Re: TO upgrade, or to change platforms entirely - WWYDWhat would you do?

[Tim Kilburn]

Hi,

Remember that the seven year life cycle is just for MacOS update compatibility. 
 That is, the computer may, and likely will, last longer.  I have numerous Mac 
Pros from 2009 still running flawlessly.  They're stuck at El Capitan, but they 
work great and there's no performance issues.

Later...

Tim Kilburn
Apple Teacher
Fort McMurray, AB Canada

On May 10, 2018, at 21:23, Steve Matzura  wrote:

It does. I just might go for that 2017 model. For the price, it sure looks like 
one gets a lot. I didn't see anything on the specs about how many and what 
kinds of ports are on it. Will have to look it over again more closely.

On 5/10/2018 11:08 PM, Shawn Krasniuk wrote:
> Hi Steve. Every Mac has a seven year life cycle. Therefore, your 2012 Mac 
> will still be good until at least next year. With that being said, if you do 
> go the Mac Pro route, I'd suggest that you buy the newest one you can afford. 
> So if you bought, let's say a 2016 model, that machine would still be good 
> until around 2023. Hope that helps with your decision.
> 
> Shawn
> Sent From My New MacBook Air
> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com 
> 
>> On May 10, 2018, at 9:59 PM, Steve Matzura > > wrote:
>> 
>> Great advice, yes, but would that not be about six times the price? I just 
>> saw this one from 2017 that looks frightfully good. 
>> https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fast-8-CORE-Mac-Pro-OSX-2017-2-8GHz-32GB-Ram-2TB-HD-1GB-HD6870-VIDEO-Warranty/173158663830?hash=item28510f8696:g:ldUAAOSwyXNaRSlf
>>  
>> 
>>  Forget the software. The 2T SSD, eight cores and 32GB memory are worth the 
>> price all by themselves.
>> 
>> 
>> On 5/10/2018 10:28 PM, Maria Reyes wrote:
>>> I would wait until the new Mac Pro comes out next year.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPad
>>> 
 On May 10, 2018, at 9:50 PM, Steve Matzura > wrote:
 
 I have a quad core i7 late 2012 Mac Mini with the stock 5400rpm 1TB drive 
 and 8GB RAM. I use it exclusively for music reation and education (mainly 
 my own) with Logic and Pro Tools. My sample libraries are stored on an 
 external MyBook 3TB drive which is also shared with time Machine. 
 Consequently, once per hour, there's a little gligtchiness sometimes if I 
 happen to be playing something that draws heavily on sampled content when 
 TM runs. Granted, it only lasts for a second or two because the machine 
 does not require much in the way of backups, as very little on it changes.
 
 
 So I'm starting to think it's time for an upgrade. But what to upgrade?
 
 
 Clearly more memory would help, as well as replacing the mechanical drive 
 with a solid-state drive. There's also the main hardware, which surely 
 can't be upgradable to the next operating system forever. I ran into this 
 with a 2009 iMac when Sierra was released. For disk replacement, Crucial 
 has a 2TB drive for five hundred dollars--that's just twenty-five cents US 
 per gig--a very nice price. I'm quite fond of Crucial solid-state disks, 
 as I already own two other smaller units used in other machine. I figure 
 if I changed out the 1TB rotating drive for a 2TB SSD and moved all my 
 sample libraries to that drive, that would also eliminate the USB 3 
 slow-down (if there really is one, which I'm not convinced there is), then 
 that USB drive would be used exclusively for Time Machine backups.
 
 
 Another option is to purchase an empty Mac Pro and put the Crucial 2TB 
 drive and lots of memory into it, then set the rest of it up as above. But 
 how long will a Mac Pro last before it, too, can no longer be upgraded? 
 With the price of Apple hardware ever increasing, will I eventually get 
 priced out of upgrading?
 
 
 Everybody says it's bad practice to mix system and data files on a drive. 
 But if it's a solid-state drive, how could this be bad?
 
