When was your 2013 Mac Pro actually made?

They might all look the same, but looks can be deceiving. In this video I choose a used 2013 Mac Pro and show you how to work out the manufacturing date from the serial number.

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#apple #macpro #retrocomputing

[peterscheepers]

Mine is a 6 core with d500 graphics which came from a video studio that made TV commercials and cost me €300 with the original 256 GB storage and 16 Gb RAM. I upgraded it to 64GB 1866 MHz RAM which cost me €34 including shipping and a 2 TB Lexar SSD from Amazon for €80 + an adapter from Ali Express for €3. From your chart I see that it is from 2014 week 17. It runs Sonoma 14.3 with OCLP and boots up to the login screen in 25 seconds, I use it as my daily driver, although I do not do serious work anymore and just play around with Mac's. So I don't need it but I love it. Some benchmarks: Disk speed Read 12909 MB/s, Write 14020 MB/s; Geekbench CPU Single Core 731, Multi Core 3672; Open CL score 20342. CPU Temperature stays between 60 and 70 degrees Centigrade during test. Love to see more of your video's on this greetings, Peter

[busterj]

I use my Mac Pro trashcan running Mac OS Sierra primarily as a host machine for the following (1) using VM Fusion hypervisor to run Windows 10, Windows XP, and the linux distros Mint, Zorin and linux lite. (2) using screen sharing while running various Mac OS’s on the following obsolete Macs 2012 mac mini, 2014 mac mini and 2018 mac mini. It’s just a matter of getting things done and this system works here.There is a lot of 32 bit software that still work well. Last month i actually had to use “Lotus Magellan” 16 bit software to recover and open a very important file.

Thanks for these posts, your work is really appreciated.

[willkra]

Hi. Your interest for these trashcans make good uploads. I just bought myself one. It is a base one with a 1tb drive. Got it for cheap and it is mint. Using it on my main tv for everything. Really happy with it:-) It is a 2014 from that chart you provided. Split the ssd on the middle with macos and windows. Works great!

[KR]

I sold my Mac Pro 2013 last year and replaced it by a Mini M2 Pro. What I loved of the Mac Pro was the high quality audio line output.

[Arch_Dude]

One of the use cases for the Mac Pro 2013 over apple silicon is monitor support. Last I checked, you can run more monitors on the 2013. I will also note that I bought a 2019 used 12 core with the w6800x duo. For everyday task (word processing, web, excel, photos, etc), I didn’t really notice a difference. Even higher demand software didn’t show much of a difference until I need to use a GPU intensive task. Then the difference was pretty huge. My 2013 wash 8 core d500 32 GC ram, with 512 SSD.

[michaelperrin]

Can't wait bring it on, a well researched and informative video you've got me hooked .

[stevensonrf]

Always find your videos to be very helpful and informative. In fact, I used your video of rebuilding your Mac Pro 2013, to help me rebuild my trashcan Mac. 👍

[transitengineer]

Thank you, for another educational and useful video. If my on-line unit conversion is correct $500 Pounds is equal to about $635 US dollars which, is about twice the price that, I paid for my space gray "trash can" Mac Pro 8-core/D-700/64GB/1TB SSD model, two-years ago at $1, 200 US dollars. According to your chart, my Mac Pro was manufactured in 2016. Since these were made in the USA, I am glad to know that American workers were still building these units from 2013 through 2019 (smile...smile).

[dahlia]

I got one that's "YW" in the serial number. It came with D700s, 64GB of 1866 ram, and the 12 core CPU. Also had a 1 TB (non-Apple) SSD with the M.2 adapter and pre-loaded with Monteray. I had trouble with it forgetting the date/time when unplugged so I replaced the battery (which was deep inside the panel) and also I repasted everything. It was very clean inside so I assume whoever replaced the SSD probably cleaned it out. Was a bit over $400 on ebay but considering, I think it was a reasonable deal. I'm not a MacOS fan and I have a M1 Mini anyway, so I've been trying other OSs. Windows 11 runs but doesn't like it (audio driver issues, uses excessive power). Debian seems OK on it and I may stick with that.

Good luck!

