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TobiasT

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 24, 2019
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Apple humiliated MP 7.1 with Mac Studio presentation. MP 7.1 prices make absolutely no sense. MP 8.1 with Apple Silicon is around the corner.

Is now the right moment to get some nice money back from MP 7.1?
 
I've seen a few on eBay recently, presumably due to people moving over to the Mac Studio. So they're probably not that easy to sell right now.

I'm holding on to mine. It has paid for itself long ago and it still works well.
 
The sooner you sell it, the more potential money you can make.
But it’s pretty hard to sell a used 7,1 on eBay for $12K. (If not impossible)
 
Been seeing good deals on some higher spec units (up to 50% off). I’d imagine that the 7,1 will get much cheaper once ran update/replacement is released
 
I think it's hard to say what the used market will be like for the 7,1 after the 8,1 is released, but I think it will go down quite a bit. Most people who need the power will go for the new system and most everyone else will go for the Studio or a different Mac. There will probably be quite a few 6,1 users who will upgrade to the 7,1 to stay one behind, but there isn't a whole lot of them left. There might be quite a few cMP users who will upgrade, but most of them don't like paying much more than a few hundred for a computer.
 
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Apple humiliated MP 7.1 with Mac Studio presentation. MP 7.1 prices make absolutely no sense. MP 8.1 with Apple Silicon is around the corner.

Is now the right moment to get some nice money back from MP 7.1?
Depends on what you do and how much money you make with it. If your workflow (ProRes and Photo work) is the same as Apples hand picked benchmarks to show of the parts where the Studio is faster than a Mac Pro (depending on specs) and you're fine with storage limitation, lack of PCIe and max 128GB RAM, then sure... sell the Mac Pro and get a Studio.

If that doesn't fit your workflow, then no, the Mac Pro can still be a much faster machine than the Studio.

The Studio isn't a Mac Pro replacement, it sits between the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro.
 
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There might be quite a few cMP users who will upgrade, but most of them don't like paying much more than a few hundred for a computer.
Not sure where that comes from as cMP users paid top dollar for their computers compared to other available choices at the time and most, me included, would have happily done so again had Apple not only offered an obvious bad option (Trashcan) and/or an obvious rip-off option (MP71) since.
 
Depends on what you do and how much money you make with it. If your workflow (ProRes and Photo work) is the same as Apples hand picked benchmarks to show of the parts where the Studio is faster than a Mac Pro (depending on specs) and you're fine with storage limitation, lack of PCIe and max 128GB RAM, then sure... sell the Mac Pro and get a Studio.

If that doesn't fit your workflow, then no, the Mac Pro can still be a much faster machine than the Studio.

The Studio isn't a Mac Pro replacement, it sits between the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro.
AND it is not all about speed, my iPadPro is faster (single core) than my 10 year old cMP...?...but not fit for purpose for Mac tasks.
A major factor for me is internal expansion/upgradeablity, to extend the life of the Mac.

I wait with baited breath for the spec announcement of the ASmp, which I imagine will have next to zero user upgrades.
 
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I reckon one of two things will happen when the new M-series Mac Pro comes out:

1 - Intel Mac Pro users will be flabbergasted by the potential, the value of Intel Mac Pros will nose-dive and you'll be able to pick up a used one by collecting a dozen tokens from inside cereal packets.

2 - existing Mac Pro owners will realise it's still way way too early to safely migrate to a system which probably isn't going to be as upgradable and versatile as their Intel Mac Pro. They're a conservative bunch because their livelihoods rely on stuff just working, and they'll see it's still a huge risk that some of the software, cards and external peripherals they have invested in won't work properly (or at all) with M-series architecture. As a result, the value of used Intel Macs will drop a bit but will quickly plateau because there will still be a strong demand from pro users who value versatility, compatibility and upgradability above having a car that's potentially faster and more fuel-efficient than their old one but only runs on 40% of the roads.

