New to macs, any advise is helpful

Hey guys,
I've decided to dump the PC and move to a Mac. First time in my life. Tired of winblows. I have a few key questions and thought I'd ask here as my few Mac expert friends won't get back to me.

My current computer is a custom build I did a while ago, and I have 3 hard drives I'd like to transfer to a Mac pro if possible. I know I have to format it to make it work, two of them have no data and the other is backed up on two other drives so I'm not worried about that. But is it possible to use them in a mac pro?

I was looking at macofalltrades.com (I assume its a good place to start) and came across this one:

http://www.macofalltrades.com/Produ...NpRAdq56hbQsOOW8Zzu3Dc1gxU4pNzvYUUaAggU8P8HAQ

Can anyone give me some info on this computer? I know nothing of Xeon processors and how good they are. The numbers sound good, but I'm still in the dark (again I know next to nothing about macs). Someone bought that same computer for video editing and using Final Cut pro, and said it meets his expectations. I'm into basic music production and I'm hoping this would suffice for adequate power efficiency as my pursuits are similar to video production regarding CPU use. My current computer does a decent job,but could be better. It has one AMD quad core 3.6 GHz processor and a pretty decent motherboard, and only 8gm ram. So, I'm trying to start somewhere and I'm wondering if this computer would be a good investment.

I'd really like to spend around 3-600 bucks, I've found some slightly more expensive Mac pros, but I honestly don't know what makes them better. Lots of these macs are builds from like 8 years ago and still solid and fast, which is a new concept to me. So any advice is helpful. I've seen Mac pros for $1500+ and obviously they would be the better choice, but I don't have that kind of budget right now.

Any thoughts? Thanks guys!
Derek

Dirkaboiii said:

Can anyone give me some info on this computer?

Any thoughts? Thanks guys!
Derek

Click to expand...

Wecome to Mac-Forums Derek!

The Mac Pro in the link...you don't want that. It is severely limited from an OS perspective. Officially the newest OS version it can run is OS 10.7.5 (released 2011). The current Mac OS is 10.12 (5 versions newer).

Although this Mac Pro may fit your budget...I don't recommend it. What I would recommend in terms of a Mac Pro that fits your budget...and at the same time is not relatively obsolete...would be a 2008 Mac Pro 3,1. Although officially a 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 cannot run the latest Mac OS (10.12 Sierra)...it can officially run the previous "latest" Mac OS (10.11 El Capitan).

This would give you the best balance of low cost & useability in a Mac Pro.

- Nick

Nick would the $600.00 cover the purchase cost of a 2010 Mac Pro model 5.1? That is the oldest machine that will run macOS Sierra.

Good question Harry. I checked eBay...and some of the lower end quad-core 2010 Mac Pro 5,1's can be found for under $600. Here's one "Buy It Now" for $525 (with a "Best Offer" option). Of course with these "beasts" shipping can easily be $40-$75. So that pretty much spends the whole $600!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/APPLE-MAC-P...287863?hash=item33c4df1af7:g:UuUAAOSwnHZYRfID

This Mac Pro is fairly well spec'ed with a 5770 video card and 16gig of RAM!

- Nick

Derek Nick's found this Mac Pro and that is the model I would be grabbing. Very fair price withb 16GB of memory and the 1GB gfx card and capable of running latest operating system.

I gather you know your needs in asking for a Pro. I do not know if a simple Mac Mini would suffice but it certainly is within your budget as well as give you the latest stuff n stuff. Expansion ports can be added as needed. Think of it in terms of time and how long you would use it until tricked out for your needs. I don't know what music production takes, as oppose to your friend with video issues. But as we are both new to Macs, the Mini may fulfill your needs for the next 3 to 5 years. Someone here will give you better advice than me though. Good luck

Stick with your Mac Pro decision just a matter of finding a later model within the budget.

Tell me Derek did you see the link in Nick's post for a 2010 Mac Pro?