I love my original 2006 Mac Pro — it's now my office computer at work (I take the barebones 21" iMac they plop on my desk every couple years and give it to someone else). I upgraded the processors to octo-core 3 GHz and shoved some more RAM and an SSD startup drive. I runs an ATI card that's probably 5 or 6 years old but does the job just fine. It runs the frankenstalled El Capitan installation — which until January was able to even fold in security updates. I'm sad that the operating system seems at a standstill now. I figure that's ultimately what will shut 'er down, when I can't run typical software or when the security risk is too high. But it's AMAZING hardware. People never believe me that I'm using a 12 year old computer.
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Quick Takes: The Comfort of Apple's Ecosystem, Using a 2009 Mac Pro in 2018, and More
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Using my 10-year-old early 2008 Mac Pro now. Would appreciate the ability to buy a new Mac Pro, but definitely NOT one that has 4-year-old electronics as a NEW machine. Last year I did have to replace the graphics card when I lost the ability to see on my 23-inch ACD what my Mac Pro was doing. Ordered the replacement using the iPad.
Apple should have been working on replacements and updates to its older desktops, not just attempt to get everyone to spend our money on an all-in-one iMac.
Hurry up and provide what is needed - seriously considering another line of desktops but would rather have a Mac.
Apple should have been working on replacements and updates to its older desktops, not just attempt to get everyone to spend our money on an all-in-one iMac.
Hurry up and provide what is needed - seriously considering another line of desktops but would rather have a Mac.
I agree, but i find i would give a lot of my Mac Pros to employees to take home when we upgraded, extending the user base, so longevity doesn't equate 100% to profitability. Those employees then got sucked into iPhones, and other parts of the Apple eco system. Almost everyone I work with has a Mac Pro 2009-2012 at home doing something for them, whilst we upgraded to the 2013 trash cans and are stuck. I could really could use a new Mac Mini as well as a server and one for our conference room. All the iMacs we ever bought were pretty much recycled by the 5th year (probably about 14 over the last decade). In fact i have 3 or 4 sitting at home doing nothing, my kids wanted PCs. I threw an Nvidia 680 into my Mac Pro a couple of years ago and use mine as a media server, still one of my favorite computers. The option of internal storage is really convenient, my raid on my trash can is just clunky.
The pro market that uses a tower is probably small, but then again so is Apples overall market share. I have invested too much in three monitor setups and really have had so many heat issues with iMacs over the years. I company the size of Apple could easily throw us an upgradable tower but I don't think OS X hasn't been kept up to date with the latest intel hardware specs, so I would imagine that is the delay in delivering any type of versatile computer.
My 2013 Mac Pro is showing its age, my kids have really fast ryzen PCs with Nvidia 1080s and they put my office hardware to shame. We already started transitioning away from the Mac for some employees because price and performance, it is sad.
My primary machine is a 2010 Mac Pro that I bought 8 years ago. I upgraded the CPU to 2x6Core processors and I have 24Gb of RAM and can go much higher. I upgraded the video card and the bluetooth/Wifi subsystem, added a USB 3 I/O card and a blu-ray drive and this thing rocks. I have room for 4 (four) full size hard drive bays. I have great I/O and am have no unsightly boxes all over my desk. All on an 8 year old machine.
It's machines that like this that I wish Apple would build again. These machines built a passionate following. I hope the new Mac Pro is as upgradeable but the Apple that built my machine and the Apple of today seem like distinct opposites. There's so little focus on Mac OS X or pro products, and when they do it seems they dumb it down. Their "Pro" line of notebooks are a joke which is why I'm also hanging onto my Retina MBP and unibody MBP for dear life, hoping those don't fail. After all, every upgrade Apple now makes to its hardware or software feel like a distinct downgrade with a loss of features each time.
It's machines that like this that I wish Apple would build again. These machines built a passionate following. I hope the new Mac Pro is as upgradeable but the Apple that built my machine and the Apple of today seem like distinct opposites. There's so little focus on Mac OS X or pro products, and when they do it seems they dumb it down. Their "Pro" line of notebooks are a joke which is why I'm also hanging onto my Retina MBP and unibody MBP for dear life, hoping those don't fail. After all, every upgrade Apple now makes to its hardware or software feel like a distinct downgrade with a loss of features each time.
Welcome to Tim Cook's Apple where a nearly decade old machine runs circles around a pretty piece of aluminum.
Rocking a 2010 17" MBP 'cause I actually need to get things done.
It was working well enough under El Capitan, but the last update has made it very slow. Still works like a champ under Windows 7 and Linux Mint Xfce. 4-7 hours of battery life on original battery, even, and connects to the things that I need to.