I'm going for 2.
 
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My AMD 6900xt destroys the studio. Also, my 7,1 can run an 8k display. The studio is all talk about "8k workflows" it pathetically cant even drive a single 8k screen.

If the new 8,1 doesnt support slots and cannot drive an 8k screen im going to be clinging to my 7,1 for dear life.
 
Not a fair comparison. Your AMD6900XT is over half the price of the base Studio just on its own.

Life's not fair. And certainly apple's bogus cherry picked benchmark statements about the studio are highly unfair.

I, however, am fair and comparing to a topped out ultra. Which is far from cheap. It still loses to the 6900XT. And still cannot drive an 8k display.

Funny talking about "not fair" when all the apple tests are BS focused on a very few tasks for which they basically put in dedicated accelerator/coprocessors on the chip that are not representative of the rest of the chips throughput, yet everyone goes around touting those numbers. When you actually do comparisons on normal benchmarks the ultra is like 15% faster than the 28 core, like Geekbench, and gets destroyed by like 75% on GPU tasks to a card like the 6900xt.
 
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Not a fair comparison. Your AMD6900XT is over half the price of the base Studio just on its own.
That's why the Studio isn't a Mac Pro replacement. And it doesn't have to be fair, these machines make money every day, so it's simple math. It doesn't matter if a machine costs $8k or $50k as long as that $50k machine makes so much more money than the $8k machine. Calculate that over a period of two or three years and see what's the better option, even if the initial investment might be much higher in one case. The problem is, many people buy a Mac Pro (and Macbook Pros too) when they don't really need it, but just want it.

If a Studio works for the workflow, then of course it's the right choice. But raw GPU performance, storage (+speed), I/O options and RAM, the Mac Pro still wins by far. Whenever Apple is ready, they will change it with a M-series Mac Pro. Or the sales are simply not worth it at which point they'll just discontinue the Mac Pro and tell every YouTuber out there that the Studio is powerful enough.
 
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Hopefully this thread doesn't morph into "Studio is better than Mac Pro". I am sick and tired of isheep touting that based on apple's BS benchmarks, not to mention, even OP mentioned that the Mac Pro was humiliated by it, so this thread is already starting off on a failed note.
 
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Life's not fair. And certainly apple's bogus cherry picked benchmark statements about the studio are highly unfair.

I, however, am fair and comparing to a topped out ultra. Which is far from cheap. It still loses to the 6900XT. And still cannot drive an 8k display.

Funny talking about "not fair" when all the apple tests are BS focused on a very few tasks for which they basically put in dedicated accelerator/coprocessors on the chip that are not representative of the rest of the chips throughput, yet everyone goes around touting those numbers. When you actually do comparisons on normal benchmarks the ultra is like 15% faster than the 28 core, like Geekbench, and gets destroyed by like 75% on GPU tasks to a card like the 6900xt.
I do agree, but Apple are of course in the market of selling new kit. I'm wise enough to have treated their publicity graphs with a pinch of salt. Which is why I said it's not a fair comparison

I get why you're all salty: it's because Apple showed some highly dubious graphs which claimed this new 8K Studio **** all over your party. But I'm smart enough to know it doesn't.

My personal thoughts on the matter are pretty clearly given in post #9. TLDR = you'll all mostly be keeping your 7.1's
 
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I do agree, but Apple are of course in the market of selling new kit. I'm wise enough to have treated their publicity graphs with a pinch of salt. Which is why I said it's not a fair comparison

I get why you're all salty: it's because Apple showed some highly dubious graphs which claimed this new 8K Studio **** all over your party. But I'm smart enough to know it doesn't.

My personal thoughts on the matter are pretty clearly given in post #9. TLDR = you'll all mostly be keeping your 7.1's

Fair enough.

Well the studio is no substitute. But if the 8,1 has slots and cards that can drive 8k, there is a good chance I will upgrade to it. So just depends.
 
