So shall it’s written, so shall it’s done. The Mac Pro has at long last proven rumors of its impending refresh accurate, as Apple has just updated its most powerful hardware with even more grunt. As we\’d heard previously, that implies you are able to now get dual-CPU rigs that provide an entire dozen cores to play with, courtesy of Intel\’s Xeon server-class chips, though a good way to get in on that game you\’ll need to splash a groovy $4,999 entry fee. The quad-core starting price remains to be $2,499, though the eight-core machines have jumped up to $3,499. More specs might be found inside the full press release after the break.
CUPERTINO, California-July 27, 2010-Apple® today unveiled a new Mac® Pro line with up to 12 processing cores and up to 50 percent greater performance than the previous generation.* Featuring the newest quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors, all-new ATI graphics and the option for up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD), the recent Mac Pro continues to deliver amazing performance and expandability for essentially the most demanding consumers and professionals.
\” The hot Mac Pro is probably the most powerful and configurable Mac we\’ve ever made,\” said Philip Schiller, Apple\’s senior vp of world Product Marketing. \” With up to 12 cores, the hot Mac Pro outperforms our previous top-of-the-line system by up to 50 percent, and with over a billion possible configurations, our customers can create exactly the system they need.\”
At the center of the hot Mac Pro\’s performance are next generation quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors running at hastens to three.33 GHz. These multi-core processors use a single die design so each core can share up to 12MB L3 cache to improve efficiency while increasing processing speed. These systems feature an integrated memory controller for faster memory bandwidth and reduced memory latency; Turbo Boost to dynamically boost processor quickens to a few.6 GHz; and Hyper-Threading to create up to 24 virtual cores. The Mac Pro now comes with the ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics processor with 1GB of memory and customers can configure-to-order the even faster ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of memory.
For the first time, Mac Pro customers find a way to order a 512GB SSD for the last word in reliability and lightning fast performance. Being able to install up to four SSD drives within the system\’s internal drive bays, the hot Mac Pro provides ultra high-speed disk bandwidth and random disk performance, two times faster than the common performance of a typical disk drive.** Mac Pro also now features two Mini DisplayPorts and one dual-link DVI port. The additional Mini DisplayPort output allows customers to attach two LED Cinema Displays without a different graphics card or adapter and the dual-link DVI port supports legacy DVI-based displays up to a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels.
Every Mac Pro comes with Apple\’s innovative Magic Mouse and customers may also order Apple\’s new Magic Trackpad as an option. The Magic Trackpad brings the intuitive Multi-Touch™ gestures of Mac notebook trackpads to the desktop. With its glass surface, the wireless Magic Trackpad allows users to scroll smoothly up and down a page with inertial scrolling, pinch to zoom inside and outside, rotate an image with their fingertips and swipe three fingers to flip through a group of internet sites or photos. The Magic Trackpad will likely be configured to support single button or two button commands and supports tap-to-click in addition as a physical click. Magic Trackpad is offered separately for $69.
Continuing Apple\’s commitment to our environment, Apple\’s desktop lineup is a pacesetter in green design. The Mac Pro meets stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.*** The Mac Pro enclosure is made from highly recyclable aluminum and the internal is designed to be more material-efficient. The Mac Pro uses PVC-free internal cables and components and contains no brominated flame retardants. The recent Apple Battery Charger provides a convenient and environmentally friendly option to always have a fresh set of batteries on your Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. The Apple Battery Charger is obtainable as an option for $29 and springs with six long shelf life rechargeable batteries.
Every Mac also comes with Mac OS® X Snow Leopard®, the sector\’s most advanced operating system, and iLife®, Apple\’s innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto®, with breakthrough easy methods to organize and manage your photos by who appears in them and where they were taken; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use features consisting of Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand® which offers an entire new approach to can help you discover ways to play piano and guitar.
Optional Apple professional applications include Aperture®, Final Cut® Express, Final Cut Studio®, Logic® Express and Logic Studio®.
Pricing & Availability
The recent Mac Pro might be available in August throughout the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple\’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The recent quad-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:
one 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3530 processor with 8MB of fully-shared L3 cache;
3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 16GB;
ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard disk running at 7200 rpm;
18x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire® 800 ports;
AirPort Extreme® 802.11n;
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.
The hot 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $3,499 (US), includes:
two 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5620 processors with 12MB of fully-shared L3 cache per processor;
6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s harddrive running at 7200 rpm;
18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
AirPort Extreme 802.11n;
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.
Configure-to-order options include:
one 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3565 processor for the quad-core Mac Pro;
one 3.33 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon W3680 processor for the quad-core Mac Pro;
two 2.66 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon X5650 processors (12-cores) for the 8-core Mac Pro;
two 2.93 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon X5670 processors (12-cores) for the 8-core Mac Pro;
two ATI Radeon HD 5770 cards with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
one ATI Radeon HD 5870 card with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
up to 16GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory for the quad-core Mac Pro;
up to 32GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory for the 8-core Mac Pro;
up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD); or
up to four 1TB or 2TB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm;
Mac Pro RAID card;
dual-channel or quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel card; and
up to two 18x SuperDrives with double-layer support.
Accessories include: Magic Trackpad, Apple Battery Charger, wired Apple Mouse, wireless Apple Keyboard, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, the AppleCare® Protection Plan; and pre-installed copies of Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server; iWork®, Logic Express 9, Final Cut Express 4 and Aperture 3. Complete options and accessories come in at www.apple.com/macpro.
*Testing conducted by Apple in July 2010 using preproduction Mac Pro 12-core 2.93 GHz units and shipping Mac Pro 8-core 2.93 GHz units, all configured with 6GB of RAM. Based on render performance of Maxwell Render 2.0.3 using Benchwell\’s sculpture.mxs. Performance tests are conducted using specific computers and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.
**Testing conducted by Apple in July 2010 using preproduction Mac Pro 12-core 2.93 GHz units configured with 6GB of RAM, 1TB 7200-rpm harddisk and 512GB solid-state drive. Testing conducted using Iometer 2006.07.27 with a 30-second ramp-up, 5-minute run duration, 128KB request size, 8 outstanding IOs, and 150GB test file. Average rotational media performance calculated by creating the test file on the outer, middle and inner sectors of the drive and averaging the consequences from all three measurements. Performance tests are conducted using specific computers and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.
***EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all the 23 required criteria and no less than 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the united states EPA and relies on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of non-public Computer Products. For additional info visit www.epeat.net.
Apple designs Macs, the ideal personal computers on this planet, at the side of OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the cellphone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad that is defining the long run of mobile media and computing devices.
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