Apple Recommendations

D

danny_discus

Gawd
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Messages
612
Looking to pickup an Apple machine to basically run X-Code and maybe some photo/graphics editing, nothing too serious. What are good options at a cheap price? I would not need a monitor and have seen some Mac Pro boxes on e-bay but some can only be upgraded to Mac OS X 10.7 so that is why I am asking.

Any input is appreciated.
 
What about a Mac Mini? those are fairly cheaper than a Mac Book Pro would be.
 
If at all possible wait for the WWDC in June, when new models are expected to be announced. Even if you don't want/need one of the new releases, at the very least today's models should be put on sale/clearance.
 
danny_discus said:
Thanks for the reply however I am looking for an analog out for display.
Click to expand...

Archer1212 said:
Mac mini comes with an HDMI to VGA cable.
Click to expand...

danny_discus said:
Yes that or a DVI-I out. Anyone have any experience with a Mac Pro 4.1?
Click to expand...

The long and the short is that ANY Mac will be able to use adapters to basically whatever format you want. Using DVi in 2016 is a bit archaic, but I don't know your usage case, so do what you have to do.
You should know that DVI-I isn't analog though. Only DVI-A is. DVI-A and VGA are the only analog options that you'd have at this point.
DisplayPort => DVi exists. I'd recommend that. It's $99 adapter for the dual link one, which "seems" pricey, but considering that it opens up a huge amount of other more modern machines, I would at the very least consider it. (You could also look around for third party non-Apple ones which will cost less).

Two things: What is your budget? There's an awful lot of suggestions in here for not knowing what you're willing to spend. 2.) What monitor are you going to use?

You should know that a modern Mac Mini is going to be faster than a lot of older Mac Pros. There has been a lot of advancements in processors and chipsets. I'd try to find benchmarks if you can.
The 4,1 is relatively recent. GT120's are slow by today's standards. If you want to upgrade them there are options for that, but few that will be 100% OSX compatible/compliant, at least not without firmware tweaks/hacks. UNLESS of course you buy an official Apple supported part, but even things 2-3 generations back cost a huge amount making them generally speaking not worth it. Especially if you're budget minded.
You'll be limited by USB 2 and no Thunderbolt. The latter which I think is more detrimental, as Thunderbolt allows options for future expansion that may not be inside or your consideration points without it (such as DAS, easy[er] access to eSATA, and any other peripherals that become immediately available and with Thunderbolt 2, 4k Displays should you want to upgrade and move to that).
Still, it's far from the worst choice. Like I mentioned before, check benchmarks if you can first before you pull the trigger. A Mini might be more in your budget, faster without upgrading further (like if you just want to buy it and forget it), and offer more future expansion via USB 3/Thunderbolt 2 and access to 4k displays.
 
Thanks for the tips. Looking for something on the cheap, roughly $500 tops, and it does seem a newer Mac Mini would fit the bill. The monitor used would probably be a FW900 so that is the reason for VGA compatibility. I do see they have a mini to vga cable here
 
$500 makes it slightly tough, I won't lie.
I'd check around for used for sure. Try and get a 2014 and beyond for Thunderbolt 2. The reason to buy used in terms of saving cash is trying to find one with PCI-E storage.
Although it will give you less internal space, it will be lightyears faster with near instantaneous response in terms of opening apps, wake, and of course significantly reduced boot times. I generally prefer "pure" flash storage, but take the fusion drive in a pinch versus just a standard rotational drive.
You may also be able to eek out the faster processor while still maintain budget if you buy used (the jump from 1.4GHz to 2.6GHz has obvious advantages). It also comes with a minimum 8GB of RAM as opposed to 4GB.
The "middle" Mini option also moves to Iris Graphics as opposed to HD 5000 graphics. All of these things make the "middle" Mini the one to buy in terms of bang for your buck.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
You should know that a modern Mac Mini is going to be faster than a lot of older Mac Pros.
Click to expand...
I wonder if this is true. Going from a dual X5600 Xeon system to a low-power laptop CPU and getting a speed increase seems counter-intuitive to me. A single X5600 is a little less than twice a quick as a Haswell i5 laptop chip if I recall correctly, and you can get two of them. Even the older X5500 chips should still be quicker than the current-gen Mac Minis.
 
