Last Mac purchase was a 2006 Core Duo 20" iMac that I will be passing on to my daughter this month. Found a late 2006 Mac Pro with two Xeon 2.66 procs, 1GB RAM, 320 GB disk, and a 20" cinema display for $275... I know performance will be at least as good as the old iMac, but any opinions on how much longer this machine will be viable if I were to upgrade the RAM and GPU (nvidea 7300)? Also, $275 sound reasonable? I can't believe what 8GB outdated ram is going for for this machine btw, and $250 for an HD 5770? After those costs it seems cheaper to buy a Mac Mini and Newegg cheap monitor.
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- Thread starter donnierhodes
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I personally wouldn't be looking at a Mac Pro 2006, unless I already owned it.
10.7 was the last OS that was officially supported. You install none Apple OS on such as Windows 7 and 8 and Linux.
To be honest if you are coming from a 2006 iMac then a current mini will do you admirably, just remember to get an external USB Optical Drive as the mini doesn't have one.
10.7 was the last OS that was officially supported. You install none Apple OS on such as Windows 7 and 8 and Linux.
To be honest if you are coming from a 2006 iMac then a current mini will do you admirably, just remember to get an external USB Optical Drive as the mini doesn't have one.
Thanks for your response mnallym. My reasoning in considering this machine is based on the fact that the 2006 iMac still does everything I need pretty well, which is audio production, a little weekender photoshop work, and banal stuff like browsing and email; and thus the 2006 Mac Pro would do it as well if not much better. I'm only getting rid of it because my daughter is starting high school and I think the iMac would be perfect for her. Which leaves me looking for a cheap replacement. I considered a new iMac, but I'm on the fence about going back to PC hardware for the upgrade factor and want another year or so to look into whether or not I can switch my workflow over to Windows (and whether I can stomach it...). I'm still using Snow Leopard and don't feel the need just yet to upgrade to Mountain Lion, so that's not an issue.
I guess I was looking for feedback on performance from people that are still using them, and whether $275 was a good deal for that setup.
I guess I was looking for feedback on performance from people that are still using them, and whether $275 was a good deal for that setup.
In my opinion, $275 is a pretty good deal. As long as you understand that Apple stopped supporting this machine in terms of OS X updates and are alright with it, there shouldn't be any problems. The only other thing is the cost of RAM. You should factor that in to the total cost.
I still have two sets (four sticks of 1GB) RAM from my old 2006 Mac Pro that you can have for free if you're willing to pay for shipping. However, I believe one of the sets were giving ECC errors and I don't know which set is which...
I still have two sets (four sticks of 1GB) RAM from my old 2006 Mac Pro that you can have for free if you're willing to pay for shipping. However, I believe one of the sets were giving ECC errors and I don't know which set is which...
That price would have been good even without the screen. With the screen, it's a legitimately great deal. But ram will be pricey (and necessary) as you noticed.
I still think either the 2008 which is EFI64 and or 09-10-12 are your best bets to keep up. Really, the 2009 is a no brainer since all one has to do is flash 4,1 to 5,1 firmware and select your poison: w3670, w3680, or w3690 the later being a sheer waste if you go w3680.
I think the 2008's while still a great machine, are a dead end in terms of upgrades, but so long as AMD keeps pumping out EBC firmware based video cards, it should suffice for years to come.
2006-2007 in my humble opinion make great linux, bsd boxes or Windows 7,8,8.1 boxes. While hacking ML might be adventuresom for most, I find it a total waste of time doing time consuming converting and copying to the installer to get ML to boot on 1,1 and 2,1 Mac Pros.
Even the thought of using chimera or chameleon as a bootloader on a mac is preposterous given that the Mac Pro is a geunine Apple product and not a hackintosh.
I think the 2008's while still a great machine, are a dead end in terms of upgrades, but so long as AMD keeps pumping out EBC firmware based video cards, it should suffice for years to come.
2006-2007 in my humble opinion make great linux, bsd boxes or Windows 7,8,8.1 boxes. While hacking ML might be adventuresom for most, I find it a total waste of time doing time consuming converting and copying to the installer to get ML to boot on 1,1 and 2,1 Mac Pros.
Even the thought of using chimera or chameleon as a bootloader on a mac is preposterous given that the Mac Pro is a geunine Apple product and not a hackintosh.
Thank you pastry chef - I think I might take you up on that. I could send you some money via PayPal if you have an account. If you can use it for anything I have a 512MB stick I pulled from the iMac last year. I'm meeting with the guy on Thursday, I'll contact you if I decide to buy it.