Why I bought an old 2013 Mac Pro

[Noisebox]

Preface: An Admin gave me permission to post this as it was their suggestion to begin with.

My Mac Pro 2013 is coming via eBay shortly and I'm pretty excited. Coming from a PC world (I"m an IT admin for the State) this promises to be a unique learning experience.
I've always liked the concept of MacOSX, but not been thrilled with the hardware execution side of things. Too many laptops, not enough desktops, and I really don't like the direction everything is going (soldered in, non-upgradable) so getting a Mac system has been more wishful thinking more than anything else.

Enter Windows 11.

We are being forced to move to it at work and I thought Win10 was terrible! It's neither here nor there, but from a technical standpoint but it's only further moved me to find a solution for my home use. At home I run a Mix of Debian-based Distros (Crunchbang++ if anyone cares) and Windows 9 (the best OS Microsoft never made. It's Windows 8.1 Embedded Industry Professional with a Windows 7 skin)

My needs are actually fairly simple. I'm not much of a gamer, Java Minecraft from time to time and maybe 2 or 3 simple games from Steam, and photography. So a state-of-the-art system isn't a requirement. My main workstation is a Dell Precision T7610 (dual Xeon CPUs, 64GB ECC RAM and tons and tons of storage) and given my photography workflow the core/thread count is just fine.

Amusingly, the few Windows-centric forums I belong to all blasted the idea of buying an old Mac, mostly because it's old. I mean so what? Yeah gaming performance may suffer, but there is more to computing than playing video games, something those forums never seem to understand so asking about the Mac Pro 2013 got me nothing but derision.

So in an effort to find a more nuanced view of the Mac Pro, I ended up here with the same question: Is it worth it to buy?
Given the original price tags for them, absolutely not, but given what I can snag one for these days, suddenly it's more interesting. Yeah it's slightly slower than my current system, being of the same era of Xeons (Ivy Bridge) spec-wise, but the OS is what makes it interesting to me (well that and the sheer technological prowess in the design of the system)

So here we are, jumping in blind to a whole new world of computing simply because I've seen the future of home computing on the PC-side, and I want nothing to do with it.

 

[pigoo3]

Amusingly, the few Windows-centric forums I belong to all blasted the idea of buying an old Mac, mostly because it's old. I mean so what?

I'm not surprised. Pretty much always been this way. Basically what folks don't understand...they're afraid of!

Given the original price tags for them, absolutely not, but given what I can snag one for these days, suddenly it's more interesting.

Completely agree. Original price was very high...but some of of the 2013 Mac Pro models can be picked up reasonably via eBay.

Here's an interesting article for 2017 on the 2013 Mac Pro (where it went right & wrong):

Where the 2013 Mac Pro went right — and wrong | AppleInsider

Unlike the original Mac Pro introduced on August 7, 2006, the 2013 version is already fading into memory and may be remembered for its flaws instead of its benefits.

appleinsider.com

If it wasn't for the fact that an Apple Silicon M1 Mac Mini can be picked up for the same price (or less) as a used 2013 Mac Pro...I'd probably get a 2013 Mac Pro just for fun.

- Nick

 

[pigoo3]

Once you get your 2013 Mac Pro...and have a chance to mess around with it...please let us know what you think.

By the way...wanted to be 100% sure...will this be your first Apple computer....and mostly first time working with the macOS?

Thanks,

Nick

 

[Noisebox]

Once you get your 2013 Mac Pro...and have a chance to mess around with it...please let us know what you think.

By the way...wanted to be 100% sure...will this be your first Apple computer....and mostly first time working with the macOS?

Thanks,

Nick

I'd be happy to write a review...which forum should it be posted in?
I had a g3 iMac (bondi blue) with OS.....8? 9? Don't recall. And briefly a G5 iMac, which I installed Ubuntu on, so yes, in effect my first deep dive into the world of OSX

 

[pigoo3]

I'd be happy to write a review...which forum should it be posted in?

Here is fine. As detailed or brief as you wish. Lots of curious readers ready to devour.

I had a g3 iMac (bondi blue) with OS.....8? 9? Don't recall. And briefly a G5 iMac, which I installed Ubuntu on, so yes, in effect my first deep dive into the world of OSX

Cool...so not your first experience with Apple or the macOS. Maybe its been a while...and with some older hardware. I've had both.