TeeJayHoward said:
I wonder if this is true. Going from a dual X5600 Xeon system to a low-power laptop CPU and getting a speed increase seems counter-intuitive to me. A single X5600 is a little less than twice a quick as a Haswell i5 laptop chip if I recall correctly, and you can get two of them. Even the older X5500 chips should still be quicker than the current-gen Mac Minis.
Click to expand...

This is why I suggested him to look at benchmarks before making the leap. A lot of it also is going to be dependent on what is actual work loads look like. If he needs a lot of cores and does a lot of things that operate in parallel then having an older Mac Pro could still be relevant.
However if his operations are more single threaded or use fewer cores there's a good chance that between the modern processor/chipset, PCI-E Flash, and faster graphics card (when considering a GT120) could make the Mac Mini faster.

The next issue is cost and upgradability. In theory buying an older Mac Pro would allow him to upgrade the video cards down the line, but with a budget of $500 it's not likely that he wants to spend what it takes to get a Mac compatible graphics card in the future. Even for 2-3 year old stuff it's hard to find anything for less than $300 used. After considering putting in way more money into an older Mac Pro than it's worth, it's probably prudent to purchase something more recent and be okay with not upgrading it or increase the budget right out the gate to get something that is going to be more comprehensive from a 'power' perspective (like a Mac Pro 5,1 with a much better graphics card or buy the lowest end model of the new cylindrical Mac Pro on the used market).

This of course still isn't considering lack of external expandability on any of the Mac Pro tower units... like I stated, other reasons to not want one now is due to the lack of Thunderbolt and USB 3. USB 3 I guess could be had via an expansion card (if you want to invest in that), the same with eSATA. But Thunderbolt peripherals are becoming increasing important.
 
Last edited:
I bought a 2012 Mac Mini with the 2.5 Ghz i5 - As in my opinion the 2012 models still represent better bang for buck than the current, unexpandable, generation of Mac Mini's.

I upgraded it from 4 GB of ram to 16GB, installed an SSD in home made fusion configuration alongside the 500GB HDD, and running El Capitan the little things a ripper! I run Ubuntu as well as Windows 10 VM's under Parallels and it handles it with ease.

Having said that I still prefer my Dell T5500 with dual X5675's and Nvidia GTX 670 FTW running Ubuntu Mate 16.04 LTS.
 
Last edited:
UnknownSouljer said:
The long and the short is that ANY Mac will be able to use adapters to basically whatever format you want. Using DVi in 2016 is a bit archaic, but I don't know your usage case, so do what you have to do.
You should know that DVI-I isn't analog though. Only DVI-A is. DVI-A and VGA are the only analog options that you'd have at this point.
DisplayPort => DVi exists. I'd recommend that. It's $99 adapter for the dual link one, which "seems" pricey, but considering that it opens up a huge amount of other more modern machines, I would at the very least consider it. (You could also look around for third party non-Apple ones which will cost less).

.
Click to expand...
DVI-I has Digital and Analog, DVI-D is digital only
 
Can get a used Mac Pro, a 3.1 or 4.1 as you mentioned. That will run El Capitan natively. I have a Radeon HD5450 installed in mine, they are about $30 and have VGA out. You just have to make a small adjustment to get it recognized. You can have both cards installed at the same time (like when setting it up).

My Mac is used strictly as a movie server, and I am using a really old 17" VGA only monitor on it with that video card. And Mac Pro's are a beauty to look at. So elegant inside and out.

You can see here for my instructions on what to change
ATI Radeon HD 5450 | Communities

You can purchase used server memory off ebay for real cheap....especially if you have to get the FB-DIMM's, do not pay normal retail price for those! I think the 4.1's moved off the FB-DIMM's.

Additionally, I would totally recommend setting up a Fusion drive, even if with just a cheap 120GB SSD. Fusion drives are the hands down the best implementation of SSD+HDD I have seen on any mainstream operating system. It is awesome!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top