It was working well enough under El Capitan, but the last update has made it very slow. Still works like a champ under Windows 7 and Linux Mint Xfce. 4-7 hours of battery life on original battery, even, and connects to the things that I need to.
Yes, he mentioned that you can upgrade CPUs and memory. I'm not sure I understand why he went into great detail about benchmarking against newer machines, when "completing the upgrading" with faster CPUs and memory would have made a more interesting comparison.
And he did mention that you can upgrade Westmere CPUs up to 3.06 GHz CPUs, when you can go somewhat faster (up to 3.46, I believe).
Finally, exactly what version of FCP was he using?
The RX 580s are too expensive, and you would certainly update the CPUs and memory. And, he mentioned he "reduced the power" to the GPUs such that they wouldn't shut down the Mac Pro. Interested readers in MR know that there are inexpensive cables to properly power modern GPUs, as required.
Really, the takeaway from the article was that you can take an old 4,1 and make 2x RX 580s work in them. But unless you have a couple of these lying around, this is not the path you would take.
However, nope.I sold my beautiful iMac for parts on ebay. I'm still super salty about it, and I really mean it.
I got so pissed that got myself a PC under Win10, made of parts. GTX 1080 liquid cooled, Ncase M1, NVME and all the like. Ran all at about 3K or so with a Dell U2717D.
And now you spend your valuable time worrying that one wrong click will result in your entire computer being taken hostage by malware... sounds like fun! At least you could have installed a flavour of Linux on it!
Our store is run on a 2007 Mac mini. No mods other than a RAM upgrade several years ago. That poor machine can't do much else (fast), though. But it runs well for what it needs to do.... 11 years later.
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Yup, the past few updates to macOS have run terribly slow on spinning hard disks. I bet if you replaced the internal drive with SSD, it would feel like a brand new machine again.
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Today's Apple is VERY different from the one we knew 7+ years ago. I sure wish they could execute like they did back then, such has having newly-announced products available "TODAY", and updating hardware and software without dropping much-loved features.
Geez... 7 years already?!?... we miss you Steve.
The "comfort of Apple's ecosystem" starts to sound like an oxymoron IMHO.
Ah, the cheese grater. So pretty, modular and nice to work with.
Ah, my old 13" MBP, just slap a 2.5" SSD and 16GB RAM and boom, life is good. Too bad only holds an old dual core. MagSafe tho, total life saver. When MacBooks Pro were actually quite "Pro". Once upon a time.
Times of yore. I feel old.
Yeah, I interpret that article as a repudiation of Apple’s current direction in the pro arena. Computers are no longer advancing fast enough for a machine that’s a couple years old to be a throw away, and a machine that can be upgraded has vastly more value to many people (not to mention the planet). I still use my early 2011 MBP and dread the day when I will have to “upgrade” to a newer machine (which will cost way more than my current one originally did, but have much less longevity). My 2011 works really well, but it only had basic graphics capabilities that I don’t think can be upgraded (unlike the ram and hard drive). A RAM upgrade would help.
One thing I hate about the newer computers is that Apple massively overcharges for RAM and SSD drives, so you are forced to pay them way more than market value and then you are stuck with that forever. The latter issue is the more significant one when it comes to the SSD for me. In old computers you could just buy the baseline RAM and drive and then upgrade them yourselves and save a few hundred dollars.
And you pay $$$ for it, and all that integration only works for other Apple users and products, and you can't use your wired headphones without dongles. Choices ...
And now you spend your valuable time worrying that one wrong click will result in your entire computer being taken hostage by malware... sounds like fun! At least you could have installed a flavour of Linux on it!
Geez... 7 years already?!?... we miss you Steve.
Well, kinda a bit worried about it but Win 10 seems to get the job done, more or less. Hate Windows Update though, so intrusive.
Apple is no more what it was, for Steve Jobs is no more to make his company deliver up to his standards anymore.
All new Macbooks and iMacs, everything is soldered up... What kind of longevity it's going to provide me that? Bad long term purchase. No bueno.
Also, no MagSafe no more? Are you kidding me? Probably the most valuable and premium feature ever included on a laptop and they killed that? For real? The heck is wrong with
. Apple lost it completely, no vision, no culture. Sad, very very sad.
My late 2011 MBP has upgraded RAM and a 1TB SSD, both installed over four years ago. The fans kick on every now and then, and I’m missing out on a Retina display (only when I’m not at home, where it is connected to an external WQHD display). Other than that, keeps on going.
Honestly speaking, and I understand why they did it, but Apple locking down components (RAM, Storage, etc.) makes me NOT want to upgrade to the latest MBP models. I’d like to find a slightly older (circa 2014) and upgrade everything for even cheaper. Not to mention the glowing Apple.
