Mac Pro 5.1 still a good purchase option in 2016?

[pastrychef]

I'm with lowendlinux here. At this point, I wouldn't invest in a 5,1. One thing that doesn't get mentioned enough is how much power these models used. It's extremely inefficient when compared to more modern hardware.

 

[pat500000]

A narrow, slow PCIe slot....

On topic, though, the cMP is really sounding its death rattle.

If you depend on FCPx, buy the cylinder. If you want power, RAM, connectivity - get a Precision or a Z-Series.

Z1 workstation it is.

 

[flat five]

Where does it lack today? And for how long will it be supported and have OSX updates?

probably the part to be most considerate of at this point.
apple tends to drop OS support at around 7 years.. so, based off the past, you're looking at another year or two before you're either cut off from OS updates.. or, you'll be put in a position where you're basically hackintoshing the mac in order to keep the OS up to date.

idk, i personally wouldn't buy a 2010 mac at this point unless the mindset was one of it being a short-term temporary buy that i'd likely be replacing in a year.

 

[ITguy2016]

Its just that we have to restart the PCs daily to keep them stable, and its unpredictable when they decide to misbehave. The OSX machines not so much. The password/unlock/security and call home "features" on the newest windows boxes are troublesome. We lose so much productivity dealing with it, unlike the older windows OSs that could be user modified/patched. The constant near daily "security" updates are a real pain.

Works the same, not in our experience. ... oh and lets not use the typical windows fanboy blame the creative users for not being technocrats

You lost all credibility with that statement. Microsoft releases security updates once a month (aside from an occasional out of cycle release). I can tell you exactly when Microsoft will be releasing security patches for the next five years. It will be on the second Tuesday of every month. The fact you refer to them as "near daily" shows how unfamiliar you are with the platform and thereby lack all credibility on this subject.
[doublepost=1465765785][/doublepost]

Speaking of outdated concepts, "Apple tax?" Macs have been pretty comparable price-wise when you include all features between them and the equivalent PCs.

But that aside, my objections include:

• Microsoft. Just not a fan of their software and underlying architecture. I don't like NTFS, and keeping system settings in a registry is IMHO heinous.
• The interface. Still don't like it, never liked the Windows 8/10 "I'm on a PC, not a tablet, #$@! it!!" interface. I don't want a half screen of self-updating icons/tiles when looking at the OS. It doesn't matter if it looks like Windows Phone as I would never own one of those, either.
• Driver updates. Never want to deal with them which is why I don't have a non-Apple supplied graphics card in my Mac Pro 5,1.
• Viruses. Having to use a third party solution or Windows Defender, or even think about such things is something I can do without.
• I love Time Machine and its backups to my Time Capsule.
• I prefer Safari as a browser and like iCloud integration.
• I prefer Apple Mail to MS anything or Thunderbird.
• I prefer the OS X Calendar interface.
• I 100% prefer the fact that OS X is built atop of a UNIX variant; if Macs didn't exist I'd try to get by with Linux except for when I needed to use commercial software.
• I love Apple's keyboards and especially their trackpads; I have a Magic Trackpad 2 for each of my Macs. I prefer not to have a multi-button trackpad, though deep clicking my trackpad and gestures are awesome.
• if I'm logged in as an administrator, there should be very little I don't have "permission" to do. OS X has some of these issues too, but in my experience, not as often as I've had them with Windows.
• I love the way if an app crashes in OS X or even if the OS panics I can look at the resulting core file and intuit what went wrong.

I can keep going, and I realize most of those are preference, but in general OS X is still an easier to use, easier to administer, and easier to use day to day than any flavor of Windows I've seen.

I realize others may feel differently and hey, God bless; I just won't go there and could never bring myself to recommend to anyone else that they use it.

What issues do you have with NTFS? Why is keeping system settings in the registry "heinous"? Why do you care where / how system settings are stored? I can't think of anyone outside of IT who knows / cares how system settings are stored.

 

[scotttnz]

I don't know if I would buy one now. Prices, at least here in NZ don't seem to have changed much since I bought my Mac Pro almost 2 years ago, so the value has gotten worse. And the only reason I bought one is I scored an awesome deal at about half the going rate.

On the other hand there still isn't anything in the current Mac range that suits my needs/wants, so I dunno? I like OS X, and want a seperate 4K screen, but can't justify the cost of a nMP.