Apple unveils dual Xeon-based Mac Pro

Well, Apple's transition to Intel is finally complete for consumers. After the PowerBook got transformed into the MacBook Pro, the iBook into the MacBook, and the iMac and Mac mini got Intel makeovers, it was time to attack the pro desktop segment, a place where only Intel's Core 2-based Xeon "Woodcrest" processors could manage. The Mac Pro, possibly Apple's worst kept secret in the last couple of years picks up where the Power Cheesegrater Power Mac G5 left off, with the same cheese grating action, but a whole lot more under the hood. Of course, headlining is the 64bit dual-core Xeon with 4MB shared L2 cache across the board, topping out at 3GHz. The performance per watt is supposedly 3x that of the G5, and Apple is stuffing a pair of the chips in each new Mac Pro. Thanks to the heat decrease, there's room for four internal HDDs, along with the dual disk drives that were rumored. The base configuration goes for $2500, and features dual dual-core 2.6GHz processors, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB HDD, NVIDIA's GeForce 7300GT with 256MB of RAM, and a 16x SuperDrive. If "barebones" isn't quite your style, Apple has a spankin' 4,976,640 configurations to choose from, ramping up to a ATi Radeon 1900 or Quadro FX 4500 GPU, 16GB of RAM and 2TB of disk space.

[Gordy @ Aug 7th 2006 1:27PM]

Nice price for the package, but I'll be waiting for the refurbs.

Too much bang for my meager bucks.

[Fuzz @ Aug 7th 2006 1:30PM]

Why would they make such a powerful workstation, and then stick a 7300GT in it? All the other specs look great, I don't understand that one, though

[ashmadux @ Aug 7th 2006 1:33PM]

can you say, BARRIER TO ENTRY???

holy shiz, this is a 5 year investment computer- 4 drives, 2 optical, all the usual ports, 4 pciexp, up to 16gb ram, ATI 1900 (nvidia gt=wack)holy hell what abou t crossfire or SLI!!???/!

WOWOWOWOWO

[helio9000 @ Aug 7th 2006 1:34PM]

Wow, yeah that video card is weak! It is crazy to stick a $75 video card in an otherwise hot box. wtf?! There are laptops with better graphics.

[jd @ Aug 7th 2006 1:36PM]

yeah I dont understand the 7300??? in the pic they are comparing the Dell...which has a Quadro in it.

of course your machine is going to be cheaper with a low end games card versus a quadro.

all in all, looks like a nice machine

[JamesB @ Aug 7th 2006 1:41PM]

I bet apple feels stupid for all the R&D money that they put into the last gen to keep the machines cool. What a waste of time and money!

[ashmadux @ Aug 7th 2006 1:41PM]

someone should sue apple for this ridiculous practice....a TWENTY FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR BEFORE TAXES MACHINE comes with ATHT CRASPPY GRAPHICS CARD? apple always screws it up in the end. for the love of god, nvidia cards in macs sucks- where are the lawyers when u really need them!!!?!?!?

[Chris @ Aug 7th 2006 1:41PM]

You'd think you could get a better graphics card for 2500 bucks.

[DM @ Aug 7th 2006 1:42PM]

"Hasta la vista, Vista"???

Pardon me, but does Apple entire marketing strategy consist of dissing other people's products? Its a trend Ive observed since... well, forever!

[Gary Niger @ Aug 7th 2006 1:48PM]

Lol, Apple wins

[andrew @ Aug 7th 2006 1:50PM]

What a bunch of crybabies.

[Greg @ Aug 7th 2006 1:51PM]

The four internal hard drive configuration is going to be great for ProTools and FinalCutPro users, especially since the drives will be easy to replace without tools. You can use one as a boot drive and have a three drive Raid 5 array. This means one of the three Raid drives can fail and you don't lose your music or video data. Simply swap out the broken drive for a replacement, run your Raid software to rebuild the files, and you are back in business. This will be a great way to have an easily portable, powerful audio or video workstation without the need for external storage, extra cables, more AC plugs, etc.

[David Snead @ Aug 7th 2006 1:56PM]

Everyone knows the Reality Distorion Field is in full effect whenever Jobs says something from Apple is cheaper than Dell or another PC manufacturer. Once people start pricing out PC and Apple boxes... we'll get the real picture on how much "value" this system really is.

[Rob @ Aug 7th 2006 1:57PM]

You guys act like this is the first time Apple's video card sucked ass! I'm practically an Apple fan-boy, but I can not defend Apple's practice of putting weak cards in their top-of-the-line desktops (one of which I'm typing this on).

[blahblah @ Aug 7th 2006 2:03PM]

The worst of the video card thing is that you can upgrade to the latest and greatest. What a let-down...

[David @ Aug 7th 2006 2:06PM]

Upgrade the video card - and for those of you bitching about the NVidia cards, do you really think ATI is a viable solution at this point with the AMD buyout? From a professional level, one that does not require video editing, this is perfect. It will push all the print/web apps I need. So it may not play the latest and greatest games, but that isn't what it is for, this is the entry level Intel MacPro for publishing, designers, etc. And the price point is perfect for smaller shops looking to move from a G4/G5 based workflow. If you need more - BTO.