Thanks,

Nick

 

[Rod]

We (us oldies), have all pretty much had a long term relationship with Apple Macintosh at least I know I have.
In 1988 we, as a young family started our journey with the Macintosh Plus a 16.5 Kg some what ugly box that came second hand from a friend who had upgraded to an SE. I remember it also came with a genuine Apple backpack to carry it and its keyboard and rectangular mouse around as if it were a portable device.

Then in 1990 we got our own SE/30 and the world of colour screens began. Ah, Prince of Persia in colour. This was a great machine and it lasted us until 1996 when we acquired a Mac Performa although we did briefly have a loan of a Quadra prior to that.
The Performa was also a great device with passable stereo sound eventually relegated to my son's bedroom for his expanding music library and forays into sound editing.

It was near Christmas of 1998 and now that our little family of four was more financially stable we were able to lash out and purchase, yes, a iMac G3. Not the fruit coloured, clear plastic model but the Graphite coloured, slot loading G3 400 DV SE. Wow, yes it was plastic, yes, it still had a curved CRT TV screen for a display but it looked a lot more professional than the jelly bean colours of the first release. It also had convection cooling, more RAM (128 MB) and a whopping 13GB of storage. A few months later I lashed out again and bought the "spacey" looking Harman Kardon sub-woofer.

All of our old Floppy disks were bequeathed to my son and the world of digital music and CD's really began. I also later supplemented our storage with a matching graphite CD/DVD external drive and a Zip Drive, does anyone remember those?

In 2004 we bought what was to be the last family computer the Macintosh G4 Tower with a slightly less pricy than Apple's 15" LCD screen.

After that I got my first MacBook Pro and my wife bought a G4 iMac for her studies and office work, as usual my son also inherited the G4.

I loved the portability of the MBP and it became my Mac of choice and remains so to this day, starting with the pre unibody model with the silver keyboard, then the 2011 white unibody MBP which I gave to my daughter and eventually came back to me last year. It still works perfectly after a complete erase, reinstall of OS, update to High Sierra, a little repair to the power circuit, new power cable and adapter, and a new battery.

I upgraded my 13" 2015 MBPr to a a 14" 2021 M1 MBP earlier this year and that brings me up to the present time.
Due to our lifestyle a desktop would have been an inconvenience, moving around as we do but we both have MBP's, iPhones, iPads and I have an Apple Watch.
That didn't stop me looking though and when I first saw the black cylinder that was the new 2013 Mac Pro at the time, I loved it. It was such a radical design departure from everything else on the market, I thought Apple had excelled themselves to take such a brave step. Had I been in the market for a desktop, well... its as portable as a Mac Mini.
I still like the design today which you can see reflected in my choice of Bluetooth speaker;




Obviously I have had to become at least proficient with Windows PCs for work requirements back before we "retired" at which time Windows 7 XP seemed ubiquitous and is still in use in some places today. I got as far as Windows 8 on a MBP via Boot Camp and liked it a lot but not as much as macOS.

 

[Noisebox]

Zip Drive

and 8" floppy disks, still in use (sadly) at the Agency I work for...

 

[pm-r]

and 8" floppy disks, still in use (sadly) at the Agency I work for...

WOW... are they for clients and their data or what???

I'm really quite surprised that the old unprotected 8" floppy disks and their compatible drives would still be in working and usable condition. I would gamble that their days are not much longer without disintegrating and becoming useless.

That is actually quite amazing the more I think about it... I hope somebody realizes they are skating on some pretty thin ice by continuing to use them. Like old Celluloid films, the old plastic of those 8" floppy disks tends to disintegrate... And unlike old Celluloid films, I don't think it's possible to repair them. Kaput would be a good description I would think...



- Patrick
=======

 

[Noisebox]

WOW... are they for clients and their data or what???

I'm really quite surprised that the old unprotected 8" floppy disks and their compatible drives would still be in working and usable condition. I would gamble that their days are not much longer without disintegrating and becoming useless.

That is actually quite amazing the more I think about it... I hope somebody realizes they are skating on some pretty thin ice by continuing to use them. Like old Celluloid films, the old plastic of those 8" floppy disks tends to disintegrate... And unlike old Celluloid films, I don't think it's possible to repair them. Kaput would be a good description I would think...



- Patrick
=======

They are in laboratory instruments. Some of the gear is VERY old and eyewateringly expensive to replace, so it's used until it will no longer turn on.

Case in point: I was given a box of *27 year old* floppies, that had been stored in a non-climate-controlled basement storage room, and requested to recover all the data off them.
Only one disk was bad.....
...naturally, it was the one disk that had the user's data on it (but that's a rant for another time)