Longevity of Mac Pro

[kbmb]

So I just picked up the 2.66 GHz Mac Pro :D and was wondering if I could ask the Mac experts here.....

....what do you think the life expectancy is of this Mac Pro?

With all it's expandability, I figure this machine will last a long time. I don't plan on using it for major pro video editing or anything....more for home video/photo, web development, and general use.

The seemingly endless ability to upgrade HD and Memory seems like it will fit my needs for a long time. I guess the biggest issue is processing power. I'm guessing the Dual Intel processors are way ahead of most regular PC's out there today, right?

I'm a lifelong PC user....and wasn't looking forward to upgrading all my hardware just for Vista, so I went with a Mac Pro.

Thanks for any input you can give.

-Kevin

[slughead]

6 years is a good estimate, especially since you can upgrade HDs, RAM, Video Cards (maybe), and use SATA optical drives.

[howard]

i wonder if it will be possible to upgrade the cpu as well after a couple years...

[psycoswimmer]

i wonder if it will be possible to upgrade the cpu as well after a couple years...

Mac Pros have already been tested with the 8-core Woodcrest processor, haven't they? And it worked.

[kbmb]

i wonder if it will be possible to upgrade the cpu as well after a couple years...

Yes....I saw this article from AnandTech http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2832&p=6

Good news as long as the machines can handle that.

I realize it voids all warranties with Apple, but if you figure in doing it in 3-4 years anyway, you won't be under warranty anyway.

-Kevin

[kbmb]

6 years is a good estimate, especially since you can upgrade ......Video Cards (maybe), .........

What are the limiting factors in upgrading Video Cards?

I realize that if in 2 years, the standard cards are configured for different PCI slots, then you're out of luck.

Are there any real limiting factors for the near term?

-Kevin

[slughead]

What are the limiting factors in upgrading Video Cards?

Apple are a bunch of jerks.

(it's all drivers)

[RedTomato]

As long as you're not using it for video work or high end games, it should still be going well in 6 years time.

I use a 6 year old Apple PowerMac G3 for backup, and it runs 10.4, webmail, mail.app, MS Office 2004 etc perfectly fine. It's a bit slow on some graphics heavy sites that's all. I haven't tried it with photoshop.

re the Mac pro - PCI lasted for about 15 years, and PCIe, which the mac pro uses, is the new standard, and should last a decade. Ditto for SATA.

My sole concern would be the RAM - the mac pro seems to use a very specialised kind of RAM, which I know next to nothing about, and which doesn't seem to be be coming an industry standard.

I would be wary that in a few years time, they will cease making that type of memory, and then prices will start going through the roof.

My G3 Powermac is fully stocked with 1GB (4x256MB) RAM, but if it wasn't it wouldn't be worth it to buy more RAM now, as its type of RAM (PC100) is expensive and rare now.

[localoid]

6 years is a good estimate, especially since you can upgrade HDs, RAM, Video Cards (maybe), and use SATA optical drives.

Six years? :rolleyes:

Six years ago in early 2001 the AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" 1.3Mhz and Intel 1.7Mhz P4's were state of the art running the latest and greatest PC133 SDRAM RAM and considered to be highly "upgradeable" by their owners.

Within two years any high end system you buy today is going to be considered middle end or maybe even lower middle end. It always has worked this way. I remember friends waiting to buy the original Pentium @ 60 Mhz, many of them believing it would be the last PC they needed to buy in their lifetime. Didn't happen... technology moves on.

[wdlove]

I would think that it should have a good longevity. Purchased a Power Mac G4 in September 2000 and only added memory. I dream of having a Mac Pro.

[RedTomato]

Six years? :rolleyes:

Six years ago in early 2001 the AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" 1.3Mhz and Intel 1.7Mhz P4's were state of the art running the latest and greatest PC133 SDRAM RAM and considered to be highly "upgradeable" by their owners.


It's a bit different for macs. They do last longer.

I wouldn't touch a P4 PC now if you gave one to me, but I'd still take an older PowerMac.

Just remembered my 350 MHZ G3 was made in early 1999, so it's actually 8 years old :)

[JeffDM]

It's a bit different for macs. They do last longer.

I wouldn't touch a P4 PC now if you gave one to me, but I'd still take an older PowerMac.

Just remembered my 350 MHZ G3 was made in early 1999, so it's actually 8 years old :)

My dad is currently running a dual 500MHz Xeon-based system, made in 1998. I have my grandma using a single 400MHz P2-based system, just as old.

[Pants Dragon]

I used an iMac G4 from 2001 all the way up to late 2006 when I got my Mac Pro. I expect this thing will last my parents a good 10 years. If I wasn't moving out, I'd probably make them upgrade in another 5 years though. :p


EDIT: Heh, actually it was a G3, not a G4.

[ivnj]

My 2000 Pismo is a tad slow. But hey if I can reply here on these forums that's good enough for me. As long as the browsers don't stop supporting 10.3.9 for another couple of years I'm good. Or become outdated and all the new sites start using a new browser or code that isn't 10.3.9 compadible and they force me to have 10.4 or 10.5 in a few years.

