Looking to buy my first Apple Mac Pro

[Pgreza]

Looking to buy my first Apple Mac Pro, used off eBay, $1000 budget. Not familiar with Mac Books so I'm asking for advice? Looking at a 15.4" model, With Intel 3rd Gen Core i7 @ 2.6GHz Base / 3.6GHz TurboBoost and 16 GB of RAM, 1TB SSD,
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M w/1GB Dedicated Video RAM, (DUAL GRAPHICS), Intel HD 4000 Graphics w/ Shared Video RAM, High Resolution RETINA Screen, OSX-2017, 2 YEAR WARRANTY. I'm also planning on investing in Final Cut Pro X.
I have a Mavic Air, The Mavic air 2 and a Spark. Opinions on whether this will be up to the task? Thanks

 

[brett8883]

Looking to buy my first Apple Mac Pro, used off eBay, $1000 budget. Not familiar with Mac Books so I'm asking for advice? Looking at a 15.4" model, With Intel 3rd Gen Core i7 @ 2.6GHz Base / 3.6GHz TurboBoost and 16 GB of RAM, 1TB SSD,
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M w/1GB Dedicated Video RAM, (DUAL GRAPHICS), Intel HD 4000 Graphics w/ Shared Video RAM, High Resolution RETINA Screen, OSX-2017, 2 YEAR WARRANTY. I'm also planning on investing in Final Cut Pro X.
I have a Mavic Air, The Mavic air 2 and a Spark. Opinions on whether this will be up to the task?

That’s a 2012 model... That’s an ancient computer. $1000 is a terrible deal. 2 year warranty from who?

The NIVIDA GPU sparked my interest. It’s true that was the golden age of MacBook Pros, they don’t make them like that no more ?.

However, it’s just old to be relevant any more. H.265 video encoding put those models in the grave 4 years ago. Apple probably doesn’t even support those old models at this point.

You can get get a brand new 2020 MacBook Pro for $1299.

Buy 13-inch MacBook Pro

Pay over time, interest-free for your 13-inch MacBook Pro laptop with Apple Card Monthly Installments. Select a model or customize your own.

www.apple.com

 

[pelagic_one]

That’s a 2012 model... That’s an ancient computer...
You can get get a brand new 2020 MacBook Pro for $1299.

Buy 13-inch MacBook Pro

Pay over time, interest-free for your 13-inch MacBook Pro laptop with Apple Card Monthly Installments. Select a model or customize your own.

www.apple.com

Thanks for the great advice as I was about to order a similar 2012 refurbished model for our off-to-college son. So for a few hundred more, I will now get him a 2020 MacBook Pro. He’ll thank you later! ?‍?

 

[brett8883]

Thanks for the great advice as I was about to order a similar 2012 refurbished model for our off-to-college son. So for a few hundred more, I will now get him a 2020 MacBook Pro. He’ll thank you later! ?‍?

He’ll be thrilled!

 

[rehkram]

Ya I'm typing on that very machine right now, mid 2012 retina MacBook Pro10,1

It's an oldie but a goodie. I've replaced the battery & keyboard and it just won't quit. I'd be very careful buying anything on line though. It runs Final Cut Pro X fine.

Officially Apple stopped supporting this m/c for macOS upgrades at Catalina, which is where I'm still at. But it will run the next macOS release Big Sur (the latest) perfectly with very little work (relatively speaking) if you're a bit technical.

You can find instructions on how to do it on the MacRumors' "Big Sur on unsupported Macs" thread. I'm less of a masochist than I used to be though and so am sitting on Catalina until the Big Sur upgrade experiment settles down on MacRumors.

 

[Macinfo]

If the purpose of this Mac is to edit your drone video, and you don't want to spend a lot, you can look at the M1 Mac Mini, fast, will edit video with ease. Course its not a laptop, if you were looking for that portability, you could go with the an M1 Macbook Air or M1 Macbook Pro. The later will be a $1000 or more depending on how you configure one.. you can get the Mini for under that, again, depending on how you configure it

There are some videos on YT like this one.

Now there are always caveats.. it all depends on how you work, and if you've never had a Mac before, there is a learning curve, though I have always found the Mac to be far easier than Windows and much more secure.. It comes with iMovie to let you start to edit your videos, you can add other tools like FCP if you want that level of editing for your work.

