Tuesday, January 8th 2008
Apple Introduces New Mac Pro
Apple today introduced the new Mac Pro with eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor. The new Mac Pro combines two of Intel's new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage to offer the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists. The standard 8-core configuration starts at just $2,799.
"The new Mac Pro is the fastest Mac we've ever made," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With 3.2 GHz 8-core Xeon processing, a 1600 MHz front side bus and 800 MHz memory, the new Mac Pro uses the fastest Intel Xeon architecture on the market."
The new Mac Pro features the latest Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors based on state-of-the-art 45nm Intel Core microarchitecture running up to 3.2 GHz, each with 12MB of L2 cache per processor for breakthrough performance and power efficiency. With a new high-bandwidth hardware architecture, dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses and up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory, the new Mac Pro achieves a 61 percent increase in memory throughput.
Every Mac Pro comes standard with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card with 256MB of video memory. The Mac Pro includes a new PCI Express 2.0 graphics slot that delivers up to double the bandwidth compared to the previous generation, and supports the latest generation of graphics cards from NVIDIA, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of video memory, or NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of video memory and a 3-D stereo port for stereo-in-a-window applications. With support for up to four graphics cards, the new Mac Pro can drive up to eight 30-inch displays at once for advanced visualization and large display walls.
The Mac Pro is the most expandable Mac ever, featuring four internal hard drive bays with direct-attach, cable-free installation of four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives, totaling 4TB of internal storage and support for two SuperDrives. With optional 15000 rpm SAS drives that can deliver up to 250MB/s of RAID 5 disk I/O performance, the Mac Pro is ideal for film and video editors. Combined with SATA or SAS drives, using an optional Mac Pro RAID card offers the ultimate data protection and disk I/O performance on the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is easily and conveniently accessible in front and back so users can connect external devices with five USB 2.0, two FireWire 400, two FireWire 800, optical and analog audio in and out, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and a headphone jack.
Every Mac Pro includes Leopard , the sixth major release of the world's most advanced operating system. Leopard is packed with more than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time Machine , an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac. Featuring an improved scheduler and other multi-core technology, Leopard is a perfect companion to the Mac Pro, making applications faster and helping application developers take advantage of multi-core systems.
The new ultra-thin aluminum Apple Keyboard now ships with every Mac Pro and built-in Bluetooth 2.0 makes it easy to reduce cable clutter with the optional Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mouse.
Pricing & Availability
The new Mac Pro is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The standard 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes:
Source:
Apple
The new Mac Pro features the latest Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors based on state-of-the-art 45nm Intel Core microarchitecture running up to 3.2 GHz, each with 12MB of L2 cache per processor for breakthrough performance and power efficiency. With a new high-bandwidth hardware architecture, dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses and up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory, the new Mac Pro achieves a 61 percent increase in memory throughput.
Every Mac Pro comes standard with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card with 256MB of video memory. The Mac Pro includes a new PCI Express 2.0 graphics slot that delivers up to double the bandwidth compared to the previous generation, and supports the latest generation of graphics cards from NVIDIA, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of video memory, or NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of video memory and a 3-D stereo port for stereo-in-a-window applications. With support for up to four graphics cards, the new Mac Pro can drive up to eight 30-inch displays at once for advanced visualization and large display walls.
The Mac Pro is the most expandable Mac ever, featuring four internal hard drive bays with direct-attach, cable-free installation of four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives, totaling 4TB of internal storage and support for two SuperDrives. With optional 15000 rpm SAS drives that can deliver up to 250MB/s of RAID 5 disk I/O performance, the Mac Pro is ideal for film and video editors. Combined with SATA or SAS drives, using an optional Mac Pro RAID card offers the ultimate data protection and disk I/O performance on the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is easily and conveniently accessible in front and back so users can connect external devices with five USB 2.0, two FireWire 400, two FireWire 800, optical and analog audio in and out, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and a headphone jack.
Every Mac Pro includes Leopard , the sixth major release of the world's most advanced operating system. Leopard is packed with more than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time Machine , an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac. Featuring an improved scheduler and other multi-core technology, Leopard is a perfect companion to the Mac Pro, making applications faster and helping application developers take advantage of multi-core systems.
The new ultra-thin aluminum Apple Keyboard now ships with every Mac Pro and built-in Bluetooth 2.0 makes it easy to reduce cable clutter with the optional Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mouse.
Pricing & Availability
The new Mac Pro is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The standard 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes:
- two 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors with dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses;
- 2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
- ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory;
- 320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
- 16x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- two PCI Express 2.0 slots and two PCI Express slots;
- Bluetooth 2.0+EDR; and
- ships with Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse.
23 Comments on Apple Introduces New Mac Pro
Before people say "why isn't it standard?", just remember, it costs about as much as a house.
Oh, and I don't think they've ever used FireGL cards, at least, don't remember them, but they've had Quadros for quite a while.
For the standard cards, they've always used low-to-mid ATi or Nvidias, all depending on which is the best performance/cost ratio, which the 8600 might be, compared to the 7300, and especially the HD 2600 that's to be used now, although the higher end cards they choose are always good cards. 6800 Ultra, or X800XT back in '05. X1900XT last year, and now the 8800GT, which is a great choice, of course.
EDIT:I wouldn't mind a Mac Pro, they're powerful, for sure, and can run Windows too, while Mac OS X is a well made OS. The games available for OS X are actually the games I probably play most, like BF2/2142, CoD2, and WoW, among others.
As MACs get more and more PC-like, I fear they will lose their identity altogether. Really, all Macs have now to differentiate themselves from the rest is the OS. The hardware is the same.
I love the cases though - are they using Lian-Li or a is it a knockoff?
$21,827 + s/h
monitor included!
Saying which, one of these with the 8800GT would be a pleasant gaming experience. Thanks to bootcamp, they now run XP or Vista natively.:rockout:
Points to remember, they are not a good platform for modding or overclocking, and their monitors are too expensive.
Gotta love the design work though.:respect:
x2 = 1137$ (and those arn't even 2.8 xeon, they are 2.66)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146725
=94.99$
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102700
=$96.99
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136074
=$79.99
I would say 40-50$ on the drive.
An extremely nice motherboard, very expensive.
Blue tooth built in.
Apple keyboard and mouse will run you about 100$ dollars.
Custom case. All aluminum
OS, software suite... Very much worth it.
2gb ram ~$90
320gb HD ~$90
16xDVD ~$50 (overestimate)
keys_mouse $100 (gross overestimate)
total: $460 give or take a few (and these are retail prices)
does that mean the case, mobo, cablage, and 2x 2.8gz Xeon chips are worth $2339?
I just think this minimum setup is ~$1000 overpriced. All options maxed out for $21k? That's absurd.
edit: damn you, beat me to it!:nutkick:
@jock: I think the only reason Apple doesn't go towards the hardcore graphics cards is because Apple is just starting to open up to the gaming community.
Mobo for this= about $500
The CPUs (2.8GHz Quad)x2 = roughly $1500
That alone is almost $2000.