If it aint broke don't fix it.

Thanks,
ivnj

[Superlat]

I've got 10.4 on my 400mhz Pismo and its running great. FAR better than any other OSX so far. I did upgrade to a toshiba 80gig HD too. And I dont have to worry about it cooking eggs like the new MBPs. Of course, it's horridly slow on
redering 3D, and wont run Ableton Live or Reason very well. Fine with scanning and Pshop 7, though. Thats the kind of mac I like. The good ones they made when they were desperate. They're all resting on laurels now.

[1dterbeest]

I'm surprised you can run Reason at all on the Pismo.
It ran fairly slow on my 800mhz iMac G4 and until
the Universal Binary came out, it was pretty bad
on my Macbook Pro also.

[ivnj]

Fast is all relative. My G3 or 604e clone even allowed me to browse the internet and check E-Mail. But OS 9 and even IE 4.5 became very outdated. If they just didn't base 4.5 on an oudated engine or stopped changing the engine every 4 or 5 years I'd still be in good shape.

They keep making the OS more robust and powerfull. And in the process they keep forgetting the little guy.

Thanks,
ivnj

[olemed]

I am eagerly awaiting to upgrade my PowerMac G4 to a MacPro within the next few months. My 6 year old G4 (purchased July 2001) has served me well and is still a highly functional machine (1GB ram, upgraded stock 666mhz processor to Sonnet 1.2; upgraded to DVD-R, etc.,)

It is slowing down in terms of my digital photography habit, but otherwise a truly fine machine in every other way. I'm planning on giving it to my 8 year niece.

I think you could expect about the same life span and then some for a Mac Pro (I'm expecting 6-8 years myself once I outfit it with lots of ram, etc.,)

[twoodcc]

if you max out the RAM in the mac pro, i think it'll last as long as you want it to...

[vohdoun]

if you max out the RAM in the mac pro, i think it'll last as long as you want it to...

Heh, that would indeed but damn I reckon he would be very broke as it seems so many forget how pricey Mac Pro memory really is.

[Edit] Just checked Crucial and Apple to compare prices on Mac pro Memory. It's utterly scary!

Guaranteed compatible memory upgrades for your Apple Mac Pro Desktop/PC

Apple 1GB $300.00
Apple 2GB $700.00
Apple 4GB $1,500.00

Crucial 1GB $157.99
Crucial 2GB $293.99
Crucial 4GB $765.99

Apple 1GB £200.00
Apple 2GB £470.00
Apple 4GB £1,010.00

Crucial 1GB £96.34
Crucial 2GB £173.89
Crucial 4GB £460.59

Man Apple is such a rip off for memory.

[Monyx]

Expandable, well designed desktops have high longevity, so long as Apple OS continued to be supported on them. Take the MDD Dual G4 1.42Mhz, for years they have stabilised around the USD750 on Australian ebay and still well regarded.

[iPhil]

6 years is a good estimate, especially since you can upgrade HDs, RAM, Video Cards (maybe), and use SATA optical drives.



I say @ least 6 years but if your fine with the video after 6 years + then you can run the machine until its not worth it for your needs..

[netdog]

Great machine, and since it is overkill at this point, its longetivity is certainly enhanced.

The sad (or perhaps exciting) truth is that today's Pro is tomorrow's iMac is next week's Mini.

Still, don't let that bring you down. Fantastic machine. Hard to get better without a time machine at your disposal.

[mashny]

My Mac G4/400 is a little over seven years old and works great -- never had a problem with it. I plan to get a Mac Pro in the next six months and give my parents the G4 (where it will probably work flawlessly for the next seven years at least). I do a lot of Photoshop and like to use the most recent versions of the application; working with large Photoshop files on my computer is slow going, especially since the maximum amount of RAM it can hold is less than I'd like. Obsolescence is inevitable in the computer world, but seven years is a respectable amount of time to own a computer (and, if I weren't as involved with Photoshop, I'd probably keep the computer for another few years).

[checkflag]

Heh, that would indeed but damn I reckon he would be very broke as it seems so many forget how pricey Mac Pro memory really is.

[Edit] Just checked Crucial and Apple to compare prices on Mac pro Memory. It's utterly scary!



Man Apple is such a rip off for memory.

check these guys out. I bought a dvd burner fo $29.00. there memory prices are half of apple. So are SATA drives

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/

[bobpensik]

I am currently on a 12" PB with 867Mhz processor, 60GB HD and 640MB RAM and it is still going.

Granted i could REALLY use an upgrade, but i don't have the money, so i just do what i can with the computer.

A Mac Pro will last you for a good long time, but it all depends on how much you demand of it. If you are doing high end, professional video editing, it will show its age MUCH more quickly, but if it is just basic stuff, then it will last a while

[Mr.damien]

Six years? :rolleyes:

Six years ago in early 2001 the AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" 1.3Mhz and Intel 1.7Mhz P4's were state of the art running the latest and greatest PC133 SDRAM RAM and considered to be highly "upgradeable" by their owners.