 
 If I obtain a Mac Pro, which model year has the highest expandability 
 quotient? i.e., which one can I keep the longest and expand the most into 
 the future before it won't be expandable/ upgradable any more, like my old 
 2009 iMac turned out to be when Sierra was released.
 
 So, what would you do?
 
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Re: TO upgrade, or to change platforms entirely - WWYDWhat would you do?

[Steve Matzura]

It does. I just might go for that 2017 model. For the price, it sure 
looks like one gets a lot. I didn't see anything on the specs about how 
many and what kinds of ports are on it. Will have to look it over again 
more closely.



On 5/10/2018 11:08 PM, Shawn Krasniuk wrote:
Hi Steve. Every Mac has a seven year life cycle. Therefore, your 2012 
Mac will still be good until at least next year. With that being said, 
if you do go the Mac Pro route, I'd suggest that you buy the newest 
one you can afford. So if you bought, let's say a 2016 model, that 
machine would still be good until around 2023. Hope that helps with 
your decision.


Shawn
Sent From My New MacBook Air
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com 

On May 10, 2018, at 9:59 PM, Steve Matzura > wrote:


Great advice, yes, but would that not be about six times the price? I 
just saw this one from 2017 that looks frightfully good. 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fast-8-CORE-Mac-Pro-OSX-2017-2-8GHz-32GB-Ram-2TB-HD-1GB-HD6870-VIDEO-Warranty/173158663830?hash=item28510f8696:g:ldUAAOSwyXNaRSlf 
Forget the software. The 2T SSD, eight cores and 32GB memory are 
worth the price all by themselves.



On 5/10/2018 10:28 PM, Maria Reyes wrote:

I would wait until the new Mac Pro comes out next year.

Sent from my iPad

On May 10, 2018, at 9:50 PM, Steve Matzura > wrote:


I have a quad core i7 late 2012 Mac Mini with the stock 5400rpm 1TB 
drive and 8GB RAM. I use it exclusively for music reation and 
education (mainly my own) with Logic and Pro Tools. My sample 
libraries are stored on an external MyBook 3TB drive which is also 
shared with time Machine. Consequently, once per hour, there's a 
little gligtchiness sometimes if I happen to be playing something 
that draws heavily on sampled content when TM runs. Granted, it 
only lasts for a second or two because the machine does not require 
much in the way of backups, as very little on it changes.



So I'm starting to think it's time for an upgrade. But what to upgrade?


Clearly more memory would help, as well as replacing the mechanical 
drive with a solid-state drive. There's also the main hardware, 
which surely can't be upgradable to the next operating system 
forever. I ran into this with a 2009 iMac when Sierra was released. 
For disk replacement, Crucial has a 2TB drive for five hundred 
dollars--that's just twenty-five cents US per gig--a very nice 
price. I'm quite fond of Crucial solid-state disks, as I already 
own two other smaller units used in other machine. I figure if I 
changed out the 1TB rotating drive for a 2TB SSD and moved all my 
sample libraries to that drive, that would also eliminate the USB 3 
slow-down (if there really is one, which I'm not convinced there 
is), then that USB drive would be used exclusively for Time Machine 
backups.



Another option is to purchase an empty Mac Pro and put the Crucial 
2TB drive and lots of memory into it, then set the rest of it up as 
above. But how long will a Mac Pro last before it, too, can no 
longer be upgraded? With the price of Apple hardware ever 
increasing, will I eventually get priced out of upgrading?



Everybody says it's bad practice to mix system and data files on a 
drive. But if it's a solid-state drive, how could this be bad?



If I obtain a Mac Pro, which model year has the highest 
expandability quotient? i.e., which one can I keep the longest and 
expand the most into the future before it won't be expandable/ 
upgradable any more, like my old 2009 iMac turned out to be when 
Sierra was released.


So, what would you do?

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