Should I consider buying these mac pros?

[mac26]

I stumbled upon 2 mac pro's (used) here are their prices: $600 for the first and $850 for the 2nd

MAC PR0 2008 MODEL

Two 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors
4GB of 800MHz DDR2 ECC fully buffered DIMM
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB (two dual-link DVI ports)
320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s; 7200 rpm; 8MB cache
16x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
OSX LION

2ND)

2 X 2.66GHz Xeon
4 gigs of ram
OS - Snow Leopard
Stock - 250 gigs hard drive
Added - 2X 500 gig hard drives

DO you think I should consider buying these Mac Pros? (The $600 one is probably sold now though because of its awesome price)
Are their video cards upgradeable to more recent cards (e.g. 2010-2012)? (possibly of more intensive Photoshop/ aperture). Is this a good deal? I know I can get Mac mini for same price but the upgrades in this are endless and so I can always have as much RAM as I need, HDD or SSDs, and if I need a better video card I can also upgrade that.
Also Mac Pro users how long have you had your MPs? Are they still good after X amount of years?

Thanks in advance!

 

[akadmon]

I've had mine of 5.5 years. Zero problems.

 

[MacinJosh]

1st one sounds too good to be true. You should jump on it if you still can and if it's legit.

2nd is pretty rich for what it is although it's known to sell for that price, you can get it cheaper.

 

[alphaod]

Is the second one a dual 2.66GHz from 2006 or 2009? If from 2009, it's much faster.

 

[derbothaus]

Probably 2006 if it came with a stock 250GB HDD. I wouldn't buy it if it is 2006 model.

 

[mac26]

Probably 2006 if it came with a stock 250GB HDD. I wouldn't buy it if it is 2006 model.

Is it still comparable to my MBA (1.6GHz i5) if I put an SSD in the MP? I want the machine so I can have a powerhouse for photoshop/aperture jams and maybe CAD if I ever get into that. If the power is comparable than I can upgrade RAM/ Video card and I'll have a powerhouse for Photoshop

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also the price has been knocked down to $800

 

[derbothaus]

Is it still comparable to my MBA (1.6GHz i5) if I put an SSD in the MP? I want the machine so I can have a powerhouse for photoshop/aperture jams and maybe CAD if I ever get into that. If the power is comparable than I can upgrade RAM/ Video card and I'll have a powerhouse for Photoshop

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also the price has been knocked down to $800

MBA 1.6: 4552
Mac Pro 2.66 1,1: 4833

Pretty darn comparable. The Pro has the ability to upgrade the graphics though. So the Pro is faster with SSD. The pro is basically 2x 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo's.

 

[mac26]

MBA 1.6: 4552
Mac Pro 2.66 1,1: 4833

Pretty darn comparable. The Pro has the ability to upgrade the graphics though. So the Pro is faster with SSD. The pro is basically 2x 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo's.

Oh cool so if I add SSD, more RAM, and powerful video card I have a beast photoshop machine! thanks, you really helped

Although now I think I will wait for the TB Mac Pros so the price will be cheaper when I buy a Mac Pro. or should get a base mini (2011) I will add 8GB RAM and a SSD so since it's benchmarks are higher than MP I think this will be a better route (because of TB and sandy bridge).
what do you think?

 

[Neodym]

or should get a base mini (2011) I will add 8GB RAM and a SSD so since it's benchmarks are higher than MP I think this will be a better route (because of TB and sandy bridge).
what do you think?

Raw CPU speed is not the only thing to consider. The mini will become quite noisy under load (MP won't), you won't be able to easily add internal storage (MP: 4 HD bays plus space for more drives in the optical bays) and you're much more limited on max. Ram (MP: up to 32GB, though expensive) - 8GB in the mini may become a tight fit with huge photos...

 

[thekev]

Oh cool so if I add SSD, more RAM, and powerful video card I have a beast photoshop machine! thanks, you really helped

Although now I think I will wait for the TB Mac Pros so the price will be cheaper when I buy a Mac Pro. or should get a base mini (2011) I will add 8GB RAM and a SSD so since it's benchmarks are higher than MP I think this will be a better route (because of TB and sandy bridge).
what do you think?

CAD isn't something I'd want to try on the Air for graphics reasons. Photoshop depending on the type of files you work with can be moderate on ram, or take every bit of ram you can throw at it. If you're working with large files at only 8GB of ram, an SSD would help a lot. Photoshop has quirks, but it's much nicer when it's not chugging on paging data. I don't totally care for the price on the 2006 model. Personally i'd look for a really good deal on a 2009 and upgrade the cpu .

 

[derbothaus]

I'm with Neodym. A Macmini is really limited even if it has a faster processor. But really moving forward they are both fairly limited. The only mini I would consider over the Mac Pro would be the server Quad version. But that is more expensive than the Pro with same limitations. You may be able to over clock the 1,1 with a SW tool. You may be able to replace the Dual 2.66's with up to 3.4GHz duals or even Quads with LGA771 sockets. So the world is your oyster with a Pro. Get a PCI SATAIII card and add even more storage etc...

 

[mac26]

Thanks for the replies guys! here is my answer to some of your concerns:

I probably won't do CAD on my machine, and 8GB RAM is fine for me because currently I use less RAM with my MBA and PS runs fine, I don't do really heavy photoshop either, internal storage isn't a problem because at most I would use 300GB

So according to this do you think I'll be fine with the mini?
Thanks again