Still worth to buy 2012 Mac Pro?

[0879396]

I have an iMac and I hate it. I'm thinking about moving to the Mac Pro line or even the z820.

I mainly use Adobe apps, mostly Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop, so CUDA is always good.

Do you think that is better off with base 6-core 2013 model or get a 2012 model and upgrade it over time?

I like OS X but Apple support is not so great while the HP one is great.

 

[ashman70]

Can you elaborate on why you hate your iMac?

I have a 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 and I am considering moving to a 2012 iMac.

 

[fuchsdh]

I have an iMac and I hate it. I'm thinking about moving to the Mac Pro line or even the z820.

I mainly use Adobe apps, mostly Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop, so CUDA is always good.

Do you think that is better off with base 6-core 2013 model or get a 2012 model and upgrade it over time?

I like OS X but Apple support is not so great while the HP one is great.

Well, I haven't needed Apple support for my desktops while HP... *looks over at Z820 in the other corner of the room with a malfunctioning PSU*

I think it's impossible to answer your question without knowing what you hate about the iMac, or what beyond support appeals to you with HP.

Also without knowing more about your workflow I can't tell you if you actually will use the extra expansion afforded by an old Mac Pro or Z820.

For my part I personally buy new almost always.

 

[reco2011]

The answer is: It depends. What configuration are you considering? What prices? Which iMac do you currently have? The oMP is a great system but it's strength compared to the iMac is in multicore support along with the ability to upgrade.

 

[Riwam]

I like OS X but Apple support is not so great while the HP one is great.

............
Maybe Dor you had bad experiences with a local Apple agency or dealer or with some unpleasant person working there.
My experience with Apple support is fantastic ("Meuleh"!!!!)
They even exchanged me a continuously bad working MP 1.1 free of charge for a mid 2010 MP 5.1 several months after the 3 years warranty was over.
I cannot imagine any other computer manufacturer doing such an incredible customer service to a small and private computer owner like I am.

Apple takes Customer Service very seriously and OSX is a truly good OS in my opinion.

By the way my mid 2010 2.4 MHz 8-core MP 5.1 worked fine for me and was sold when there remained only 1/2 year of Apple Care.
I am not skillful to do any repair by myself and decided therefore to sell the 5.1 while it still was under Apple Care (much easier to sell... and avoided me any possible complaints from any unpleasant unknown buyer???).

However I must say I NEVER needed any repair of my MP 5.1 while being under Apple Care coverage. Not a single malfunction during 2 1/2 years
But of course one must accept USB 2 and FW 800 for external connections natively offered by the MP 5.1. Also the 4 internal HDD offer SATA 2 and not SATA 3.
Some people are skillful to do upgrades by themselves and gain more speed and better performance but unfortunately I am not one of them

Therefore I bought again Apple Care for my nMP to be in the safe side ("Betichut").
In my opinion it is a must for any new computer and well worth the money it costs

 

[CASLondon]

I have an iMac and I hate it. I'm thinking about moving to the Mac Pro line or even the z820.

I mainly use Adobe apps, mostly Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop, so CUDA is always good.

Do you think that is better off with base 6-core 2013 model or get a 2012 model and upgrade it over time?

I like OS X but Apple support is not so great while the HP one is great.

If you are a heavy Adobe CSS user, then yes, I think you should seriously consider the last generation Mac Pro.

The money you save on this will go towards a powerful gpu to fuel that CUDA work. Its going to take some time for them to write the software to take much advantage of the dual firepros.

You can upgrade the CPUs to up to 3.47 ghz, you can look at barefeats.com to see how an older mac pro can match up to the nMP. At a much lower price. I can give more details later, as I've gone down this road.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^A BIG +1 from me. The expandability and upgradability are real +s IMHO.

Lou

 

[Macsonic]

I have an iMac and I hate it. I'm thinking about moving to the Mac Pro line or even the z820.

I mainly use Adobe apps, mostly Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop, so CUDA is always good.

Do you think that is better off with base 6-core 2013 model or get a 2012 model and upgrade it over time?

I like OS X but Apple support is not so great while the HP one is great.

The 2012 classic Mac Pro is still good for today's tasks even though it's not the newest hardware. Gets the job done at the end of the day. You can either add a USB 3 card or a PCIe SSD for SATA 3 speeds.

 

[flowrider]

You can either add a USB 3 card or a PCIe SSD for SATA 3 speeds.

Actually you can add both. And that's a great way to fly.

Lou

 

[bin90a]

Actually you can add both. And that's a great way to fly.

Lou

I have just done exactly that, 5.1 cMP, now with 4 port USB3 and 500GB SSD on an Apricorn Solo X1 PCIe card, dual boot OSX and W7.

 

[sebseb]

Why do people say cMP?? what does c stand for?

