When the new Mac Pro comes out, will older Mac Pro prices shoot up?

[Siderz]

I'm just curious.

Won't the older Mac Pros start selling for a lot more on eBay and whatnot because they'll be considered to be a 'rarity'? Perhaps Apple will decide to give the current Mac Pros a spec bump and continue selling it anyway once the new one comes out?

I'm assuming this has already been discussed quite a bit, sorry if it has.

 

[ActionableMango]

No. Computer equipment almost always goes down in value. There are some rare exceptions, but the Mac Pro is not that rare.

 

[Cubemmal]

When a model is discontinued the old ones on Amazon drop by a healthy 10%-20% or something. I got a brand new 17" MBP for around $2k (about $2500 new) from Amazon after the discontinuation notice. Love it.

Don't know if there will be much old Mac Pro stock though as the discontinuance has been long in coming.

 

[Siderz]

But the difference between other Macs and the Mac Pro is that people desire the replaceable parts, which the new Mac Pro doesn't appear to have, other than the RAM.

 

[flowrider]

I don't know about shooting up, but recently I've seen prices leveling off. The discounters that usually discount prices on new Macs don't seem to be that aggressive with pricing anymore. And, I don't know what, if any, the EU ban will have on prices in the rest of the world. The ban should make the prices of Mac Pros still available in the EU higher.

Lou

 

[deconstruct60]

....
Won't the older Mac Pros start selling for a lot more on eBay and whatnot because they'll be considered to be a 'rarity'?

Is there going to be a speculative bubble? Probably. There is usually high levels of volatility when most folks don't know which way things are going to break.

Long term probably no.

Folks who need faster and/or newer machines will buy them. Some subset of those folks will dump those into the used market to defray costs on new equipment.

Events like

a. older of two Mac Pros gets bumped out with new box.

b. Direct bumps by new Mac Pro of old one out.

c. Direct bumps of new alternative ( Linux/Windows ) box of old one out.


will dominate over the long term.

Over the bubble phase, going to get folks that are skipping new to buy old. Temporarily more folks in the used market. That is going to subside over time. No way current Mac Pro is going to fulfilling broad spectrum of top performance requirements 2, 3, or 4 years from now.

Nobody is going to buy new Mac Pros or Dells or HP or any other Xeon E5 v2 system is bad long term bet over increasing lengths of time.

 

[Cubemmal]

But the difference between other Macs and the Mac Pro is that people desire the replaceable parts, which the new Mac Pro doesn't appear to have, other than the RAM.

So? How long can you milk that computer? Third party manufactures won't be producing cards for it, other than maybe graphics cards. No thunderbolt ever, no USB 4 and so forth. We know nothing about the new Mac pro and the connection between the GPU's and CPU's (maybe they are doing something special to support SLI), it's entirely possible that new GPU support will not include the old Mac Pro.

It's a hole in the ground, I think people should either embrace the future Mac Pro or jump ship.

 

[Siderz]

No thunderbolt ever, no USB 4 and so forth.

This will change your life - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

We know nothing about the new Mac pro and the connection between the GPU's and CPU's (maybe they are doing something special to support SLI), it's entirely possible that new GPU support will not include the old Mac Pro.

Of course it'll be in some kind of Crossfire configuration...it wouldn't be Apple to make it complicated in that way.

I don't know what you're talking about with GPU support on the old Mac Pro...are you saying the GPUs in the new one won't be supported on the old one? Or are you saying that new GPUs that get released won't be supported on the old one?

I think people should either embrace the future Mac Pro or jump ship.

I didn't share any opinion whatsoever on the old or new Mac Pro, how did you come across the conclusion that I'm not 'embracing' the new one?

 

[theSeb]

No, they will not.

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But the difference between other Macs and the Mac Pro is that people desire the replaceable parts, which the new Mac Pro doesn't appear to have, other than the RAM.

No. Only some people desire replaceable parts. Many people do not care for it, or don't have the time to muck about with their computer.

 

[rabidz7]

This will change your life - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express



Of course it'll be in some kind of SLI configuration...it wouldn't be Apple to make it complicated in that way.

I don't know what you're talking about with GPU support on the old Mac Pro...are you saying the GPUs in the new one won't be supported on the old one? Or are you saying that new GPUs that get released won't be supported on the old one?



