As soon as the new Apple Mac Pro was released the internet lit up with some placing orders, some considering a purchase and some wishing they had the money to make such a move.

Let me ask you a question, and this is irrespective of what computer you own, when did you last sit in front of your computer and think ‘hurry up!’ or ‘I could do more things with a different computer that I can’t do now.”?

If I’m honest, even using a 5-year-old 6 core Mac Pro ‘Trash Can’ I rarely think that and I use it for all sorts of stuff including some data-intensive video rendering work. Even when I have to wait a while, I sometimes use that time to grab a coffee, take lunch or just watch silly videos on YouTube.

I recall asking a group of engineers and producers what they loved most about working with tape. I was expecting them to talk about the sound of the tape, the crush or warmth but I did not expect one recurring theme. Many of them said they loved the time they had to think during rewind times, to take a breath and consider the next take or what to do next.

With computers we have lost these moments of space, rewind is now instant, mix down is now seconds rather than minutes. We no longer have to wire hardware into inserts, set gain and make sure all the routing is correct - instead, we just insert a plugin.

We want everything now and that may be to the detriment of our creativity. Even when we get more powerful or faster things, we soon grow used to them - we stand in front of the microwave and shout ‘hurry!’

I started running last year, if you think a minute is a long time to wait for something in the studio then try the last minute of a 5K run - it seems to last forever!

But if you’ve been sitting using an older computer and it’s starting to feel sluggish and limiting your workflow and you are thinking of leaping onto the next super-powered Mac or PC then I want to suggest a different route.

Since the new Mac Pro 7,1 came out last week I’ve been to the Apple site three times, added a configuration to the cart that comes to about £10,000 and then hovered over the Buy button. I have called friends and discussed it and one of them asked me straight out if I really needed the new Mac Pro. I was honest and said “not really I just want one.” Now that’s not a bad thing, if you have the money then buying one isn’t the moral equivalent of drowning a puppy, it’s OK to want to nice things and not feel guilty.

However, as I took a step back and considered my needs I decided to explore a different plan of taking an incremental improvement rather than an exponential one.

A friend of mine and a studio owner has been wanting to buy my Mac Pro 6,1 6 core for some time. I’ve spoken many times on this blog that it owes me nothing and is still making me money every day. On paper it is written off as an asset so any sale is going to incur some tax liability. So I called him and we agreed on a price that was a bargain for him and meant I don’t end up paying loads of tax. I then went on eBay and discovered that a fully loaded version of my Mac Pro 6,1 would cost me. I found a Mac Pro 6,1 12 core, 2TB SSD, Dual D700 6GB video cards machine, original price around $9599, after researching this was the best one for the needs of my studio. After haggling, I got it for a fraction of the price.

I get an updated Mac, which according to the Geekbench scores is going to be a significantly more powerful computer than my current one (which remember hardly ever causes me to need more power) and I simply have to copy all the data to it and plug in.

Granted, it’s nothing like the new Mac Pro, but on reflection, at this point in my studio business life the cost of investment was not equal to the business benefits - and as we always say on the Experts site, profit is what you don’t spend. If I get a year out of the new Mac Pro then it’s paid for itself, at which point I can consider what Apple has to offer again then, there may be a more powerful Mac mini, iMac Pro and there will be a rack-mount Mac Pro too.

I’m not the first member of the team to take this route, both Alan and Dan made similar decisions. You can read about them here;

• Alan on buying a refurb Mac Pro 6,1

• Dan on buying a used Mac Pro 5,1

For some, the new Mac Pro 7,1 is the right machine to buy, but for others, both the spec and price may be overkill and you may not see a return on your investment and kill your business cashflow overnight. But there is another way as outlined above.

Of course, another added benefit to this solution is you are not adding to the growing mountain of tech landfill and helping to recycle perfectly good computers, which we recently highlighted on this blog.

This way of updating your studio computer won’t give you a picture of a shiny new Mac to share on social media, but if that bothers you then Photoshop one into your studio and share that. 😉

Let us know your thoughts about upgrading your computer and the route you take.