MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro to M1?

[ghoniba]

Hey Gang,

I currently have a older Mac Pro (early 2008 - 2 x2.8 Quad Core Xeon, 32 GB Ramm 3,1) that I use daily for Photoshop/retouching. It has served me well and is still going strong save for a few upgrades I can no longer do.

I have been thinking about an 'upgrade' to a Mac Mini 16GB. The 16GB scares me a little though.

I am curious if anyone has taken the leap to an M1 from a Mac Pro? Are you happy with the switch? Is 16GB a problem?

Look forward to hearing from anyone.

Thank you, Glenn

 

[AlexMaximus]

I am still on my MP 5.1 so far. I had a brand new iMac Pro (standard model) for a view days to test it agains the 5.1 and I was very surprised. The 5K screen is a bit nicer compared to the Apple Cinema 27 screens, but not as much as I thought. The iMP is a bit faster too, but to be honest I was very surprised that my 5.1 is still going super strong, even against a 7 year new model. I just applied the patcher and did go from Mojave to Catalina this evening. This little bitty difference is just not worth big time money. It must be worse on a Mini (?) I would miss my BlueRay burner and lots of other stuff. I could not move my PCIe cards over. To be honest, its way too early to move to some brand new experimental Apple Silicone. Lets talk about in at least a year from now.
However it all depends what you do on your machine. I found out, that at least for my needs, everything is taken care of with what I have. My pimped 5.1 is perfect. I could not move to a Mini because I would miss the upgrade game and the tinkering and the great Mac Pro forum. On top of that, I am not "Pro" enough. There is nothing that would warrant more power than I already have. But I do understand, there is that itch you can't scratch...

 

[DFP1989]

I’m stunned what my 16GB M1 mini is capable of. Cuts 4K 10-bit 422 HEVC projects like butter where my 7,1 (specs below) stutters.

 

[ghoniba]

Thank you guys, really appreciate the feedback. I know I am on borrowed time with my current machine as it is going on about 12 years old! Waiting for something to explode! Thought I would get a backup going with the M1. Sounds like you both have different computers working for you. I am curious DFP1989, what type of work are you doing on the M1? I work on Photoshop files all day long. Occasionally I work on files that are 2-5 gigs. I guess no amount of RAM helps anyway, it's swapping!

 

[teagls]

If you get the M1, worst case you can always trade it in for credit towards something newer. But I would expect to see new machines in July and if not definitely by Octoberish.

 

[MarkC426]

As great as the M1 mini is, for me it would make a great render node.

I would miss the upgrading as Alex stated, and there are not enough USB ports by far.
Plus I believe there where some issues with more than one monitor (this may have been resolved).

 

[ghoniba]

I don't feel any great need to upgrade components generally unless something is really off. The old Mac Pro's are really great. Seem just about bulletproof. Been extremely reliable and a real work horse for me. It's a shame that it's no longer supported. It still does work for me professionally and hate the thought of it ending up in some landfill just because it isn't the latest and greatest. All about making money I guess. I thought an M1 with 16GB RAMM might be the ticket, being a more efficient design with RAMM, but maybe this isn't the case. I'll keep my eye open for the 32 GB M1?. I think that will be the sweet spot for me anyway. Thanks for all of the comments. Much appreciated.

 

[DFP1989]

Thank you guys, really appreciate the feedback. I know I am on borrowed time with my current machine as it is going on about 12 years old! Waiting for something to explode! Thought I would get a backup going with the M1. Sounds like you both have different computers working for you. I am curious DFP1989, what type of work are you doing on the M1? I work on Photoshop files all day long. Occasionally I work on files that are 2-5 gigs. I guess no amount of RAM helps anyway, it's swapping!

I work on both stills and video, and have been very impressed with my M1. For example, below is a timeline I just completed entirely on the M1.

It's largely 1DX III footage in 4K 4:2:2 10-bit HEVC, with a sprinkle of C200 Canon Cinema Raw Light. Everything has multiple colour effects, a bit of sharpening, and some have stabilisation. There are animated Motion graphics throughout, plus some regular text titles.

This timeline plays very smoothly with only the occasional hiccup and without any sort of pre-rendering (I have background rendering disabled) or transcoding. My identically-specced MacBook Air can also work with this just as easily.

As for Photoshop, the only time I've found it noticeably lacking is when trying to work with too many large images open at once, for that the 96GB RAM in my Mac Pro definitely helps.

 

[ghoniba]

Cool DFP19891, I am curious what file sizes are these files you typically manipulate or work on? Photoshop is the only application I use. Do you think PSD files in the 2-5 gig range are manageable? Not often mind you. Typically a few hundred megs to a GIG or so. I can work on them on my Mac Pro with SSD and 32GB RAMM without issue.

Glenn

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[haralds]

I have a Mac Pro 12 core 3 Ghz with RX-580, 48GB of RAM, and an NVME running as system disk. I switch between it and a MacBook Pro M1 16GB/2TB. For most tasks the M1 is smoother, especially when you look at browser scrolling like Facebook full of HTML crap. I have not truly compared Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro, but both are smooth and fast. Large compilations using all cores might have an advantage on the 5,1, but it is hard to tell.

