So you're considering buying a classic Mac
Pro or upgrading from the one you have. In this video we are going to discuss how
to identify the different Mac Pro models visually, so if you're dealing with a bad eBay listing
or seller who doesn't know what they're selling you can get the correct computer you are looking
for. Also, we will touch on how to identify a classic
Mac Pro vs a G5 and talk about technical differences, between all these computers so in case you're
in the market for a classic Mac Pro, you will get the one you are actually looking for that
can do the things you want it to do. You are now rocking with DMUG, the Definitive
Mac Upgrade Guide, I hope you're doing well out there and let's just get to it. This video is going to be an introduction
to the differences between Mac Pro models. First let's talk about the G5. The G5 predated the Mac Pro, and certainly
inspired the look and feel of the Mac Pro line. It is the first Mac that sports the famous
"cheese grater" design, although functionally it'd be more liek a pasta press. Potential buyers are often confused as these
look visually similar to the Mac Pros. Here's how you can spot the differences. By far the biggest market is the G5 only has
one optical bay. It also has two fans on the back and the ports
are quite a bit different. The G5s are notorious as they are power hungry
and not very performant.They cannot run above maOS 10.5 or if you can track down the 10.6
Beta that was never released. They are the last generation of PowerPC Macs,
meaning they do not use Intel CPUs. They had RISC processors, much like the Apple
Silicon, ironically. The G5s also occupy a strange space as they
do not support booting Mac OS classic. Because of these short comings, these are
just not very popular machines for retro enthusiasts. So the short answer is if you are in the business
of looking for a Mac Pro this is a computer you do not want. Now that we covered the G5, let's talk about
the Mac Pros as that's why you're watching this video. The Mac Pro comes in three distinct lines. They are often referred to as the classic
Mac Pro, which this video is about. The new Mac Pro (nMP) which is the 2013 Mac
Pro also referred to as the Trash Can, and the 2019 which is generally referred to as
the xMP. Hopefully by the time you are watching this, there is an another Mac Pro. The common thread between all these computers
is they use the Intel Xeon processor or at least as of recording this. The Xeon is the Intel's workstation/server
CPU. The Xeon line has a lot advantages over its
i-Series cousins. Just to name a few of the advantages, things
like multi-CPU capability, higher max core count, the ability ability to address way
more RAM, the ability to use Error Correcting Memory (ECC), and address address more PCIe
Lanes. The disadvantage is with all these advantages
comes more cost and the cost is quite high even today as the 2019 Mac Pros being very
ex pensive. The classic Mac Pros Today ? Much less so. The classic Mac Pro line within the classic
Mac Pro line there are five distinct different models, these are either referred to by their
version number or the year they were released. If we get down to it there's only three versions
as two of them can be firmware upgraded, making them the next generation. Usually when people discuss classic Mac Pros,
they don't make any distinctions between the 1,1 and the 2,1 and rarely make distinctions
between the 4,1 and the 5,1. On screen is an overview of some the differences
between these computers and the components inside them. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone but
the later Mac Pros have much better specs. The generational differences between these
computers determines how easy it is to run the latest macOS if you can it run it all.You
can you always get info to see what kind of Mac you have, but if you don't access to it,
you can identify the Mac Pros visually. The best way to identify the Mac Pros visually
is to take off the side panel. As you can see using the follow graphic there's
some distinct visual differences between the layout in the bottom of the computer. The 1,1 and 3,1s all had removable memory
trays. The 4,1 and 5,1 both use a CPU tray that has
the memory on the board. If you haven't used one of these, it's such
an elegant design. In all my years of computing, the 4,1 and
5,1 rank as the easiest computer to work on. As elegant as the 2019 Mac Pro is you have
to unplug all the cables to get into the case and it doesn't have trays. On the exterior of the case, the 1,1 through
the 3,1 have have Firewire 400 ports on the front, and back. The 4,1 and 5,1s have only have Firewire 800,
and back. All the Mac Pros share some features in common. They all have two USB 2.0 on the front and
three on the back. They also all have Firewire ports but these
vary based on generation of Mac Pro. The audio capabilities are the same on each
generation of the classic mac Pro. They have a headphone jack, and line out,
a line in and a S/PDIF optical input and output port. For wired networking , they feature dual gigabit
ethernet ports.
