Mac Pro 2010 vs. Mac >2013

[flowrider]

Nobody has addressed a fundamental reason to purchase a nMP is that you can buy a new one with a 3 year onsite manufacturers warranty. A cMP is going to be used & years old.

For many of us here, warranty really doesn't matter. I bought my 2010 cMP, new, just after the nMPs were announced. Before I even powered up the machine I swapped out the RAM, changed the GPU, and installed a second optical drive. Before the machine was 3 months old, I replaced the CPUs. Since I've had it, I've only had one component fail, the OEM optical drive, I replaced it with a BD unit. So, as I write this, my machine is under three years old, and all replaceable original components have been replaced.

The quality of work done on any upgrades will be unknown & there will be no warranty.

Not sure what you mean by your above statement? I've done all the work myself, and all my replacement parts were bought new (except my 2 sets of CPUs) and all had third party warranties.

Lou

 

[Macsonic]

Nobody has addressed a fundamental reason to purchase a nMP is that you can buy a new one with a 3 year onsite manufacturers warranty. A cMP is going to be used & years old. The quality of work done on any upgrades will be unknown & there will be no warranty.

Another factor to consider aside from warranty is the compatibility of software to the new Mac Pro. There are users who are having problems with horizontal artifacts in video rendering using the new 2013 Mac Pro at the Adobe forum HERE

It's a year long thread and no definite solution yet. One temporary solution was to use "software" mode to render but that takes longer to render. And they paid for the 2 GPUs of the new Mac Pro at a premium price which is the disadvantage if you can't get benefits. If the OP is doing music making, should also check out software compatibility with the newer OSX too.

For 3D rendering, it was explained in this video that Cinema 4D and other 3D softwares only uses one GPU as some softwares are still optimized to use one GPU. It may not be advisable to invest in the new Mac Pro for 3D work when only one GPU will be used.

 

[prusso]

There are some goods and bads about the new vs older Mac Pros. My old one is a 2006, which is of course much different than a 2010, so take that in to consideration. I also have a 2013.

Having internal storage is great. Yes, I use thunderbolt drives with my 2013, and I can move the Logic library to the TB to help free up space. The TB is great for files, but there are a fair amount of things that need to stay on the internal or that don't work as well on an external, such as dropbox, AE cache, bootcamp, etc. And for me there is Carbonite where I have unlimited backup on all my internal drives. It is a culture shock switching from the luxury of 4 drives, which can be dedicated to certain causes to managing one small SSD. Also, I think latency is a concern with audio recording to thunderbolt or USB 3 drives.

Right now, any upgrades to the 2013 are enormously expensive. I don't see that changing because the components are specific to that line of Mac Pro. You can't use a standard SSD or RAM. You can't use a flashed PC graphics card because the physical structure of the card is different than for PCs. So the reasonable longevity of the newer Mac Pros is suspect.

All that being said, my 2013 blows my 2006 and my Macbook Pro out of the water with 3D processes and rendering. The GPU is underutilized right now, mostly because 3D apps are just starting to take advantage of it. That will change in time (but of course Apple will make sure the 2013 is obsolete by then). It is important to note that the GFX cards are not gaming cards and may be better suited to some applications over others. They are also not NVIDIA and cannot take advantage of CUDA processes, which are required for certain things like AE raytracing.

As an extra, the newer Mac Pros are much more transportable. If you anticipate needing it in multiple sites, it does make a huge difference. It also means they are easier to steal, and it requires additional hardware to lock them down. They are super quiet too, so that can help if recording.

I think if I had a 2010 and were not doing 3D, I'd keep that running with upgrades a while more. I think the newer Mac Pros will have less of a life span, so getting one now means having to get another one in about 3-4 years to avoid problems. I'd be inclined to see if there is a 2019 refresh. By that point, the whole Mac Pro line might change.

 

[deconstruct60]

Another factor to consider aside from warranty is the compatibility of software to the new Mac Pro. There are users who are having problems with horizontal artifacts in video rendering using the new 2013 Mac Pro at the Adobe forum HERE

You mean the part where OS X 10.9.4 (and/or replaced faulty GPU cards, there was more than a few of those in the initial batches ) largely fixed the problem back in 2014? ( Some folks fell back to 10.9.2 where also go relieve for some. ). There was a mismatch between relatively brand new hardware , Adobe, and OS X. That is probably going to happen again at some point in the future to both old and newer version of the Mac Pro.

It's a year long thread and no definite solution yet.

The flaw in seeking a "definite solution" is only applicable if there is only one single source to the problem. If there are multiple sources ( flakey hardware, funky OS drivers, funky plug-ins , etc) occuring individually or in some combination are all being blamed on a single symptom there isn't going to be one magic bullet.

There are multiple reports in that thread of the problem going away for some users. Adobe reportedly saw the same effect in their bug tracking. Post number 500 in the thread.

"...
I think your case might be unique, as the OS X 10.9.4 update solved the issue for most everyone else having the issue. My personal feeling is that those still having issues after OS X 10.9.4 really need to have their hardware looked at by a certified Apple repair facility. ..."

Post 500 wasn't the first point where 10.9.4 was pointed to..... that was 100's of posts back in the thread.