And the best thing about old Mac Pro is that you can change Graphics cards and well the PCI slots but other than that, the base quad core is really slow. It's well not the best. A new iMac gets better score in single core and multicore!

Photoshop is single core program, so it will run a lot faster on the new Mac Pro than the old one. If you were to use Final Cut Pro, a 12 core Mac Pro (old) will perform better than a 6 core 2013 MP, because it's a multicore software.

From the apps you said you want to use, I would say a Quad Core 2013 MP will do, just increase the storage to 512GB.

 

[Studio K]

Why do people say cMP?? what does c stand for?

c stands for.....'old'.

 

[sebseb]

c stands for.....'old'.

I know that!! n in nMP stands for "new", because it starts with n. How does old start with "c", why don't people say oMP?

 

[koban4max]

c stands for.....'old'.

you CLASSIC.

 

[TzunamiOSX]

oMP = old
cMP = classic
nMP = new

 

[RoastingPig]

things i hated about the old mac pro

noisey - especially when i used to sleep in the same room with it. if the fans where consistent i could of dealt with it but the up and down and whatever else noise the case produced was maddening. If you taxed the machine it sounded like a hoover vacuum.

no thunderbolt - only because i already owned thunderbolt display that i used to pair with my macbook.

a sleep from wake issue that for the love of god i could never figure out. again if the mac pro had some noctuas in there this would of never been a problem because i would of just ignored it it. but the initial roar of fans at 2:30am when your all comfortable in bed and a second away from dozing into sleep almost made go on a murder spree lol not really but very frustrating indeed. - this one had to be something with the computer itself because even with fresh os installs and checking and unchecking every option in combinations. running command prompt crap all the time but it wouldn't stay asleep.

the fan reving with aftermarket graphics cards.

having to buy pcie cards for usb 3 and sata 3

the only thing i hate about the new mac pro is that i miss having a gtx 780 . i dont miss the storage thing because i bought a synology that i keep in another room. my new work space has become my zen zone. the loudest thing in there is the quiet but not silent new mac pro.

 

[lemonade-maker]

things i hated about the old mac pro

noisey - especially when i used to sleep in the same room with it. if the fans where consistent i could of dealt with it but the up and down and whatever else noise the case produced was maddening. If you taxed the machine it sounded like a hoover vacuum.

no thunderbolt - only because i already owned one that i used to pair with my macbook.

a sleep from wake issued that for the love of god i could never figure out. again if the mac pro had some noctuas in there this would of never been a problem because i would of just ignored it it. but the initial roar of fans at 2:30am when your all comfortable in bed and a second away from dozing into sleep almost made go on a murder spree lol not really but very frustrating indeed.

the fan reving with aftermarket graphics cards.

having to buy pcie cards for usb 3 and sata 3

the only thing i hate about the new mac pro is that i miss having a gtx 780 . i dont miss the storage thing because i bought a synology that i keep in another room. my new work space has become my zen zone. the loudest thing in there is the quiet but not silent new mac pro.

Wait for it....

 

[MacVidCards]

things i hated about the old mac pro


the fan reving with aftermarket graphics cards.

Yeah, won't ever have this problem again.

 

[0879396]

I have some screen ghosting that AppleCare and the Executive Relation guys are not willing to help me with. They are telling me that "there are no screen issues" (see attachments)

Besides that, my iMac is maxed out at 32GB of RAM. More is always welcome.

I actually prefer the 2012 model over the new one because I like the expandability and the ability to do everything myself, including choosing the GPU.

The only problem that I have is the 2012 model is pretty hard to get here... (which means - $$$$$$)

 

[Riwam]

I have some screen ghosting that AppleCare and the Executive Relation guys are not willing to help me with. They are telling me that "there are no screen issues" (see attachments)

Besides that, my iMac is maxed out at 32GB of RAM. More is always welcome.

I actually prefer the 2012 model over the new one because I like the expandability and the ability to do everything myself, including choosing the GPU.

The only problem that I have is the 2012 model is pretty hard to get here... (which means - $$$$$$)

.......................
Shabbat shalom Dor.
The OTHER problem besides price is that you won't find a NEW oMP and cannot know how carefully a second hand MP was used.
No seller of an oMP can give you any useful guarantee!
Besides you get a huge, heavy and often noisy machine while a nMP is NEW, small and silent and you can have 3 years of Apple Care for a relative cheap price.

As to inner storage in any oMP, the inner SATA ports for HDDs are only SATA 2 while modern HDDs are SATA 3.

And if you read the thread in this sub forum about external USB 3 cards you will see it is not so easy.
My own experience with a PCIe USB 3 card was awful
It made my BT mouse crazy and unresponsive and my trackpad suffered heavy interferences as well.
Even 2 different eSATA PCIe cards I bought worked SOMETIMES YES AND SOMETIMES NO
For a oMP (if I would buy one), I would therefore accept USB 2 and FW 800 since they are natively supported by the computer, and I would never try to change external speed with PCIe cards as I did in the past.