[sirlikealot]

I'm interested to see the follow up videos! If you get to benchmarking I would also be very interested in seeing the power usage of these, idle and under full load. This I think adds to the comparison to Apple Silicon and also to the general answer on how usage these machines still are. In particular if you would compare it to older PCs from the era.

[BriansModelTrains]

Thanks. Looks like mine was manufactured in 2018 in week 19. I installed the 12 core Xeon and larger 500 GB SSD. I kept the original SSD if I chose to sell it. It came with the D500 and correct 32 GB of RAM. I installed bootcamp on it and use it to control my model trains (OSX for N scale & Windows for HO scale). It's overkill but I like the look. I paid $220 + $20 shipping with 6 cores and for $30 I installed the 12 core Xeon CPU in September of last year (2023). I have had no issues. I look forward to your testing. I did not know that Apple fixed the D500 and D700 video cards in later years. All good news for me.

[kevinwicks]

Nice chap and I got my 6, 1 in Watford while attending a football match…., then put 64gb ram in a week later….its the baby D300. £225.00
Best “trashcan “ I’ve ever had.Thank you CEX Watford. By the way we didn’t win the footy but I still went back to Wiltshire smiling because of my purchase.

[willm]

My 3, 1 mac pro has Server ram in it and its bombproof. Back using server ram for mac upgrades

[MrPeety]

I have to say a huge thanks to you and this channel. Ive just bought myself a Mac Pro, 2018 Build..New CPU and RAM upgrade for just over £300. With a warranty from the seller. Ive been binge watching your content and it's been so so helpful in making my decisions. My next move is to get a new SSD and that has proven confusing...the system is currently running Monterey so it can take a NVMe with an adapter but I did see/read something that suggested only some NVMe's work well...I don't know if you've covered this in any detail but if you have I'll be sure to Dig it out and learn more. Again, thank you so much sir! Keep up the great work!

[PrinceWesterburg]

Thanks for this - I just given (Yes, £0) a Mac Pro 6, 1 which was still in the box. Its an 8-core from the 2nd half of 2017. I'll put the 12-core in and up the RAM to 64Gb for sure! Graphics don't matter as it'll run Logic Pro X and FL Studio

[gonzo]

Thoroughly enjoyed your vid! I just updated my late 2013 Mac Pro, 12-core w duel D700, 1tb Samsung 980 pro and 64gb1866 ram to the latest 14.3.1 Sonoma using OpenCore Legacy Patcher. My serial was "MH" which translate to 5th week, 2014. However, I absolutely STILL love my Machine! and use it periodically as a media work horse! This is coming from someone who still has and uses daily a Fully specd 2017 imac pro with 4tbnvme and 16gb Vega 64, 2019, 2018, 2015 Macbook Pro's as well as a decently spec'd M1. At some point I use them all and keep them up to date but mainly use my 2017 imac and my trash can and sometimes M1. I get especially excited whenever I see people making videos on the trashcan mac, finding new ways to still bring life into them! Keep up the great work! Maybe make some videos comparing editing across several models? (maybe thats something i should do? lol)

[alexblankenship]

I loved the graphite finish it came in. While most people would disagree I thought it was the most beautiful design ever on an Apple

[AlanW]

Looks, like mine is S4, mid 2016, it was a refurb when I got it, D700s so I suppose it's possible it was also part of the recall, despite being slightly after that date. I did have to take it in once for a rattling fan.

[joshnelson]

I JUST bought one in the USA on 2/17/2024. 3GHz 8 core, 32GB, D700s, 512GB SSD for $220. I had some ECC 1600MHz laying around, upgraded to 64GB and the 2.7GHz 12 core CPU for $25. All in with shipping $260. Looking into 4k monitors be aware that this machine doesn't support anything Above 3840x2160 (there are a few "4k Mac monitors" that are slightly above that including a few of the LGs & 4k and 5k iMacs (repurposed as monitors).

[rwdplz]

Just bought a Mac Pro with D700's, never even thought about the age VS when the recall happened. Do we know exactly what the issue was? Was it just thermal compound drying up and causing them to overheat? Looks like mine is from the end of 2014.