I Bought A Brand New 2013 Mac Pro in 2020

The pinnacle of Apple’s obsession with form over function

I have been collecting Macs for a few years, but it’s rare to pick up a computer for my collection that can still run modern software. So after writing an article for The Startup on creating a workspace for my hobbies, I had this bright idea to find a collectible computer that would still work with my new drawing monitor. Then it dawned on me that I haven’t owned a Mac Pro in over a decade; my last one was a G5 tower. So, I planned to buy one of the last-model cheesegrater Mac Pros (5,1) since I had been watching a lot of videos on how to max them out. In the end, I wound up buying a 2013 Mac Pro instead.

The 2013 Mac Pro has always appealed to my design aesthetics. It’s a beautiful computer yet entirely impractical for professionals, exactly like the G4 Cube. The Cube is one of my favorite Mac designs of all time, but the 2013 Mac Pro is something entirely different. I almost bought one a few years back, but the price versus value never made any sense. So, with the idea in my head to get a new Mac for my collection, I started scouring eBay for deals. I was surprised to see there were none to be had for the Mac Pro 5,1 or the 2013 model. My original budget was under $1k, including any CPU and GPU upgrades. But, I quickly had to increase my budget to get a computer with enough power to run my modern software.

After a few failed attempts at low balling sellers for used 2013 Mac Pros, I came across a listing for a brand new, unopened one for $2.2k. While this computer was over my budget, the specs were good enough that I figured I could use it as my main computer. I ended up getting the price down $100, and I pulled the trigger feeling like I got a great deal. This Mac Pro had a 6 core processor, 32 GB of ram, 1 TB SSD, and the dual FirePro D500 graphics cards. In the end, what sold me was getting an opportunity to experience unboxing the Mac Pro.

Related posts:

She cares not for the creaking hinge The servant sleeping by her door Tiles cold under her bare feet. Hush! Now she has left her home behind The trail is muddy, puddles abound She lifts up the hem of…

My 4 year old son is on the autism spectrum. He was diagnosed on the severe end of the spectrum. He is non-verbal, and has a myriad of sensory nuances which has him behave sometimes in strange and…

As I sat in the Bogotá airport waiting to fly to Cartagena, I wondered what had gone so wrong. Here I was, on the infamous Colombia trip getting ready to start at the GSB. I should have been happy…