MP 6,1 Why on Earth Trashcan MacPro are so expensive?

[bosozoku]

1200 usd average price for base config (4core/16Gb/D300/256GbSSD) is a total nuisance!
Why trashcans, despite being really old and underpowered even comparing to 2015 MacBook Pro, are still cost a ton of money?
Share your thoughts please!

 

[AidenShaw]

People pay extra for works of art.

/sarcasm

 

[jinnyman]

The same reason you have to pay extra for the case of MP 7,1.

 

[kohlson]

Like many things, supply and demand.

 

[tpivette89]

I believe some people who were planning to upgrade from their current 6,1 to a 7,1 weren't expecting the base model Mac Pro to double in price. This has caused some to hold on to their 6,1s instead of offloading them cheap to make room for the 7,1. Since the price gap between the two machines is so large, it has caused a slight increase in the 6,1s pricing.

This is my theory anyway. It could be the resellers on Ebay just bumping up the price, causing a false sense of increased value.

Given the 6,1's specs, its not really a bad machine. It's comparable to the 2018 Mac Mini in terms of performance... except it has a higher RAM ceiling (128gb vs 64gb), upgradeable internal storage, and upgradeable CPU. The 6,1's dGPU (even in D300 form) is better than the Mini's integrated graphics. And the final plus, is it's cooling system is much better than the new Mini's. The only limiting factor is TB2 vs TB3.

One final note... it's hard to say when Apple will drop support for the 6,1. It's been around since late 2013. I think the 2012 models will be dropped from 10.16 this year. Who can say when the 2013 Apple computers will fall to the chopping block.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^The 2012 cMP 5,1 has already lost support. That machine can't go to Catalina unless hacked.

Lou

 

[chkwong]

1200 usd average price for base config (4core/16Gb/D300/256GbSSD) is a total nuisance!
Why trashcans, despite being really old and underpowered even comparing to 2015 MacBook Pro, are still cost a ton of money?
Share your thoughts please!

Discontinued
So supply is less
Design is so unique and elegant , good for collection

Buying good quality trash can is sort of investment
The price maybe higher later

 

[loby]

For production work, the mac pro 2013 is still a good option if you cannot afford the mac pro 2019.

 

[bosozoku]

Like many things, supply and demand.

There are bunch of them on eBay and nobody seems interested, some lots are staying for months

Also, here in Japan prices are even crazier

 

[1147402]

There are bunch of them on eBay and nobody seems interested, some lots are staying for months

Also, here in Japan prices are even crazier

AFAIK, there are lots of people intentionally bought up all the cheap ones they can find and resale them at much higher prices. And other sellers search online and match the similar price they saw on auction sites.

 

[mattspace]

I'd put money on a contributing factor being that people are just pricing them in line with the apparent 3,1, 4,1 5,1 pricing curve, perhaps without knowing the price of those is underpinned by them effectively being a vintage hotrod platform. Of course, the 2013 is being an officially OS supported machine plays a part.

 

[MarkC426]

Personally I only buy new hardware.
Amazon UK have 8 core for £3700 (which is £200 off)....kicking myself as I saw it before Xmas for £2700 (whether it was a typo, coz it was cheaper than the 6 core).
I was toying with it back then but missed the boat.....

edit: the other question is, if you got a new one from a reseller, could you get Apple Care from Apple.....?

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

1200 usd average price for base config (4core/16Gb/D300/256GbSSD) is a total nuisance!
Why trashcans, despite being really old and underpowered even comparing to 2015 MacBook Pro, are still cost a ton of money?
Share your thoughts please!

Compared to a $1000 monitor stand (monitor not included) or $500 Mac Pro wheels (breaks not included) it is a bargain!

 

[ctrlzone]

because all apple products have a high resale value.
just like with new apple products, stats don't matter.
what matters is:
the price when the product was new, and how old it is now.

 

[fuchsdh]

If they'd ever come up with a Broadwell tube Mac Pro or any upgrade, you'd have seen the 6,1 prices drop. But as is, aside from the $1000 price cut, there's not the regular pace of new models to have depressed the prices of the old models, and the new models being $6000 reduces the downward pressure.

Once the 7,1 gets replaced I imagine the 6,1 market will pretty quickly depreciate. Of course, who knows when that'll be.

 

[sam80]

I now have 7,1 but keeping the 6,1. It's a good backup computer, small and powerful.

