Watch this before buying a Mac Pro 2006 - 2010 (1,1 2006 3,1 2008 4,1 2009 and 5,1 2010-2012)

This video is an overview of the differences between classic Mac Pro generations, meant to be a high-level view that shows many of the physical differences between the entire line up to help anyone new to the Mac Pro world make more informed choices. I'll give away a spoiler, get the Mac Pro 5,1. It's a big upgrade over the previous generations and it still a viable budget computer.

There's a lot of upgrades you can do, from the easy like adding hard drives, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (and all the nonsense like USBc, USB 3.0 vs USB 3.1 etc) to ones that require more information like replacing GPUs and adding NVMe or replacing the Wifi card, to the advanced hacks like modifying the power supply and adding Thunderbolt 3.

I shot the footage for this before I had my nicer camera on my iPhone 12 and I no longer have the 5,1s to reshoot ;) Hopefully anyone watching this finds it useful. If you already own a Mac Pro, this might not be the video for you but you can still check out the differences between all the classic Mac Pro generations.

0:00 Introduction

0:50 The PowerMac G5
2:07 classic Mac Pro Generations and the Xeon
3:20 Five Generations
4:18 Identify a Mac Pro visually
5:19 Shared Traits
7:55 Mac Pro 1,1 - 2,1 (2006-2007)
8:51 Mac Pro 3,1 (2008)
9:50 Mac Pro 4,1 - 5,1 (2009-2012)


In my videos, I may come off as harsh about the 1,1 or 3,1 but you own these, they're still usable machines and I'm much rather people find uses instead of e-waste. Now if you're a perspective buyer, the 5,1 is really the only computer to consider since they're still surprisingly nice-to-use, especially when spec'ed up with a decent GPU, moderate amount of RAM and SSD. I'd probably still be using one if it weren't for happenstance which enabled me to purchase a 2019. To this day, it's nearly the best dual boot experience with Windows 10. (I'd argue the iMac Pro, Mac Pro 2019 and iMac 2019 with 16 GB 5700 XTs are the only computers I'd take over the classic Mac pro). The 2006s are tough as a Mac they're binned to history without later Mac OS support and as Windows machines, a modest PC with a 4th gen iSeries will likely run circles around it. The 2008s are still modern OS capable but the pandemic made cheap GPUs non-existent and for whatever reason, DDR2 much more expensive than DDR3.

Mac Pro Upgrade Guide
https://blog.greggant.com/posts/2018/...


DMUG - The GPU episode
   • Mac Pro GPU Upgrade Guide (3,1 2008, 4,1 2...  

Also editing this footage, I'm amazed how dirty a few of the machines were. Yikes. At least my cheesy animations are stepping up.

Shot on my Olympus EM-5 MK III and iPhone 12 Pro. Sound recorded via Rode GoMic and Shure SM7b via Clarett audio interface on my Mac Pro 7,1. Edited in Final Cut Pro X and Motion on my M1 Air.