I have the same as you and every now and again I open the back and blow out the dust from the fans and that seems to stop them spinning up as much.
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I've got the same and still running mavericks - if it isn't broken don't fix it!
My Mac Pro 5.1 works hard, never complains, hums and sings whenever it gets a bit warm, never throttles back, is a delight to look at and should be wrapped around an acid coated brick and inserted into every orifice Cook and Ive possess as a reminder of how it should be done.
I disagree with everything you said, I would never go back to touchID. I don't see how faceID is slow, I almost never have failures.
I‘m using that Mac Pro myself (though I upgraded it to 2,98 GHz CPUs years ago). I also upgraded the Wifi /BlueTooth module to be Handoff compatible, which at first didn‘t work, then at some point started working, and then later stopped working again for no apparent reason. Nevertheless, while I keep wondering if it‘s time to upgrade to a current iMac from time to time, I always come to the conclusion that it‘s not worth the invest. Multicore CPU speed would increase marginally at best, and for games I have wondered off to PS4. So it‘s probably going to stick with me till death do us part.
I use:
iMac - Main Workstation
iPad Pro - My iOS machine - Both running calendars/contacts/emails across platforms
Google Pixel XL - Android running gmail, me.com, and my calendars just fine
Microsoft Office 365 - All the apps, plus one note and 1TB one drive cloud storage for each family user
Apple TV/ Amazon Prime / Netflix
Amazon Music across family devices streamed around the house.
There's nothing there that's not smooth between family members and different operating systems. In fact you could argue that it's mother, or trivial to be logged in to the same services (e.g google account across platforms, Amazon Prime across operating systems). I get to choose the devices I buy rather than and iPhone or an iPhone - not much choice there. I get to sync my cloud services with my wife and business partner. I just have to alter a note and it's there for her in one note. I just have to update a folder and she can see it immediately in her One Drive.Office 365 ids cheaper and better value than iCloud. Amazon Music is cheaper than Apple Music - I'm paying for prime anyway. Alexa or Google Home outstrips Siri 10/1 easily. I have an iCloud account so I can watch whatever I want on my apple TV without the need for an iPhone or anything else Mac. Google has just about every App covered on Android - anything else I want to play with I can on the iPad.
There's nothing inconvenient about any of this. The fact that Google play nicely across operating systems is known, but you'd be surprised (maybe) at how well iCloud translates to android too.
There's no need to paint yourself into a corner like the reviewer is keen to do. For example, you can save hundreds of £$s if you don't have to buy a HomePod to play your apple music subscription. Likewise, you can save the same hundreds if you don't force yourself to continue the belief that iOS is the only way.
Seems logical. The notch was the better compromise to them for sure rather than deal with first gen issues of an in-display fingerprint scanner after such success with TouchID working so well. I was very hopeful Apple was going to be able to pull it off and even if not at least have a force touch home button feature instead of the swipe.
The ecosystem works very well for me. I have moved to iOS only for my computing needs and it's been awesome. I use iCloud for everything and haven't run into any issues. iOS 11, although many have complained, has been really solid for my on my iPad Pro and iPhone X. Apple Watch, AirPods, HomeKit, all get daily use from me and it all works perfectly. I've been really happy with Apple as of late. I suppose I spend a bit more than I need to, but the ecosystem and overall experience is what keeps me here.
Nice article! I have a 3 year old trash can Mac Pro and a cheese grater from 2008. The 2008 MacPro has been been upgraded similarly (except the dual video cards) and is a work horse that I will continue to upgrade as needed. It's 10 years old and I love it.
May I ask what you mean here? I have prepared a Mac Pro from 2006 for a friend's parents and it's on El Capitan but I haven't installed the latest security updates but planing to do so. Anything that will break? I know I have to replace the boot.efi files that get overwritten, but is there anything else?
My 2010 iMac is still chugging along fine and I'm running Adobe Premiere Pro and Audition on it all of the time. I see no slow downs in the way it compiles the videos. The only thing I've done is double the RAM and add external HD's. I have a hard time justifying why I need to upgrade to newer anything, not just iMac, at this point.
Sorry, but this just isn’t true anymore about Windows. Windows 10, for all its faults, does a pretty darn good job of protecting against that. We are long gone from the XP era. You could say Windows 10 is user hostile and aggressively promotes what MS wants, but I’ve done nothing to my wife’s W10 Laptop since we took it from the box, and she’s never “one-clicked” her way into malware in her 2+ years of ownership. Keep in mind such stuff also exists on Mac. There are better criticisms of Windows than this today.
