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Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Desktop Hardware
Some questions about upgrading an older Mac Pro
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<blockquote data-quote="rubaiyat" data-source="post: 1626882" data-attributes="member: 240393"><p>You can not upgrade a Mac Pro to a later model with firmware. You can upgrade the firmware, to bring it up to date for your model, but that is not what you think it is doing.</p><p></p><p>All Macs have the version number xx,xx which indicates what model and what version within that model it is. You can look it up to find out what age the model is.</p><p></p><p><strong>MacTracker</strong> [free] will give you all the specs and details on every model Mac, iPod, iPad, iPhone etc ever built.</p><p></p><p>Or use:</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.everymac.com/mac-identification/index-how-to-identify-my-mac.html" target="_blank">Mac Identification (Identify My Mac and Your Mac) @ EveryMac.com</a></p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/" target="_blank">Lookup Mac Specs By Serial Number, Order, Model & EMC Number, Model ID @ EveryMac.com</a></p><p></p><p>Check the GeekBench scores for each model here:</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-comparison-chart/" target="_blank">Compare Macs, Compare iPods, iPhones & iPads @ EveryMac.com</a></p><p></p><p>Upgrading the RAM really helps performance and is always money well spent. The Pros do however use a much more expensive RAM than regular Macs.</p><p></p><p>Larger and faster Hard Drives help as well but not so much. Keeping at least 20% free on boot HDD helps keep OSX running smoother.</p><p></p><p>Upgrading the CPU whilst doable on a Mac Pro rarely makes financial sense, you may as well have paid for a better model, which normally uses another, sometimes incompatible CPU.</p><p></p><p>Currently for single processes the 5k Retina iMacs are actually faster than the current Mac Pros for far less. The Mac Pros perform better for multi process software. Most of the software for Macs unfortunately does not make optimal use of the processors available. <strong>Handbrake</strong> is one that does and can really fly with multiple processors and a fast hard drive.</p><p></p><p>Only the recent Mac Pros have Thunderbolt (two kinds/speeds) and USB 3.0 as well as other hardware enhancements, so buying an older Mac Pro may not be money well spent, unless it is really cheap. The older Mac Pros have non-standard size motherboards so don't think of upgrading those with PC motherboards.</p><p></p><p>Be careful, you are buying into older technology which will be abandoned by Apple sooner rather than later. The older the hardware the less years left for that model, except frozen in time with the ultimate OS & software that will run on it. Macs are not as flexible as PCs in that regard.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="rubaiyat, post: 1626882, member: 240393"] You can not upgrade a Mac Pro to a later model with firmware. You can upgrade the firmware, to bring it up to date for your model, but that is not what you think it is doing. All Macs have the version number xx,xx which indicates what model and what version within that model it is. You can look it up to find out what age the model is. [B]MacTracker[/B] [free] will give you all the specs and details on every model Mac, iPod, iPad, iPhone etc ever built. Or use: [url=http://www.everymac.com/mac-identification/index-how-to-identify-my-mac.html]Mac Identification (Identify My Mac and Your Mac) @ EveryMac.com[/url] [url=http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/]Lookup Mac Specs By Serial Number, Order, Model & EMC Number, Model ID @ EveryMac.com[/url] Check the GeekBench scores for each model here: [url=http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-comparison-chart/]Compare Macs, Compare iPods, iPhones & iPads @ EveryMac.com[/url] Upgrading the RAM really helps performance and is always money well spent. The Pros do however use a much more expensive RAM than regular Macs. Larger and faster Hard Drives help as well but not so much. Keeping at least 20% free on boot HDD helps keep OSX running smoother. Upgrading the CPU whilst doable on a Mac Pro rarely makes financial sense, you may as well have paid for a better model, which normally uses another, sometimes incompatible CPU. Currently for single processes the 5k Retina iMacs are actually faster than the current Mac Pros for far less. The Mac Pros perform better for multi process software. Most of the software for Macs unfortunately does not make optimal use of the processors available. [B]Handbrake[/B] is one that does and can really fly with multiple processors and a fast hard drive. Only the recent Mac Pros have Thunderbolt (two kinds/speeds) and USB 3.0 as well as other hardware enhancements, so buying an older Mac Pro may not be money well spent, unless it is really cheap. The older Mac Pros have non-standard size motherboards so don't think of upgrading those with PC motherboards. Be careful, you are buying into older technology which will be abandoned by Apple sooner rather than later. The older the hardware the less years left for that model, except frozen in time with the ultimate OS & software that will run on it. Macs are not as flexible as PCs in that regard. [/QUOTE]
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Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Desktop Hardware
Some questions about upgrading an older Mac Pro
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