To the expandability point, another truth not often mentioned.
With a nMP you must use additional external drives, that is true, but also my previous oMP needed a lot of peripheries and cable connections!

My MP 5.1 had hooked with cables following parts I now also use with my nMP:
1) a color and a b&w printer
2) a A4 and a A3 scanner
3) of course a monitor and sometimes 2
4) a Web Cam
5) several external HDDs for Time Machine and other storage needs.
6) an Aurport router.
7) audio in and out cables for external speakers (I used my hi fi stereo system)

Therefore even with a oMP there are plenty of things that are still OUTSIDE of it in spite of the enormous and heavy enclosure.

Anyways it's your decision.
Having had old MPs and now a new MP, I can only tell my own experience with both kins of computers.
Personally I find my nMP a wonderful computer, the best I ever had

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Avoiding image persistence on Apple LCD displays

I have some screen ghosting that AppleCare and the Executive Relation guys are not willing to help me with. They are telling me that "there are no screen issues" (see attachments)

Besides that, my iMac is maxed out at 32GB of RAM. More is always welcome.

I actually prefer the 2012 model over the new one because I like the expandability and the ability to do everything myself, including choosing the GPU.

The only problem that I have is the 2012 model is pretty hard to get here... (which means - $$$$$$)

To answer your OP, YES! Be critical to what your desires and needs <-> $ resources are. I made that decision for myself and bought a 'new' 2012 MP 5.1 that was configured to meet my needs. It might not be state-of-the-art but the expandability was one of my priorities. Good luck choosing what's best for you!

----

I've seen many unfortunate issues with iMac LCD screens around me! Truly ugly...

See this article from Apple:

Avoiding image persistence on Apple LCD displays

With some Apple LCD displays, if you leave an unchanging image (like a login screen or the same desktop picture) on the screen for a long period of time, you may see a faint remnant of the image even after a new image replaces it. This is called "persistence".

You can prevent image persistence by using the Energy Saver sleep feature to turn off the display when it is not in use or by using the Screen Saver to make sure that a static image isn't on the display for long periods of time. The Energy Saver sleep feature is very useful because the backlight bulbs are turned off during periods of inactivity, which may prolong their useful life.

In the rare event that an image does become persistent, you can usually get rid of it by following these steps:

Temporarily set the Energy Saver sleep setting to 'never sleep'.
Display an all-white pattern across the entire display for the same amount of time that the persistent image had been displayed on the screen.

To do this:
Create an all-white graphic in a graphics application such as Graphic Converter or Photoshop, and save it as a JPEG file.
Use this as the image displayed by the screen saver.
Turn the display brightness down (but not off) to preserve backlight bulb life.
Verify that the persistent image is gone.
If necessary, repeat the process until the persistent image is gone.
Restore the Energy Saver settings.

To create an all-white graphic, complete these steps:
Open your graphics application.
Create a new graphics file.
Use the resolution of your display (in pixels) as the height and width of your new graphic.
Save your new graphic, and select "JPEG" as the format.

~ Cheers

 

[0879396]

To answer your OP, YES! Be critical to what your desires and needs <-> $ resources are. I made that decision for myself and bought a 'new' 2012 MP 5.1 that was configured to meet my needs. It might not be state-of-the-art but the expandability was one of my priorities. Good luck choosing what's best for you!

I can see your specs in your forum signatue. How much does the machine only cost you? You got it 2nd hand or from Apple? How much did the upgrades cost? (by the way, didn't get which processors you have)

 

[RoastingPig]

Yeah, won't ever have this problem again.

What was the solution for this?

 

[flowrider]

things i hated about the old mac pro

noisey - My 5,1 even with the fans tweaked is pretty quiet

no thunderbolt - only because i already owned thunderbolt display that i used to pair with my macbook. Even though I have an MBA, this is not an issue for me

a sleep from wake issue that for the love of god i could never figure out. Again, not an issue for me.

the fan reving with aftermarket graphics cards. I had a Gigabyte 3 fan GTX 570 and now have a Gigabyte 3 Fan GTX 780, both flashed by MVC, and never had this issue.

having to buy pcie cards for usb 3 and sata 3 - I did just that, no biggie, aside from BT interference that I finally solved.

My Mac Pro 5,1 with upgraded CPUs, 24GB of RAM, Inateck USB 3.0, Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 with a Samsung 840 500GB SSD and the GTX 780 runs quick and quiet and I expect to keep my machine for some time.

Lou

 

[koban4max]

oMP = old
cMP = classic
nMP = new

exactly!