Not sure where that comes from as cMP users paid top dollar for their computers compared to other available choices at the time and most, me included, would have happily done so again had Apple not only offered an obvious bad option (Trashcan) and/or an obvious rip-off option (MP71) since.

I meant the people who've bought one in the past 8 years or so. Not the people who bought one new 10+ years ago, decided they didn't like the 6,1, and then haven't bought a 7,1 yet. Of course a lot of the people who spent less than a thousand on their cMP have spent more upgrading it, but often still not as much as what a D700 6,1 costs. I think most of those users still won't want to pay more than a couple grand on a 7,1. They can get one in the $3k region right now and many haven't jumped onto it yet.
 
I meant the people who've bought one in the past 8 years or so. Not the people who bought one new 10+ years ago, decided they didn't like the 6,1, and then haven't bought a 7,1 yet. Of course a lot of the people who spent less than a thousand on their cMP have spent more upgrading it, but often still not as much as what a D700 6,1 costs. I think most of those users still won't want to pay more than a couple grand on a 7,1. They can get one in the $3k region right now and many haven't jumped onto it yet.

Where can you get one for $3k?

I was looking to buy one, but couldn't find anything under $4,800 (before shipping and taxes) -- I am in the USA.

No way am I paying close to $5k for a base 8 core with only 256gb storage and a 580X, which might be discontinued soon... Even if I can afford it, that's just a stupid deal
 
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This was my exact thought, I did a search on Ebay, and there's nothing under £5k.....in the UK.
There's actually some that are more expensive than on Apple refurb store.
I've noticed that too. They also don't really seem to be selling at those prices, so perhaps they are actually worth closer to £4k... which is a pretty steep drop off in value if you paid around £8k a year or two ago.

The sensible thing to do is to keep making money with it / hold onto it as a backup machine if you already own one, which is probably why there aren't a ton more listed for sale.

I hope the tinkerers do get their hands on them eventually as they're really well designed and made.
 
That makes sense. It was built mostly for businesses, which buy new and depreciate the asset over time. They've gotten the value out of it. There's also little market for it pre-owned as most Apple consumers see it as obsolete since it's Intel. Also, consumers who buy expensive things don't typically buy pre-owned things out of warranty, so it becomes very cheap second-hand, like a BMW 7-Series or a Range Rover.
 
That makes sense. It was built mostly for businesses, which buy new and depreciate the asset over time. They've gotten the value out of it. There's also little market for it pre-owned as most Apple consumers see it as obsolete since it's Intel. Also, consumers who buy expensive things don't typically buy pre-owned things out of warranty, so it becomes very cheap second-hand, like a BMW 7-Series or a Range Rover.

Agree.

It's kind of any irony that it is modular however the repairability is low since there are no replacement parts available.

If the power supply, fan, or motherboard goes bad, there is no replacement parts.
 
I just finally got my MacBook 16" m1Pro setup... going back and forth with my 16 core Mac Pro, hate to say it but the MBP wins. Faster / snappier system wide, sessions in Logic run smoother / faster. Not quite the multi core but in some sessions it's better optimized and the faster single core makes a big difference. So I'm selling the Mac Pro... I don't expect to get a decent price... this was not the best time to have gone into the MP for me. Same thing happened with the Power PC / Intel switch... bought a power PC a few weeks before they announced... Same deal here.

Oh well, got 2 good years out of it. It's beautiful, it's just getting it's ass handed to it by a laptop... kinda shocking / depressing.
 
Agree.

It's kind of any irony that it is modular however the repairability is low since there are no replacement parts available.

If the power supply, fan, or motherboard goes bad, there is no replacement parts.

Apple will provide replacement power supplies and fans. They'll even mail them to customers and let customers self install.

You're right in that it's not open market. But Apple will sell them if you call - or let you self install them free if you're under Apple Care. There are ever support directions on how to do so.

Motherboard is the one exception - for obvious reasons. That's a more complicated install.
 
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