The main advantage is with some games and running VMs. But Parallels Desktop with Win10 Preview runs pretty decently. Running large VS Studio compiles in a VM cannot yet compete with Intel VMs on the 5,1. But that is only an issue on a clean and rebuild. Incremental compiles feel the same.

I am slowly weaning myself of the large beast and expect to be solely on the MacBoo Pro or its descendant in a year or two. It certainly is nice not to muck with Open Core etc.

 

[ghoniba]

Thank you Haralds. Sounds like a year from now you'll be on the M1 exclusively!

 

[TECK]

I'm waiting for M1 Mac Pro, right now on cMP 2010 5,1 Big Sur and still very satisfied after many years of use.

 

[FooTing]

No regrets coming from cMP 4.1>5.1 with 2gb GPU and upgraded CPU. My 8gb M1 Mini does everything way faster than my old Mac Pro, I mostly do 3D modelling and rendering with Vectorworks.

 

[ghoniba]

I am beginning to wonder if I shouldn't 'upgrade' to a 5,1 from my 3,1! What is the latest operating system one can use for a 5,1?

 

[Stex]

I am beginning to wonder if I shouldn't 'upgrade' to a 5,1 from my 3,1! What is the latest operating system one can use for a 5,1?

Officially supported: Mojave.
Via OpenCore: Big Sur, although the latter currently up to 11.2.3. (There are issues with 11.3, although likely to be resolved at some point soon.)

 

[AlexMaximus]

I am beginning to wonder if I shouldn't 'upgrade' to a 5,1 from my 3,1! What is the latest operating system one can use for a 5,1?

There will be more people in the future that are willing to move from their MP5.1 to the brand new Apple Silicon stuff. This means you will be able to find great deals on 5.1 machines that already come with most upgrades, such as the latest 144 Firmware, super fast NVME drives and at least an RX 580 running Mojave very fast. Great potential for you to score one of the best machines ever.

 

[ghoniba]

Thanks guys that's great. So what would be the best machine to look for? Year, model?

 

[m1maverick]

Thanks guys that's great. So what would be the best machine to look for? Year, model?

You may want to give a mid level M1 Mini configuration a try. Apple will let you return it within 14 days if it doesn't meet your needs.

While the 5,1 is a great system it is dated and the new M1 will give it a run for its money (depending on task). If Photoshop is AS ready then it's worth considering until a more capable AS system is available.

 

[ghoniba]

Good point m1Mavrerick. Forgot about the return policy!

Glenn

 

[Mike Richardson]

M1 might be great, but then you are forced onto Big Sur, which is a dumpster fire as far as I'm concerned.

 

[DFP1989]

M1 might be great, but then you are forced onto Big Sur, which is a dumpster fire as far as I'm concerned.

Big Sur has been really good in my experience (both M1 and Intel).

Catalina was the dumpster fire.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

It really depends on what your use case is. Modern macOS is *VERY* memory-efficient; unless you have specific datasets that use more than 16 GB of RAM, or do extremely-demanding work (compiling large applications, video editing 8K RED raw footage, etc,) it *should* be good.

And my Mac mini M1 is as fast or faster than my 8-core i9 at most tasks!

That said, unless you're reaching a point that your system is so out of date is simply cannot run newer apps you *need* to run, maybe hold out until the M2, which will probably be a much more "Pro" chip, enabling much higher-end systems.

 

[Mike Richardson]

Big Sur has been really good in my experience (both M1 and Intel).

Catalina was the dumpster fire.

The interface changes really bother me. There is no logical reason for having alert dialog boxes looking like a rip off from iOS - unless the goal is to eventually merge macOS and iOS or otherwise depreciate macOS in some fashion.

And it's totally inconsistent, not to mention completely illogical as well. 100% of macOS users are using it in a widescreen, landscape type of display, ideally suited for alert dialogs that are in a landscape orientation. Stupid, narrow iOS style alerts are completely illogical here.

No, I don't like it at all, and it's a terrible harbinger of what might be to come.

 

[Mike Richardson]

It really depends on what your use case is. Modern macOS is *VERY* memory-efficient; unless you have specific datasets that use more than 16 GB of RAM, or do extremely-demanding work (compiling large applications, video editing 8K RED raw footage, etc,) it *should* be good.

And my Mac mini M1 is as fast or faster than my 8-core i9 at most tasks!

I open too many Safari tabs and it starts swapping. I literally do this all the time. For example, I was doing price research earlier today. I had dozens of tabs open from dozens of stores and was using several GB of swap. And this was on my MacBook Pro that has 16 GB of RAM. I would have swapped even sooner on my MacPro5,1 that only has 12 GB right now. But at least I can upgrade my MacPro5,1...

 

[macguru9999]

Has anyone worked out a way to link a "stack" of say , 2,3 or 4 M1 mac minis together to share tasks ? you could link them by the optional 10gb ethernet ports .... that would give you a 64gb machine