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How to buy the 2012 Mac Pro in the UK?

K

kapowaz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 8, 2008
28
0
So, having chewed on the subject for some time I've gradually come to the conclusion that I don't want to buy the 2013 Mac Pro: it's not going to give me the performance or options I want. I have a 2008 model which I've upgraded gradually over the years, but as I've started looking at things like RAM and a PCIe SSD upgrade, I've come to the conclusion that it might be a better idea to get hold of a 2012 model and upgrade that, then put my existing one out to pasture. Even with the older architecture and CPU it's going to be substantially faster than mine, plus it'll actually be upgradeable which the 2013 model won't.

Problem is, they withdrew the existing Mac Pro from sale in the EU (due to issues with the case fans I think?). Buying it from the US is possible (hell, it'd be worth the price of a flight just to go over and get it) but it's such a large item it'd be hard to get shipped, and I'd have to imagine I'll be stung with import duty.

Has anyone tried purchasing a Mac Pro from the US to bring back to the UK? Anyone got any recommendations about how to go about doing this?
 
Really I'd like to get one that's actually entirely new, and ideally supported by AppleCare (I don't know exactly how Apple works on that though, given that it's no longer sold here).
 
OP, it's your money and you're of course free to do with it what you will, but there's no way I'd pay the prices quoted in the link above for a second hand Mac Pro. I'm not even sure I'd buy a new one at this stage even if I could.

It's not for everyone, but I'm a confirmed Hackintosh guy these days for work that requires some serious grunt. I have plenty of "real" Macs in the house for lesser tasks (and I do love them), but if you follow the buying guides on tonymacx86.com, you can put a very decent system together for a fraction of the price and get the performance you require.

Completely understand if it's not for you for whatever reason, but it's worth mentioning if you want a system that you can upgrade HDs, GPUs and memory.
 
Once upon a time, John Lewis used to sell Mac Pros. Not sure if any other shops did.

They used to have them on display (at least at the Newcastle branch) but not anymore (there is now an Apple store in Toon).
 
Just look on Amazon and eBay. Alternatively go through the list of Authorised Resellers and contact them.

There are 2012 Mac Pros floating around still.
 
Bah-Bah: yeah, the prices at that place looked insanely high for second hand hardware. I would definitely look elsewhere myself.

A hackintosh is another option I have considered, it's just that I love the build quality of the Mac Pro and no PC I've encountered comes close. There are a few places that do really high-end custom spec PCs that would probably be to my liking, but they too are in the US and so it puts me in the same situation with regards importing.

John Lewis is worth chasing up though, I suspect. I wouldn't be surprised if there's still a few in the retail channel that haven't sold yet…
 
Apple refurbs are like new and come with full warranty. Mac Pros probably sell out quickly, so you'll need a tracker service that watches the website and notifies you when it has stock. http://www.refurb.me/uk/

Alternatively you can buy a 2009 or 2010 which are just as upgradable as the 2012. The 2009 will require an unauthorized firmware flash if you want to use Westmere CPUs.
 
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