I've been following this forum for years now looking for any signs, news or rumours about an upgraded Mac Pro. 2-3 years ago I needed to upgrade from my 2011 iMac (no SSD, only 16gb RAM), and I kept waiting for months to hear any news about a MP update. Months turned into more months. And years. Meanwhile, Intel released new CPUs, new GPUs came out from both nVidia and AMD. But no new MP.
After going almost crazy from waiting, in October of 2015 I finally gave in and bought a... second hand 5,1 MP, 12 core westmere, 32gb RAM, SSD. Well, actually it's a 2009 4,1 with the "hacked" boot ROM (or whatever it's called). Everything for around 1000$. Nice price everything considered. But I had this constant suspicion that right after I made the purchase, Apple would release a brand new MP making my purchase look silly. But that didn't happen, and it still hasn't.
Thing is... the 5,1 (4,1) is still rocking! That's not to say that I wouldn't upgrade to a new MP if Apple ever sees the light again (I would!), but this machine is just such high quality. JUST WORKING! Lets me do heavy projects in Logic Pro, have multiple other applications running simultaneously (Office apps, Adobe apps, browsers...). Never does this machine hesitate to run and crush almost everything I throw at it. However, I completely get why some users/pros are loosing patience because of the lack of new hardware that can take advantage of the newest technologies (CPUs, GPUs, faster and better PCI card upgradability, newest wireless standards and so on).
But I really feel like my 2015 purchase of a 5,1 was one of the best purchases I've ever made; not so much because of the price back then, but because it's been rock solid and still performs surprisingly well with the apps I need - and Apple has yet to release anything that comes close in terms of pro performance combined with pro upgradability (a pro machine should meet pro demands including the ability to upgrade core pieces of hardware over a 4-7 year time span, in my opinion - just like the classic MP). And the price of the nMP... much too high considering the lack of serious upgradability.
Just my personal story - just felt like sharing it after having followed this forum for years!
And like so many others have said: why on earth doesn't Apple just keep the classic Mac Pro design and throw in new hardware? Even after all these years, it's just beautiful and has the perfect design/size to be a beast as well! But until they do... I will (most likely) be running my MP 5,1 (4,1), and I suspect it could run for another decade if I asked it to.
Best,
Thomas
After going almost crazy from waiting, in October of 2015 I finally gave in and bought a... second hand 5,1 MP, 12 core westmere, 32gb RAM, SSD. Well, actually it's a 2009 4,1 with the "hacked" boot ROM (or whatever it's called). Everything for around 1000$. Nice price everything considered. But I had this constant suspicion that right after I made the purchase, Apple would release a brand new MP making my purchase look silly. But that didn't happen, and it still hasn't.
Thing is... the 5,1 (4,1) is still rocking! That's not to say that I wouldn't upgrade to a new MP if Apple ever sees the light again (I would!), but this machine is just such high quality. JUST WORKING! Lets me do heavy projects in Logic Pro, have multiple other applications running simultaneously (Office apps, Adobe apps, browsers...). Never does this machine hesitate to run and crush almost everything I throw at it. However, I completely get why some users/pros are loosing patience because of the lack of new hardware that can take advantage of the newest technologies (CPUs, GPUs, faster and better PCI card upgradability, newest wireless standards and so on).
But I really feel like my 2015 purchase of a 5,1 was one of the best purchases I've ever made; not so much because of the price back then, but because it's been rock solid and still performs surprisingly well with the apps I need - and Apple has yet to release anything that comes close in terms of pro performance combined with pro upgradability (a pro machine should meet pro demands including the ability to upgrade core pieces of hardware over a 4-7 year time span, in my opinion - just like the classic MP). And the price of the nMP... much too high considering the lack of serious upgradability.
Just my personal story - just felt like sharing it after having followed this forum for years!
And like so many others have said: why on earth doesn't Apple just keep the classic Mac Pro design and throw in new hardware? Even after all these years, it's just beautiful and has the perfect design/size to be a beast as well! But until they do... I will (most likely) be running my MP 5,1 (4,1), and I suspect it could run for another decade if I asked it to.
Best,
Thomas
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