Serial from 2012 Mac Pro showing as 2010 model

[BillyBobBongo]

I'm looking at purchasing a second hand Mac Pro "Twelve Core" 3.06 (2012/Westmere) and I got the seller to send the 'About This Mac' screen to me. Running the serial number through https://selfsolve.apple.com/ it popped up as a Mac Pro (Mid 2010) model.

Seller is asking for €2000 for the model with 32GB of RAM. Am I looking at a 2010 model that's been upgraded, or do all 2012 models report back as being 2010? My expectation was that it should have reported back as Mid-2012.

Thought I'd throw this one out to the community as it wasn't the result I was expecting, and it is causing me to doubt the authenticity of the advert. Don't really want to roll up somewhere with 2K in my pocket if it's dodgy.

 

[Brian Y]

It's probably a 2010 with upgraded CPUs. If he's advertising it as a 2012, walk away IMO - he's not being honest (unless he himself was duped).

 

[keysofanxiety]

I'm looking at purchasing a second hand Mac Pro "Twelve Core" 3.06 (2012/Westmere) and I got the seller to send the 'About This Mac' screen to me. Running the serial number through https://selfsolve.apple.com/ it popped up as a Mac Pro (Mid 2010) model.

Seller is asking for €2000 for the model with 32GB of RAM. Am I looking at a 2010 model that's been upgraded, or do all 2012 models report back as being 2010? My expectation was that it should have reported back as Mid-2012.

Thought I'd throw this one out to the community as it wasn't the result I was expecting, and it is causing me to doubt the authenticity of the advert. Don't really want to roll up somewhere with 2K in my pocket if it's dodgy.

The Mac Pro updates were in July 2010. There was then a minor update in June 2012. These latter models should show as being 2012, but it's worth noting that if it was bought before that refresh in June, even just by a few days, then it will show as being a 2010 model.

At any rate the 'bump' on the refresh had a slight CPU change I think, though nothing major at all. It was practically the same computer.

If they have a receipt when they purchased the Mac, this should confirm if it was purchased before the June 2012 bump.

 

[modulusshift]

The Mac Pro is a sparsely updated line. There hadn't been any changes between Mid-2010 and Mid-2012. It's entirely possible he bought it in the first half of 2012, and is therefore advertising it as a 2012 Mac Pro, not knowing that that has a separate meaning for most of the Mac market.

 

[BillyBobBongo]

First off, thanks to all for taking the time to reply!

At any rate the 'bump' on the refresh had a slight CPU change I think, though nothing major at all. It was practically the same computer.

It's this processor bump that's caused me to pause. My understanding was that 3.06 GHz processors were only on the 2012 model. Which makes me think someone has been tinkering, as @Brian Y suggests. Not necesarrily a bad thing, I just like to know what I'm getting in to.

Mac Pro 2010 - https://support.apple.com/kb/SP652?locale=en_US

Mac Pro 2012 - https://support.apple.com/kb/SP589?locale=en_US

I guess what it comes down to is how old the unit is. Originally I thought the device was around 3 years old, but could be slightly older than that.

 

[keysofanxiety]

First off, thanks to all for taking the time to reply!



It's this processor bump that's caused me to pause. My understanding was that 3.06 GHz processors were only on the 2012 model. Which makes me think someone has been tinkering, as @Brian Y suggests. Not necesarrily a bad thing, I just like to know what I'm getting in to.

Mac Pro 2010 - https://support.apple.com/kb/SP652?locale=en_US

Mac Pro 2012 - https://support.apple.com/kb/SP589?locale=en_US

I guess what it comes down to is how old the unit is and will said tinkering have any future repurcussions.

Yeah, it's definitely a tricky one. You're absolutely right to be careful with this purchase.

I suppose if you were to say that it's a Mid 2010 model then they might shave off a bit of the asking price. It's always difficult with upgraded computers because you don't know what's been done or how efficiently the work has been carried out. And as general a rule of thumb, the older the computer, the more likely it is to fail.

Are other advertised 2012 Mac Pros a similar price, or is this one a bit of a bargain?

 

[Hirakata]

It could be an honest mistake on his part if he bought it in early 2012, but either way, if the serial shows up as 2010, then it is definitely upgraded as none of the 2010 MPs (or build to order MPs) came with a 3.06 chip. I'd ask the seller and see if he's dodgy or forthcoming. Don't know what the going price is in Europe, but in the States that model with the upgrade runs about $2000. (Assuming their are no other upgrades...)

 

[BillyBobBongo]

Are other advertised 2012 Mac Pros a similar price, or is this one a bit of a bargain?

It's the only 2012 I've seen to be honest. I've looked at 2010 models for around €1600, but these tend to be from retailers that have pulled all the RAM out and put the bare minimum back in. I've also seen a 2009 Quad core for €899. Have also seen a 2010 model for almost €3000 out there. So all said and done it's not that far off the 2010 model, but with more RAM and someone has already done the work of upgrading it.

Guess the wisest move now is to ask a lot of questions, and if the seller gets spooked then so be it.

 

[BillyBobBongo]

Right then, after many more questions here's what I now know.

It turns out that the seller purchased this Mac Pro with the modifications already in place, therefore it's already second hand. He has no idea when the machine was originally purchased and has no receipts from the original owner. The build year is apparently 2011, but he's not 100% certain of that. I checked with Apple and they have no information on the purchase date either.

He seemed very confused by my questions, seems like he didn't really do his homework when he purchased the device. His final justification for all this was 'It looked to be in good order and it's fast. That's all that matters'. So in essence he's not been deceptive with his advert, he just a bit naive.

I think due to all this information I'm going to pull out of negotiations on this one. Think I'd rather buy a model with a more documented history.

Thanks to one and all for all their info/help/discussion on this matter, it's greatly appreciated.