Well, my powerbook 15" run flawlessly and will run Leopard flawlessly too.
And the processor is many years old (G4 1,5Ghz).
So it will at least have a longevity of 4 years. And that's on a laptop which is not upgradeable. So a Mac Pro should have a longer life.

[product26]

As far as the longevity goes, think of it this way. There are few applications on the market that can handle 4 cores, 2 if you are lucky. So in reality you are only using 25-50% of your computers processing capacity. It will take time for more and more programs become multi-core/processor aware, all the while your mac pro has not yet begun to show its full potential.

That alone is a HUGE glimpse at the longevity of the mac pro.

not to mention the soon to be released 8 core mac pro.... and the fact that the current mac pros can handle the dual quad core processors. there is also plenty of headroom for memory and storage.

buy a mac pro, you should be good for a while (pretty darn good considering how disposable the computer market has become)

[Chimpy]

I just bought a G4 Cube - 450Mhz, 1.5GB RAM. I'm used to screaming fast machines, but I have to tell you, I have no problems whatsoever surfing, writing documents, etc. on that machine. Sure, it's not going to be my main machine, but I don't mind working on it for light computing tasks at all, which is rare for a machine that came out in 2000 or so. A PC from that era would feel dog slow.

One of the reasons I bought a Mac Pro is because I suspect it will hold up very, very well.

[volvoben]

I'll have to agree that 6 years is probably a good estimate if you're not doing video or heavy graphics. Even heavy graphics work might give you 4 years of good service, there are plenty of pros using early G5 powermacs today.

macs stand time well, but one large part of the picture is that PCs can last well too, but windows bogs down severely over time. OS X doesn't slow down nearly as much, and while new versions of windows require loads more power, OS X hasn't gotten any slower over time, it needs a bit more memory but that's upgradeable.

Macs hold value better because it's a closed market, not because they're inherently superior...but that might play a part too.

My parents thought they needed a new pc because theirs was so terribly slow, but i reformatted it for the first time in 6 years and now they think it's great. My 2000 PIII 733 box still runs fine with XP as a download box, and I even use it as my main computer when my girlfriend's on the iMac.

[Multimedia]

So I just picked up the 2.66 GHz Mac Pro :D and was wondering if I could ask the Mac experts here.....

....what do you think the life expectancy is of this Mac Pro?

With all it's expandability, I figure this machine will last a long time. I don't plan on using it for major pro video editing or anything....more for home video/photo, web development, and general use.

The seemingly endless ability to upgrade HD and Memory seems like it will fit my needs for a long time. I guess the biggest issue is processing power. I'm guessing the Dual Intel processors are way ahead of most regular PC's out there today, right?

I'm a lifelong PC user....and wasn't looking forward to upgrading all my hardware just for Vista, so I went with a Mac Pro.Good choice and congrats. I think you bought a Mac that can last you for as long as you want to keep it. I have a Quad G5 that I plan on keeping for the rest of my life. And when I get my 8 Core Mac Pro I expect to keep it for the rest of my life as well. These computers have passed a certain threshold of power capacity that make them almost impossible to call "obsolete" in terms of their fundamental usefulness for a lot of tasks.

But for some tasks they are still truely slow. Takes way too long to crush video on Quad Core Macs and that will still be true for the Oct Core Mac Pro as well. So when you get down to task specific looking, they are obsolete from the day they ship. And I'm sure I will buy the first 16 core Mac Pro as well and the first 32 core Mac Pro too. When we can crush big video files from 5GB to 350MB in a couple of minutes instead of several hours, I'll be satisfied. But we still have several years to go before that dream will become reality.

Anyway you made a brilliant decision to switch to Mac and your choice of the 2.66GHz Quad Mac Pro was also brilliant. Hope you'll get Leopard for it when it ships. Have fun! :)

[BobtheTomato]

Well my Radius System 100 (http://www.everymac.com/systems/radius/system/system100.html) (with the uber Radius Thunder 24 NUBUS card) still works fine but is in the closet. No one wants to use it. :( I'm sure Sonnet will have a G5 upgrade for it soon! :D

[zap2]

A while...however come 2 years, it will be middle to low end of the road. I'd expect Mac Mini to get 4 core chips in 2 years...maybe less!

However that said the Mac Pro will still be fast, and have room for upgrade, it will be fine, just like my iBook G4 is fine for what I do, but the faster the better,right? Thats why I go middle to low end stuff, but update quickly. I can't buy a Mac Pro each year, but I can buy a Mac Mini each year(so far the "updates" the Mac Mini got did make me want a new one, not that I currently have the money anyway :))

Point is you Mac Pro will be fine for the next 5ish years, but it won't be top of the line. Infact the lowest end PC should be as good as it in 5 years.

[ivnj]

Actually 8 core has arrived in the PROs finally.

http://www.apple.com/macpro/

Thanks,
ivnj