March 4, 2009 In news that won’t shock any Apple fans worth their salt, the company has announced a new Nehalem based Mac Pro that features a next-generation system architecture to deliver up to twice the performance of a previous generation system – all while managing to cut the price by USD$300 for the standard base system.
The new Mac Pro includes Intel Xeon processors running at speeds up to 2.93 GHz, each with an integrated memory controller with three channels of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC memory that delivers up to 2.4 times the memory bandwidth while cutting memory latency up to 40 percent compared to previous systems. Every unit comes standard with both a Mini DisplayPort and DVI port as well as a NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics card with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, with an optional ATI Radeon HD 4870 available for even more performance.
In contrast to its consumer-focused brethren, the Mac Pro boasts an updated interior to provide easy access to all components for hassle free expansion. It includes four direct-attach cable-free hard drive carriers for installing up to 4TB of internal storage when using 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA drives while an optional cable-free Mac Pro RAID card delivers performance up to 550MB/s and allows the four internal drive bays to be set up in RAID 0, 1, 5, or 0+1 configurations for improved disk performance and redundant data protection.
On the green front the Mac Pro exceeds Energy Star 4.0 requirements and even meets the more stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements, which will become effective later this year. The unit’s enclosure is made of recyclable aluminum and the interior is designed to be more material-efficient. Inside PVC-free internal cables and components and an absence of brominated flame-retardants contribute to the Mac Pro’s EPEAT Gold status.
The Mac Pro offers a range of build to order options and accessories but the standard specs for the new USD$2,499 quad-core Mac Pro are:
- one 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500 series processor with 8MB of shared L3 cache;
- 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 8GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;
- 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
- 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);
- four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
- five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire® 800 ports;
- Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.
While the standard new 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of USD$3,299, includes:
- two 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors with 8MB of shared L3 cache per processor;
- 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;
- 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
- 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);
- four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
- five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
- Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.
The new Mac Pro will be available next week through the online Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
Darren Quick
