Hey folks,
Since Apple hasn't released any new hardware this year and the modulare Mac Pro seems miles ahead, I was wondering if, with all the upgrade options, the Mac Pro 5.1 is still worth it in 2018.
The Scenario
I'm a Composer and Sound Designer for Film / TV and Games. Right now I'm working (believe it or not) on a Macbook Pro (2013) hooked up to a Thunderbolt Display. So far this machine hasn't let me down, but working on games is a nightmare with the low speced GPU. Therefore I want to step up my game and invest in a real pro machine.
MacBook Pro 15" (Early 2013): i7 @ 2,7 GHz / 16 GB RAM / GT 650m / 500 GB SSD
The Candidates
iMac Pro: Well, the technical specs sound great, but the price is way off. Even though the basic version with 8 cores would be totally fine for me, it's still 4.800€ here in Europe. Just something I'm not really comfortable with spening on a non-upgradable machine.
Mac Pro (Trash can): A 5 year old machine with no upgrade options and a high price tag ... seems like the worst deal. Nope, that's not going to happen.
Mac Pro (2012): Even older than the trash can, but its huge advantage are the PCIe slots. it can be upgraded to my own needs even with the latest tech. Of course I may have to run special drivers but that should not be a problem. I would go for the 12 core 3,46 GHz version, 32GB RAM (for now), 1 TB SSD, a decent GPU and the USB 3.0 card.
The Question
I already calculated the costs and it would be around 1.500 €. Is it even in 2018 still a good deal to invest in such a machine? As far as I understand it, I can upgrade the RAM, the GPU, drives and USB-C by the time needing. Only the CPU will be limited to the available option.
Any help, experience or thoughts are appreciated.
Since Apple hasn't released any new hardware this year and the modulare Mac Pro seems miles ahead, I was wondering if, with all the upgrade options, the Mac Pro 5.1 is still worth it in 2018.
The Scenario
I'm a Composer and Sound Designer for Film / TV and Games. Right now I'm working (believe it or not) on a Macbook Pro (2013) hooked up to a Thunderbolt Display. So far this machine hasn't let me down, but working on games is a nightmare with the low speced GPU. Therefore I want to step up my game and invest in a real pro machine.
MacBook Pro 15" (Early 2013): i7 @ 2,7 GHz / 16 GB RAM / GT 650m / 500 GB SSD
The Candidates
iMac Pro: Well, the technical specs sound great, but the price is way off. Even though the basic version with 8 cores would be totally fine for me, it's still 4.800€ here in Europe. Just something I'm not really comfortable with spening on a non-upgradable machine.
Mac Pro (Trash can): A 5 year old machine with no upgrade options and a high price tag ... seems like the worst deal. Nope, that's not going to happen.
Mac Pro (2012): Even older than the trash can, but its huge advantage are the PCIe slots. it can be upgraded to my own needs even with the latest tech. Of course I may have to run special drivers but that should not be a problem. I would go for the 12 core 3,46 GHz version, 32GB RAM (for now), 1 TB SSD, a decent GPU and the USB 3.0 card.
The Question
I already calculated the costs and it would be around 1.500 €. Is it even in 2018 still a good deal to invest in such a machine? As far as I understand it, I can upgrade the RAM, the GPU, drives and USB-C by the time needing. Only the CPU will be limited to the available option.
Any help, experience or thoughts are appreciated.
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