I didn't share any opinion whatsoever on the old or new Mac Pro, how did you come across the conclusion that I'm not 'embracing' the new one?

So? How long can you milk that computer? Third party manufactures won't be producing cards for it, other than maybe graphics cards. No thunderbolt ever, no USB 4 and so forth. We know nothing about the new Mac pro and the connection between the GPU's and CPU's (maybe they are doing something special to support SLI), it's entirely possible that new GPU support will not include the old Mac Pro.

It's a hole in the ground, I think people should either embrace the future Mac Pro or jump ship.

They will use crossfire not SLI.

 

[ActionableMango]

They will use crossfire not SLI.

I will be really surprised if they use crossfire. There hasn't been a peep about that in the beta builds of Mavericks.

 

[Cubemmal]

I didn't share any opinion whatsoever on the old or new Mac Pro, how did you come across the conclusion that I'm not 'embracing' the new one?

I didn't, how did you come to the conclusion that I had? I just said that IMO people should jump or embrace, whatever works. Trying to hold onto the past in computing is a futile effort.

----------

I will be really surprised if they use crossfire. There hasn't been a peep about that in the beta builds of Mavericks.

Of course I meant crossfire.

I'll guess that Apple will crossfire the new Mac Pro silently in the driver, to the degree that is possible. As long as it's in the kernel driver layer they can keep that quiet. The performance in real time rendering they're getting is hard to explain without it.

Or perhaps the software is using OpenCL so heavily that it doesn't need it.

 

[Tesselator]

So? How long can you milk that computer? Third party manufactures won't be producing cards for it, other than maybe graphics cards. No thunderbolt ever, no USB 4 and so forth. We know nothing about the new Mac pro and the connection between the GPU's and CPU's (maybe they are doing something special to support SLI), it's entirely possible that new GPU support will not include the old Mac Pro.

It's a hole in the ground, I think people should either embrace the future Mac Pro or jump ship.

Yup! Totally agree. The jumping ship part might not be needed for a year or two tho. Embrasement (is that a word?) seems more advantageous to me for most imaginable workflows.

 

[deconstruct60]

So? How long can you milk that computer? Third party manufactures won't be producing cards for it,

For it ( the older Mac Pro) only ? No. Not producing cards is another story. The PCI-e expander box market isn't going to be zero. Over time it could actually grow bigger than what the old Mac Pro only market was. It will be a different mix of cards though.

However, a card with PCI-e drivers to deal with hot-plug/unplug events will probably work just fine if do not hot-plug/unplug the card.

other than maybe graphics cards. No thunderbolt ever, no USB 4 and so forth.

Graphics cards for the old EFI graphics model will drop off faster than than something like USB or some new open standard I/O format. Simarily, cards will drift to PCI-e v3 and sometimes with fewer pins. ( which as little impact on v3 is the bandwidth needs are constant. x8 v2 is x4 v3.

We know nothing about the new Mac pro and the connection between the GPU's and CPU's (maybe they are doing something special to support SLI), it's entirely possible that new GPU support will not include the old Mac Pro.

Eventually the current Mac Pro is going to get left behind by OS updates. That will start to be a bigger issue than cards over time. Short term the bigger impact is that there isn't going to be video cards to snatch the firmware from and clone on cheaper hardware.

It's a hole in the ground, .

Some folks want to live in a bunker. Never going to upgrade from OS X 10.6. Adobe CS2 is just fine. Their copy of Appleworks runs just fine and their copy of Mac Paint runs just fine too. All their mail is in Eudora.

 

[JesterJJZ]

Some folks want to live in a bunker. Never going to upgrade from OS X 10.6

Some folks are professionals that like to get sh** done.

 

[ActionableMango]

Please no

Let's not turn this thread into yet another endless debate about the new MP's. There are already 462.8 other threads for that.

 

[deconstruct60]

Some folks are professionals that like to get sh** done.

Doing upgrades periodically is getting sh** done. Putting your head in the sand and saying never isn't doing anything. There is no action in rigidly committing to inaction.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

But the difference between other Macs and the Mac Pro is that people desire the replaceable parts, which the new Mac Pro doesn't appear to have, other than the RAM.

No. People desire getting from A-Z in the quickest possible manner.
The new MacPro is designed to do that with new OpenCL software hitting the market.