Everything's set up on it so if anything goes wrong I can just plug it in and continue work. Perhaps others are keeping theirs too so low supply.

 

[frou]

Because Apple still refuse to put out a "xMac" midi tower.

If the modern Mac Mini somehow contained decent AMD graphics (rather than Intel iGPU) then it would finally cast a shadow over the MP 6,1.

 

[th0masp]

Yeah I think it's far from being useless and makes for a great backup computer for those who bought into the new MP.

When I'm done with mine it will probably be shelfed some day which means being put on the actual book shelf. It does look pretty interesting as a piece of modern 'art' all in itself. No need to sell it on.

 

[iluvmacs99]

1200 usd average price for base config (4core/16Gb/D300/256GbSSD) is a total nuisance!
Why trashcans, despite being really old and underpowered even comparing to 2015 MacBook Pro, are still cost a ton of money?
Share your thoughts please!

All Apple products have a high resale value and some models also have a high collectible value. Apple products are simply a luxury brand, so you can associate yourself as being "Different" from everyone else. And people are willing to pay for being "different" or "being well-off" despite what common sense said. In reality though, just because you look rich, quack like a wealthy person does not necessarily mean you are truly wealthy. But people are willing to go broke to look rich.

The only way to get an Apple computer cheap is to buy junk or broken machines and fix them up and then make them work again. I did that for most of my Macs except the Macbook Air and Mini which I bought Apple refurbed.

 

[archimacpro]

I guess because, for some people, the Trashcan was just right - at the time. It's beautiful compact and reliable. The new macpro is simply too large and far too expensive for what I want - a headless mac, descent graphics & compact. I use 2 x 43" 4k screens for CAD, both at work & home. So to pick up the trashcan at the end of each day is wonderfully simple.

I will probable get 2 x AMD 3960x as soon as they sort the kexts out.

So much of what Apple does is so right - we are actively building our company around the Apple ethos, and it's working really well. The new Mac pro is not a miss step - and it deserves to be the flagship product it is, but there is a gap in the range - and a Macmini pro, done right, would fill that void.

 

[ctrlzone]

Macmini pro

please no mini pro!
there isn't really a reason for a small form factor in the desktop area.

i wish for a proper cooled, consumer-grade (i7 instead of xeon) Desktop machine with pcie slots.
i would call it the:

Mac

 

[mattspace]

It's beautiful compact and reliable.

Unreliability is literally the most noted descriptor of the 2013. No other computer I've ever herd of, treats its major components as consumables, the way the 2013 treats its GPUs. It's perhaps second only to the butterfly keyboard in the list of "greatest Apple hardware screwups" (and I'm including those first-gen PowerPC Powerbooks).

 

[chkwong]

Unreliability is literally the most noted descriptor of the 2013. No other computer I've ever herd of, treats its major components as consumables, the way the 2013 treats its GPUs. It's perhaps second only to the butterfly keyboard in the list of "greatest Apple hardware screwups" (and I'm including those first-gen PowerPC Powerbooks).

Agreed
Gpu crash or glitch problem is quite annoying

 

[flaubert]

Unreliability is literally the most noted descriptor of the 2013. No other computer I've ever herd of, treats its major components as consumables, the way the 2013 treats its GPUs. It's perhaps second only to the butterfly keyboard in the list of "greatest Apple hardware screwups" (and I'm including those first-gen PowerPC Powerbooks).

Titanium PowerBooks... oh my gosh, the hinge problems! Yep, right up there.

Regarding OP’s original question, it’s simple: the 2013 Mac Pro is the only officially supported Mac Pro short of spending $6k+ on the new model, so everybody selling one figures that they can gouge the heck out of buyers. Nothing to see here...

 

[EmmEff]

Unreliability is literally the most noted descriptor of the 2013. No other computer I've ever herd of, treats its major components as consumables, the way the 2013 treats its GPUs. It's perhaps second only to the butterfly keyboard in the list of "greatest Apple hardware screwups" (and I'm including those first-gen PowerPC Powerbooks).

This. There have been far too many reports of reliability issues with all but the lowest GPUs on the 6,1 and I decided to stay away after researching and shopping them for months. On Kijiji (Canada's buy&sell, like Craigslist), the prices for the trashcans are ridiculous (~$3k USD) for the 12 core and they are *not* selling despite the sellers "knowing what they have" (hahaha).