Course there are used deals to be found, there are sites that resell refurbed Mac's of all flavors, eBay would be my last choice.. Apple themselves sells refurbed Mac's Certified Refurbished Products, and they are essentially good as new, full warranty, the only difference is the box it arrives in..

 

[Macmad]

Ya I'm typing on that very machine right now, mid 2012 retina MacBook Pro10,1

It's an oldie but a goodie. I've replaced the battery & keyboard and it just won't quit. I'd be very careful buying anything on line though. It runs Final Cut Pro X fine.

Officially Apple stopped supporting this m/c for macOS upgrades at Catalina, which is where I'm still at. But it will run the next macOS release Big Sur (the latest) perfectly with very little work (relatively speaking) if you're a bit technical.

You can find instructions on how to do it on the MacRumors' "Big Sur on unsupported Macs" thread. I'm less of a masochist than I used to be though and so am sitting on Catalina until the Big Sur upgrade experiment settles down on MacRumors.

I also have the same machine, used predominately for my other hobby, Djing, great robust machines, mine still looks brand new, and installed a blu-ray drive, super fast with the i7 processor and 16gb ram.

 

[anotherlab]

The Mac Mini is a great little beast. I have one and a Macbook Pro. If I was looking for a new Macbook Pro, I would wait until they announce the new models, they are reportedly bringing the HDMI port and SD card reader back.

 

[rehkram]

The Mac Mini is a great little beast. I have one and a Macbook Pro. If I was looking for a new Macbook Pro, I would wait until they announce the new models, they are reportedly bringing the HDMI port and SD card reader back.

Totally agree. Pricing on the first wave of Mac minis & MacBooks with the new M1 ARM chip was startlingly good (for Apple), and reviews of performance indicate a big leap forward. I'm waiting for the next generation with great interest. Could be as early as March, so I've read.

 

[anotherlab]

When the M1-based Macbook Pros come out, you'll probably be able to get a good deal on a used 2019 or 2020 edition Macbook Pro. As @Macinfo mentioned, Apple sells refurbished Macs with a 1-year warranty. If you are on a tight budget, it's not a bad way to go.

 

[rehkram]

Refurbs are good unless you're looking for specific features from new models. The first wave of M1 MacBooks had very few ports. The next wave are said to have more processor cores, more Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, an SD card reader and an HDMI port. That's enough to make me wait.

They seem to be dropping the Touch Bar, which I won't miss, because you don't miss what you've never had. I'm hanging out for a new MacBook Pro that will last me 10 years or more, like the one I'm using now.

 

[Macinfo]

Refurbs are good unless you're looking for specific features from new models. The first wave of M1 MacBooks had very few ports. The next wave are said to have more processor cores, more Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, an SD card reader and an HDMI port. That's enough to make me wait.

They seem to be dropping the Touch Bar, which I won't miss, because you don't miss what you've never had. I'm hanging out for a new MacBook Pro that will last me 10 years or more, like the one I'm using now.

While I am sure the next generation of M1 Mac's will have added features, its hard to know when Apple might release them, it could be much later this year and in the mean time you can get a lot done on the M1 Mini...

While more ports would be handy, there are hub options that can make up for that on the current versions.. though that does add to the cost of setup. I'm guessing that we won't see more new Mac's till fall.. but your guess is as good as mine.

 

[anotherlab]

The touch bar was sort of useful. I can unlock my Macbook Pro via a fingerprint with the touchbar, but they could have just used a fingerprint scanner. For the apps that did use it, it was kind of cool.

The missing ports were sort of annoying. I have two docks for my Macbook Pro. One sits behind it and provides all of the ports that I need. It just connects via a single USB-C cable. I have a smaller port replicator that I use when I travel that just snaps into the side. I do miss the magsafe connector. I have a couple of USB-C cables that have a magnetic connector, but it's not the same.

 

[rehkram]

Magsafe is returning... I hope they do a better job with the new power supply cable ends' strain relief, I got fed up with fixing the original frayed messes and bought a brand new one last year.

With the return of good keyboards it's back to the future. Add to that the new internals and life on a Mac is gonna be good again. We can only hope.

 

[anotherlab]

At least the USB-C cable is easily replaceable. The desktop dock (Stone Pro) that I have has its own power supply and EMCA USB-C cable, so I just keep the Apple charger and cable in my backpack.

 

[Tech Diss]

congrats, mac book pro is of great for daily life and work.
You need a usb c hub for macbook expends more usb ports.