D-50MkII/D-7 (bottom two) notwithstanding:
