MP 6,1 Bad choice of the day, Sealed NIB 6-Core, D700, 64GB and 1TB

[MisterAndrew]

I was pretty skeptical, so I called Apple to activate the warranty as soon as it arrived with the serial on the box. I didn’t open it in case I had to send it back. They took a few minutes, but it did indeed activate the warranty.

It is eligible for Applecare+, but at $299 I’m not sure I’m going to bother. My card already extends it to 2 years…

Did they ask for proof of purchase? AppleCare+ is the only good extended warranty for these. Your card’s warranty will make you deal with a 3rd party like Asurion. AppleCare+ gives you support with Apple; genuine repairs. They will replace it with a current Mac Pro if it requires several repairs. They might end hardware repairs for the 6,1 within the next 3 years and if that happens they will probably replace it if something goes wrong with it. So you could have one with an M4 Extreme chip or something in a couple years.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Well, as Apple has to still support the intel processors it's selling, you could look into building a hackintosh pc that will dual boot and be fairly cheap to build. Or build a cheap pc for his paper stuff and get him an iPad Air or used 11" M1 Pro for the rest.

ipad with keyboard u mean ? i'd rather get him a mba m1

 

[AngryRedTicTac]

Did they ask for proof of purchase? AppleCare+ is the only good extended warranty for these. Your card’s warranty will make you deal with a 3rd party like Asurion. AppleCare+ gives you support with Apple; genuine repairs. They will replace it with a current Mac Pro if it requires several repairs. They might end hardware repairs for the 6,1 within the next 3 years and if that happens they will probably replace it if something goes wrong with it. So you could have one with an M4 Extreme chip or something in a couple years.

They did, but the eBay purchase was adequate. Just shot a screenshot of the listing and my purchase page with the date on it.

That is the reason I have considered actually splurging on the AppleCare+, I have had friends get macs replaced with multiple generation newer MBPs and iMacs. That would be the most absurd deal of all.

The card is a Sapphire Preferred, there is no 3rd party dealings. We've had to get a few items replaced, it is very simple and you deal directly with them. Bad news is it's just cash, so when you get a great deal on something you just get the money back, not another one from them. Win some, lose some....

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Parallels is kinda painful and isn’t free… rather expensive actually

I do believe that macOS still support boot camp on Intel macs

Oh yeah, I’d like my dad to use windows only when he needs to do his paper stuff , and use macOS for anything else

Parallels is dead to me. First it's of Russian origin which I have trust issues with. Second, they went to a subscription model for the pro version, which is really not pro, as it lets you have more than 8gb of ram.

I'm on VMware Fusion as a result.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Parallels is dead to me. First it's of Russian origin which I have trust issues with. Second, they went to a subscription model for the pro version, which is really not pro, as it lets you have more than 8gb of ram.

I'm on VMware Fusion as a result.

vmarefusion isnt as optimised (not as smooth and fast) and i can't pass the network section ...and when i bypass it, i can't enable wifi ...

does it work for you ?

 

[MisterAndrew]

If you have a connection to higher education you could ask them for the education discount which makes AC+ $269. Be prepared to provide a .edu email though. They don’t usually ask, but sometimes they do random checks.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

vmarefusion isnt as optimised (not as smooth and fast) and i can't pass the network section ...and when i bypass it, i can't enable wifi ...

does it work for you ?

I havent tried the ASi version yet. But fusion always seems to run 6-12months behind parallels and never as fast. That said, it tends to be more compatible with more systems over time and offer greater variety of emulation. Also, importantly for me, no subscriptions.

 

[OneBar]

ipad with keyboard u mean ? i'd rather get him a mba m1

Depends on what all he's doing off of windows but sure. In this case I'd go for an M2 MBA for longevity.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Depends on what all he's doing off of windows but sure. In this case I'd go for an M2 MBA for longevity.

Honestly, not much

I just don’t like iPadOS ( and I have an ipad m1)

The simple fact that you can’t run a chromium based browser is enough of a dealbreaker to me

 

[zackkmac]

I really have been itching for one of these after selling my 5,1...kinda glad I found this *after* they sold out or I probably would have caved with it being sealed. But congrats to those who purchased it because that's a really good deal.

On the other hand, I did find a seller who was offering 15% off their store items, with several configs in stock, so I could snag a base model to upgrade/play around with for $295 shipped (not sealed of course, these are used).

 

[OneBar]

Honestly, not much

I just don’t like iPadOS ( and I have an ipad m1)

The simple fact that you can’t run a chromium based browser is enough of a dealbreaker to me

Since when is this the case? I can download Chrome right now on iOS and it says it's an iPadOS app as well.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Since when is this the case? I can download Chrome right now on iOS and it says it's an iPadOS app as well.

Chrome using WebKit , not chromium.

 

[OneBar]

Chrome using WebKit , not chromium.

Not sure what the difference is. You said a Chromium based browser, Chrome is the original Chromium based browser. Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi are also Chromium based browsers. What exactly are you after?

 

[profcutter]

Not sure what the difference is. You said a Chromium based browser, Chrome is the original Chromium based browser. Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi are also Chromium based browsers. What exactly are you after?

On iOS, all browsers are just skins on webkit. It’s called chrome, but it doesn’t use the chrome mechanics, it’s not a chromium browser.

 

[A Hobo]

The issue was with machines produced between February and April 2015.
The machines in question here are new machines and would assume from 2018 production.
For the full price, yes, it would be very questionable purchase but for 10% of the original price?
Used machines are being sold at higher prices on eBay and with used machines you can run into the 2015 graphics problem.

That’s a strong and unfounded assumption to make. I know of no ‘2018 production’ of the 2013 Mac Pro.

Even if it’s brand new in box, that thing was built in Texas years ago and has occupied shelf space ever since.

Trust me on this.

I was there when AMD ruined the 2011 MacBook Pros, the 2010 27inch iMac and the Mac Pro from 2013, I actually built my business repairing those things. I’ve quite literally disassembled two trash cans daily for my day job for months straight, (my university bought like 100 of the D500 things and most failed within 3 years.) and if offered another one to use I would rather get a Mac mini from 2018 instead.

 

[SpotOnT]

That’s a strong and unfounded assumption to make. I know of no ‘2018 production’ of the 2013 Mac Pro.

Even if it’s brand new in box, that thing was built in Texas years ago and has occupied shelf space ever since.

Trust me on this.

I was there when AMD ruined the 2011 MacBook Pros, the 2010 27inch iMac and the Mac Pro from 2013, I actually built my business repairing those things. I’ve quite literally disassembled two trash cans daily for my day job for months straight, (my university bought like 100 of the D500 things and most failed within 3 years.) and if offered another one to use I would rather get a Mac mini from 2018 instead.

What makes you think there was no production in 2018?

I had a friend tour the plant in 2018, and they were definitely still producing new 2013 Mac Pros.

What is less clear to me, is what they were doing with models stamped with a 2019 and early 2020 production date. I haven’t been able to verify if that was actually new production, or if that was mostly refurbished units. Either way the plant was still operating through early 2020.

Also, I have heard Apple placed their final order with Intel for the CPUs in 2019.

 

[AngryRedTicTac]

Apple serial numbers follow the model through refurbishment, so a serial built in Austin in March 2019 means it really is that young. As to whether they solved the early issues, well, that I can't speak to, and does kind of make me want to get AppleCare+ to fish for a new free Pro or Studio 😉 I wouldn't ponder buying this if I needed it to make my livelihood on, but to replace a very tired moderately built 5,1 that doesn't get pushed anywhere near it's limits.....

But for the price, the whimsy is sufficient to keep me happy, this isn't a work machine, it's my goof around home computer editing pics and videos of my kids.

 

[fuchsdh]

Parallels is dead to me. First it's of Russian origin which I have trust issues with. Second, they went to a subscription model for the pro version, which is really not pro, as it lets you have more than 8gb of ram.

I'm on VMware Fusion as a result.

Going to have to try out VMware too. Parallel's great strength has been in graphics performance, and given that I emulate W10 for a few games, that's part of why I've stuck with it, but the fact that I can't leverage more than a fraction of what I've got on my system without paying a subscription doesn't make me want to continue with it. Even if Vmware is terrible if I can use more than 8GB RAM/2GB VRAM I'll probably still come out ahead.

 

[OneBar]

On iOS, all browsers are just skins on webkit. It’s called chrome, but it doesn’t use the chrome mechanics, it’s not a chromium browser.

Ok, that makes sense, but what is the actual functional difference?

 

[profcutter]

Ok, that makes sense, but what is the actual functional difference?

Other browsers on other platforms use different rendering engines for pages. That’s why, for example, when moodle shows nothing to my students on Safari, I point them to Firefox, which renders the page differently, and often works more reliably, especially on less robust web pages. I personally don’t like Chrome, I think it’s a RAM hog, and I don’t trust google any more than apple with my private data, but it also can render pages that break safari. Sometimes when you’re watching a streaming site like Paramount +, safari just hangs or can’t load the stream, I find that simply switching to a different browser can fix that problem. It’s the workings under the hood that make the difference, so if everything on iOS is based on the same WebKit engine, then it’s less likely you can get a page to work simply by going to another browser. Our uni uses a couple of internal pages that seem like they load on safari when they feel like it, but load reliably on another browser. If you’re on your phone, you’re out of luck.

 

[SpotOnT]

Apple serial numbers follow the model through refurbishment, so a serial built in Austin in March 2019 means it really is that young. As to whether they solved the early issues, well, that I can't speak to, and does kind of make me want to get AppleCare+ to fish for a new free Pro or Studio 😉 I wouldn't ponder buying this if I needed it to make my livelihood on, but to replace a very tired moderately built 5,1 that doesn't get pushed anywhere near it's limits.....

But for the price, the whimsy is sufficient to keep me happy, this isn't a work machine, it's my goof around home computer editing pics and videos of my kids.

Ya I have heard some reports that Mac Pros with a 2019 and 2020 production date in the serial number have an earlier production date recorded in the BootROM (think I read this from tsialex). I don't know, the production history of the 2013 Mac Pro is definetly quirky and hard to figure out.

 

[AngryRedTicTac]

Ya I have heard some reports that Mac Pros with a 2019 and 2020 production date in the serial number have an earlier production date recorded in the BootROM (think I read this from tsialex). I don't know, the production history of the 2013 Mac Pro is definetly quirky and hard to figure out.

I may ponder a ROM dump at some point just for giggles, I think that's the only way to access that information.

 

[tsialex]

I may ponder a ROM dump at some point just for giggles, I think that's the only way to access that information.

Yes, the real Build Date is stored right in the last sector of the SPI flash, some bytes before the X86 Reset Vector, address 0X7FFF50:

 

[MisterAndrew]

Apple serial numbers follow the model through refurbishment, so a serial built in Austin in March 2019 means it really is that young. As to whether they solved the early issues, well, that I can't speak to, and does kind of make me want to get AppleCare+ to fish for a new free Pro or Studio 😉 I wouldn't ponder buying this if I needed it to make my livelihood on, but to replace a very tired moderately built 5,1 that doesn't get pushed anywhere near it's limits.....

But for the price, the whimsy is sufficient to keep me happy, this isn't a work machine, it's my goof around home computer editing pics and videos of my kids.

They get a new serial number after refurbishment. Refurbished Mac Pros have a 6 as the second digit instead of 5. They come in a white box.

 

[SpotOnT]

I may ponder a ROM dump at some point just for giggles, I think that's the only way to access that information.

If you ever get around to that let us know what you find!

I am still trying to convince my friend with a 2020 production serial number to do a ROM dump. Like you said, it is all for giggles.