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MP 6,1 Best deal on a Mac medium... [reposted from Mac mini forum]

S

solmaker

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 23, 2007
89
14
...might be to forego the 2018 Mac mini and get a 2013 Mac Pro 8-core from eBay instead! For months I was fishing around for a spec-ed up i7 Mac mini with 1TB-2TB SSD, but they came & went quickly from Apple refurb store and eBay for $2K or more. Something held me back from buying until I got the brainstorm to look into the much-maligned trashcan Mac Pro instead, which remains overpriced ($4.8K) at Apple but MUCH more reasonably priced at eBay (about $2K). That's likely in anticipation of the imminent 2019 Mac Pro release... and when it does finally arrive, I bet the trashcan eBay price will plunge even further as upgraders resell their old workhorses.

So a week ago I made the plunge and got a beautiful-condition Mac Pro upgraded to 3.3GHz 8-core, 64GB memory, and 1TB fresh Apple SSD for $2,040... and couldn't be happier for my use cases! I was offered 2TB Intel NVMe SSD for the same price, but opted for the Apple SSD so it could host a Sierra partition cloned from another Mac (so now I've got Sierra, Mojave, and Catalina volumes cooking on it). Note a similarly spec-ed 2018 Mac mini is $2.7K new and $2.3K refurb/eBay (when available).

Advantages of 2018 Mac mini are 1-year warranty, faster single-core performance, and Thunderbolt 3 ports. But check out these 2013 Mac Pro advantages: (1) better multi-core performance; (2) less thermally-constrained so quieter under load; (3) MUCH better dual discrete GPUs; (4) four USB 3 ports; (5) six Thunderbolt 2 ports for Mini DisplayPort, FireWire adapters, etc.; (6) dual Gigabit Ethernet; (7) great upgradeability & repairability; (8) older OSes down to Mavericks and Win7; (9) gorgeous high-end design. Also consider these Mac "mediums" are nearly as portable as minis and still being sold new, so will enjoy macOSes, repairs, and support from Apple for years to come.

[Afterword: I am obviously NOT suggesting an old trashcan for folks actually needing a modern Mac Pro, just saying that a used MP 6,1 may now be price-competitive and a superior alternative for some with lesser needs considering a 2018 Mac mini.]
 
...and I recently built a second Mojave-hosting, Dual SSD, 12 core 3.33GHz 5,1 for about $500.

No Thunderbolt. No Catalina. No financing. Perfect for my needs.

Someday, the 7,1 will be affordable, too. (Here's hoping the CPUs are readily swappable.) In the meantime, my work will get done without severely depleting the bank account
 
Would caution anyone looking to purchase this 2013 machine 7 years later. The reality of the situation is the MP6,1 may not be officially supported much beyond macOS Catalina. The GPUs have issues and were basically part of a recall campaign. For many people, the 2018 MacMini is a better spend of money with almost guaranteed longer term compatibility.
 
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bsbeamer said:
Would caution anyone looking to purchase this 2013 machine 7 years later. The reality of the situation is the MP6,1 may not be officially supported much beyond macOS Catalina. The GPUs have issues and were basically part of a recall campaign. For many people, the 2018 MacMini is a better spend of money with almost guaranteed longer term compatibility.
Click to expand...

As the Mac Pro 2013 was still available for purchase new from Apple in 2019 they are pretty much stuck with supporting it in future OS updates for several more years. Many of the trashcans are still under warranty and AppleCare support. No way they can end-of-life the OS on these any time soon.

The internal graphics capability on the MacMini is aweful.
 
>Quoth DPUser: ...and I recently built a second Mojave-hosting, Dual SSD, 12 core 3.33GHz 5,1 for about $500. No Thunderbolt. No Catalina. No financing. Perfect for my needs.

Wow... good going!!! Though not perfect for my needs, which include USB-3 and Thunderbolt.

>Quoth w4rmk: As the Mac Pro 2013 was still available for purchase new from Apple in 2019 they are pretty much stuck with supporting it in future OS updates for several more years. Many of the trashcans are still under warranty and AppleCare support. No way they can end-of-life the OS on these any time soon.

I agree completely. Did you know, Apple replaced the main logic board on my 2011 MacBook Pro 17" in April 2017 for free as part of its Repair Extension Program for Video Issues, right before the MBP17 entered Vintage status per:

Obtaining service for your Apple product after an expired warranty - Apple Support

Learn about your options for getting service and parts for Apple devices that are past their warranty period.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
...which states "Mac products may obtain service and parts from Apple or Apple service providers for 5 years after the product is no longer manufactured."

>Quoth w4rmk: The internal graphics capability on the MacMini is awful.

Yeah, I've read reports it has a hard time even with 4K video.
 
solmaker said:
more reasonably priced at eBay (about $2K). That's likely in anticipation of the imminent 2019 Mac Pro release... and when it does finally arrive, I bet the trashcan eBay price will plunge even further as upgraders resell their old workhorses.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree. It's been 6 years since a new model, and so I expect many will upgrade to the 7,1 and plop their 6,1 (or even older MPs) on Ebay.

The 6,1 has been out almost as long as all prior Mac Pro models combined (2006 to 2012)!
 
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