Thinking of Getting a new (to me) Desktop, Your Thoughts?

[Gary Brackins]

I currently use a 2013 iMac (specs on side) for my work. I am a residential designer and use Autocad and SolidBuilder (both windows versions). After my second crash on my iMac I decided I should look into another desktop for times when I may have issues and would have a backup computer. This would beat sitting at my desk looking at a blank space on my desk.

I was thinking of a refurbished 2015 iMac from Apple as my 2013 iMac was a refurbished one. So far the spec's I have on the 2013 seem to fit my needs so a new one would be similar. Refurbished Mac Pro's are still a little pricey on Apple, actually today's refurb listing on Apple's website is even more than the one shown below. Typically that have been running around $2500.

I came across this today, an Apple refurbished Mac Pro being offered from a third party vendor that I have purchased from many times without issue.

Apple (Late 2013) FD878LL/A Mac Pro Workstation, Intel Xeon E5-1650 v2 6-Core 3.5GHz, Dual AMD Fire Pro D500 3GB, 256GB PCIe SSD, 16GB DDR3, 802.11ac, Bluetooth, MacOS 10.9 Mavericks for $2700.

What is the downside of the Mac Pro vs iMac? I'm good on large monitors and external hard drives. Any questions I should ask the vendor? Anything in particular I should be looking at?

I trust the members opinions on this forum better than mine since I've only been back in the Mac world for a couple of years and so much has changed from the days of system 7.3.

Thanking everyone in advance for their thoughts.

 

[pigoo3]

After my second crash on my iMac I decided I should look into another desktop for times when I may have issues and would have a backup computer.

What sort of "crash" are we talking about?

- If the "crash" was storage related…all you need is a clone of your computer's storage…not a whole 2nd computer. This can easily be accomplished via some software & external hard drive.

- If the "crash" was something like needing a new logic board (or something like that)…that's a different story. But…given that this sort of thing is VERY RARE. Purchasing a 2nd computer as a backup to the primary computer again is sort of extreme.

In any scenario (having two computers like this)…both computer's would need to be perpetually synced…since you would never know when one of the computers would "crash".

- Nick

 

[Gary Brackins]

Nick,

the first crash was a fusion drive failure, second was a software conflict/issue not identified by Apple Store tech. I use 3 EHD's for cloning and 3 EHD's for Time Machine. I use Mac Guru to backup my project files to iCloud and up until yesterday used Carbonite.

I was told by Apple not to use any of my clones or TM backups since it was software conflict/issue and could reintroduce it into my computer. That's handled now hopefully as I restored my computer manually and before I started using it I made a CCC of it which is now tucked away in a safe dry place and will not be reused. Should it crash again, I should be able to clone back from this EHD and pull project files down out of the cloud.

I was not able to boot from any of my clones with the latest crash so I figure if I have another computer as a backup I may have to rebuilt one setup, but I have another computer to work with. Hard to get new home designs out the door without a computer. Also it would allow my wife to become familiar with Mac's so I can toss out our last functioning windows machine.

The deal on the Mac Pro looks good, but I don't know enough about it so I'm reaching out to knowledgeable folks such as yourself to let me know your thoughts on the Mac Pro vs iMac.

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks for the info Gary. Sounds like you have one heck of a backup setup…problem is…it sounds like this backup setup isn't working. All of your backups don't do you any good if they are no good in times of a crash.

- The first crash being the fusion drive failure. This happens plan & simple (hardware fails).
- The 2nd crash you said was some sort of software-conflict issue…which could be reintroduced from a backup. In this situation (if this is truly-true)…then these backups are doing you no good.

Since the previous problems were storage & software related…this should be fixable…rather than spending $2700 on a 2nd computer.

Think of things this way. IF…you were to get a 2nd computer…how would you set it up so you don't have a repeat of the issue (software conflict)…mentioned above?? Now take this logic…and apply it to one of your external hard drives.

A 2nd computer for the purposes you want it for…is really no more than A REALLY expensive external hard drive. Don't spend $2700 on a 2nd computer...when all you need is an external hard drive properly setup.

- Nick

 

[Gary Brackins]

thanks for the reply Nick,

I would make use of two computers in this manner.

1. would be primarily used for my design work
2. would be used by my wife to learn how to work on a mac so I can toss out her windows computer. She has an iPad, and iPhone but still likes having a computer. If I had an issue with my machine I would be able to use her's to keep on working while mine would be repaired. This last time it took Apple a week to end up reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling OS X, and me two days rebuilding the applications and data.

if I get another computer I'll get it setup and immediately make a dedicated clone and store it away so hopefully no future issues.

I see you just got an older Mac Pro, what are you thoughts on the 2013 I have listed above? I'm not concerned about the $$$ as I have my own business that I run out of offices in my home so its a business deduction.

thanks again!

 

[pigoo3]

Gary. If you have a 2nd person that would make use of that 2nd computer…then getting a 2nd computer makes more sense.

Cool that you're able to wire off the cost of the 2nd computer via your business!

Regarding the Mac Pro. Your current iMac has a CPU benchmark score of 14,673. The Mac Pro has a score of 20,654 and probably has better graphics.

If the $2700 is not a problem…then this would be a nice upgrade…and probably able to chug thru your projects faster than your iMac. You would probably want a storage upgrade…since it only comes with 256gig.

FYI. Keep in mind. On eBay you can get some older model 12-Core Mac Pro's for around $1500. And these have a CPU benchmark score of over 26,000 (much higher than the refurbished new Mac Pro)!

HTH,

- Nick

 

[Gary Brackins]

Nick,

thanks for the info. As I said I know nothing about the Mac Pro and not much more about iMac's ..... LOL I will check out your suggestion about eBay, may find something nice for less money. Don't get me wrong I don't have money to waste but I figure having a second computer will get the wife into the swing of Macs and give me a backup in case things happen.

Appreciate you sharing your knowledge.