Replacement Recommendations For My Studio Requirements?

[steveyraff]

Hey all,

Ok so, the quick summary is that for almost a decade I have been using a mid-2010 Mac Pro 2.8Ghz Quad Core tower, with three 1TB Hard Drives and 16GB Ram. It's running an older OS, I think it's El Cap.

Anyway, it decided to die on me recently. It would sporadically turn itself off, and eventually, it stopped turning on at all. Booked into the Apple store who looked at it and were clueless. I'd an issue like this in the past which required a replacement PSU. Being a similar problem this time, I bought another PSU. Unfortunately it didn't work. I have ran this past many other people on Mac forums, and some say replace this, others say replace that etc.

Here's the issue: I have already spent the guts of 100 bucks replacing the PSU to no avail. I've looked up my model and spec of Mac Pro, and they are being re-sold for just a few hundred. If I replace much more on it, I'd end up spending as much as it would cost to just get another Mac Pro.

I really don't have the time to get bogged into more troubleshooting and multiple self repairs. I'd rather just buy another Mac now, and perhaps refurbish and sell on the one currently not working at a later date.

I need something that is as capable as what I have right now, and perhaps if I spend just a little more I could even future proof myself for another while?

My only concern is that I am using an original Aurora Lynx 16, with the discontinued FireWire card. I'm hoping this will still be compatible with more recent OS. I have a good quality Firewire card installed in my current Mac, which I can perhaps put into the next one. I would also be using the hard drives from my current Mac, and perhaps the memory if needed.

So - some have told me the 2010 Mac Pro is a good enough one to go ahead with again this time. Others have advised me to look at slightly newer Mac Mini's, other's have said to go with the earlier Trash-Can/Cylinder models.

Whatever I get, I just need to know its going to be compatible for another few years - it needs to work with the original Aurora Lynx 16 + FW, and I prefer to work with Logic X. I believe most of my current plugins are 64bit, and I also use a UAD2 card which I'd like to be able to continue using.

Budget... not much to be honest. Hoping to not go much over £500 ($600 USD), hence still opting for pre-owned.

Thank you!

 

[kschendel]

I think my answer would depend on how much of a hurry you are in to get things working. If your income is seriously impacted, I think I'd get a similar tower Mac Pro, move over your cards, drives, and maybe the memory, and get back to work.

If you have time to figure out whether your UAD2 card can work with an M1/M2 machine using a thunderbolt enclosure, and time to figure out the firewire thing (I believe that there are USB-to-Firewire converters), you'll get a lot more performance out of something like an M1 Mini (and a stack of USB-to-SATA hard drive enclosures) than you get with your old cMP.

I'd avoid the trash can Mac Pro unless you can find one for practically a giveaway price; you'll have all of the headaches that you get with a new Mini or Studio, i.e. no FireWire, no PCIe slots, no drive bays, with none of the performance advantage.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Besides the card/hardware question, are there any software limitations? If you find a used Mac, verify if everything you need will run on the oldest supported OS for that model. EveryMac is handy to see the pre-installed (typically earliest) and latest OS a particular Mac can run, down at the bottom of the model specs:

 

[pmiles]

Sounds like your best option is to find a similar MacPro enclosure for your existing components. You won't gain anything performance wise, but you will be back up and running.

Reality is, your option is to either upgrade to 2023 technology or stick with 2010 technology. You will eventually have to make the transition anyways... eventually the components you seek will no longer exist or cost more than their modern counterparts do.

Does your future include the Mac ecosystem? Maybe it doesn't. The old Mac Pro towers were more akin to PCs than they are to the current Mac lineup. You're not likely to find a Mac tower anytime in the future. Everything is being soldered to the board these days. Great for SOC systems, but zero uprgradeability. PCs still offer the same tower setups as the old Mac Pros... only with modern components and future upgradeability still built in. Things to think about.

I will say making the jump to modern hardware is just as expensive as making the switch to the PC ecosystem. So whether you decide to stay with Macs or switch to PCs, the price tag will be up there. I made the jump to the Mac ecosystem when OSX first came out.... had to literally replace everything. My latest computer is now a PC. Was able to reuse some of my existing hardware, but again, a new slate. For me, I have more options with a PC going forward. Everyone's use case is different. Now is the time to evaluate yours. Assume there was no old Mac Pro that you could acquire and you literally had to buy into the new ARM architecture... what would that transition look like to you? Abandoning the Aurora Lynx 16 for something newer as well? You're going to face this decision again in the future, so thinking about it now will help you plan out the finances for it.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Audio apps-wise and hardware-wise I think you're in a tough place. I think you have to assume that nothing will work with a new Mac. It'll be hard to research, also, as so many changes have occurred over the years. You'll have to check every third-party bit of software for compatibility.

This is probably a two-step process. Step one is getting an old tower that will just work if you put in all the drives and hardware you currently have. Step two is doing the research and preparing for the major change of new gear and software.