 

[Tesselator]

Wait, which OS we use matters?

I thought as long as the apps you need launch properly and move fast enough then that's all one needs consider - OS wise.

To be honest the way I use mac OS X I don't see much difference between 6.x and 8.x - some of the tools I used to use in 6 don't wanna move in 8 but other than that - not much. I guess there's some GPU drivers in 7 and 8 which aren't in 6 but if ya ain't got them GPUs - no biggy there. 7.5 is a little faster than 6.8 (on the MP1,1 w/5355, 32GB) but not enough to make any difference to anyone normal.

<shrug>

Sounds like someone just wants to enter into a heated debate to me. Those can be fun (if self moderated) but every thread? Eh...

 

[VirtualRain]

I'm just curious.

Won't the older Mac Pros start selling for a lot more on eBay and whatnot because they'll be considered to be a 'rarity'?

I sure hope so

For sale: Super rare 2009 Mac Pro (a top vintage... first of the Nehalem line) and has aged gracefully (still as powerful as the day it was purchased!). Easily upgraded - infinite expansion. You just can't get them like this any more. Includes USB 3 card with coveted optical bay power cord kludge, PCIe RAID card that doesn't boot, and a pair of dated GPUs... but flashed GPUs are available exclusively (only) from fellow forum members (but be nice and expect to show at least 3 hater posts against the 2013 Mac Pro to qualify). Real Pros only please! Make me an offer I can't refuse! (Shipping Extra - this thing is built like a tank and costs like one to ship!)

 

[tamvly]

I am hoping that the 5,1 I bought recently holds value as well as the 3,1 I sold just prior.

The 5,1 is an insurance policy.

 

[0007776]

But the difference between other Macs and the Mac Pro is that people desire the replaceable parts, which the new Mac Pro doesn't appear to have, other than the RAM.

There are very few people who actually need upgradable parts, and a good majority of those will be able to make do with thunderbolt for upgrades. And for the other 10% or so who need something different they will go with an upgradable PC. So no the prices won't go up, if anything they are likely to go down because the current model will then be an old model, and there likely will be quite a few people selling their old mac pros to help cover the cost of a new one.

 

[Cisco_Kid]

But the difference between other Macs and the Mac Pro is that people desire the replaceable parts, which the new Mac Pro doesn't appear to have, other than the RAM.

You are absolutely crazy to think Apple would build a machine which they cannot repair incrementally.

The SSD will be replaceable/upgradable.
The Graphics will be replaceable/upgradable.
The CPU will be replaceable/ ( depending on the socket "upgradable" )
The Cooling Fan will be replaceable.
The WiFi Chip will be replaceable.

Heck if you like, I'm sure you could purchase a logic board and replace that if needed.

Apple would not lock themselves into a corner of replacing an entire machine because of one faulty component.

Graphics will likely be something like MMX Cards used in iMac.

 

[flat five]

I sure hope so

For sale:
[...]

lol


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personally, i think they will shoot down.

(maybe not shoot down.. but more so than with a more normal speed bump upgrade)

dunno, everyone i've spoke to irl is looking to sell their current macpro, or at least get a 6,1 as well, when the nmp becomes available.

[edit] well, i only spoke to 3 people about this but still..

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But the difference between other Macs and the Mac Pro is that people desire the replaceable parts, which the new Mac Pro doesn't appear to have, other than the RAM.

when i see images of the new mac, which i assume are the same exact ones everyone else here has seen, the new mac does appear to have replaceable parts..
so i guess it's just a matter of perception.

[EDIT]- though this recent pic at the apple site does worry me some regarding part replacement
:/

 

[Siderz]

Apple would not lock themselves into a corner of replacing an entire machine because of one faulty component.

I haven't got the energy to explain that that is not what I'm saying at all.

----------

when i see images of the new mac, which i assume are the same exact ones everyone else here has seen, the new mac does appear to have replaceable parts..
so i guess it's just a matter of perception.

[EDIT]- though this recent pic at the apple site does worry me some regarding part replacement
:/

Image

We know that you can replace the RAM, but it isn't clear as to whether or not you can replace anything else with ease.

Have you seen the pictures of the inside?

http://www.apple.com/uk/mac-pro/