[SuperSnake2012 @ Aug 7th 2006 2:08PM]

I'm willing to bet the two Xeon chips are responsible for the price tag... they are very expensive chips.

[Chubbster @ Aug 7th 2006 2:14PM]

Must admit this is a very good price but come on it isnt the best in the world is it now.

[Jeff @ Aug 7th 2006 2:18PM]

The computer offers quite a lot for the money, though the comparison to the Dell Precision 690 doesn't quite fit. For one, you can expand the 690 to 64GB of RAM, and the 690 includes a STOCK 3 year on-site warranty plan, that's like a $250 upgrade from the standard 1yr Apple plan, and they don't offer on-site without paying a lot more.

[Rob @ Aug 7th 2006 2:33PM]

Very true, "BlahBlah", options greatly appreciated. When I ordered my dual 2.7 G5, there were no video card options.

[Stepleader @ Aug 7th 2006 2:38PM]

Where the heck is the iPhone with WIFI. Steve you are killing me over here. Now would have been the best time to introduce OS X Mobile to the developers.

[jared @ Aug 7th 2006 2:39PM]

Newegg has your video card, so go buy it and STFU. Developers, max/msp/proce55ing hackers, and audio freaks get to spend $2500 for a machine twice as fast as a G5 Quad.

[Joseph @ Aug 7th 2006 2:42PM]

Isn't this essentially just an underpowered server? Or an over-powered desktop? Depending on which way you look at this machine, this makes sense. And like Jared said, just upgrade the card. If you are going to spend that much anyways, make the additional investment.

[Richard @ Aug 7th 2006 2:43PM]

Um, if you go to the Apple store and configure a 2 Ghz machine with a 160 gig HDD, you can get the price down to $2124.

So that's the "base" model price.

All in all, I was unimpressed with Apple this time: you never bad mouth your competitors; no matter who they are. It's low class. Just low class. I expected more from them.

And to slag M$ for 'copying'? Funny, last time I checked, Spaces was a rip off of many virtual desktop programs and Dashboard was a rip of of Konfabulator...

et tu, Brute?

[Joe @ Aug 7th 2006 2:52PM]

Why can't Apple release a reasonably priced tower for people who don't want / can't afford to spend $2500 just to run OS X?

Outside of these Mac Pro's, all they have are all-in-one or miniature solutions based on notebook platforms. If they really want more market share, they could release a $1000 tower with near the specs that companies like Dell have at the price. I'd buy one.

[Simon @ Aug 7th 2006 2:56PM]

UK customers are still getting ripped off!

US customers pay $2750 including a rough 10% sales tax
UK customers pay $3244 (£1699 - including VAT, using today’s exchange rate)

$500 difference!

And as for the fact that Mac Minis are still using Solo processors - don’t even get me started on that one…

[Rick @ Aug 7th 2006 2:57PM]

Front Row is missing from this machine. Maybe it will be included in the "new displays" coming soon.

[CharlieX @ Aug 7th 2006 2:58PM]

bla bla.... 12 bit 4:4:4 HD render times are cut in half... but will it run Doom?

[poitch @ Aug 7th 2006 2:59PM]

I agree with Richard, bad mouth over competition is really low class, especially when you do copy things yourself (dashboard, virtual desktops and webclip among others)

[StooMonster @ Aug 7th 2006 3:06PM]

I want to be able to use any PCIe video card from nVidia or ATi in MacPro, can I do this or will I have to stick to special 'Apple version' of these cards -- as with PowerPC architecture.

[shon @ Aug 7th 2006 3:07PM]

well that was a bit disappointing. Hey, im all for the power cheesegrater (i love mine) but seriously, its just kinda,.. eh. I dont even want one, but the new nano wouldve been at least cool.

[GTgadget @ Aug 7th 2006 3:10PM]

I swear that's a headline that will take me awhile to become acclamated to. I still caught myself doing a double take. A Dual Xeon Mac...so funny/bizarre.

[jk @ Aug 7th 2006 3:18PM]

Apple's hardly gunning for the gamer market with these machines, so I don't see how the video card makes much of a difference. As long as it can handle large displays and is fast enough to deal with Apple's UI eye candy, it's almost certainly enough for the targeted user base.

I think Apple understands very well that the hard core gamer base either buys Alienware/Voodoo boxes, builds their own machines, or plays on PS2/Xbox. In any case, most of those folks are tied to Windows anyway. The only gamer crowd that I'd bet Apple is interested in is are the casual gamers. While you can run Windows on these machines, they're not intended for gamers.

[goner @ Aug 7th 2006 3:25PM]

I understand Mac's approach on average video cards.

Video cards are usually the most under appricated item to average customers, people usually don't understand why they have to fork out another 300 bucks for a killer card which they can't fully
utilize it at the first place (what they need is a decent card with a good amount of ram in it). So I agree on there approach and the 7300GT isn't that bad at all.

High end video cards are for pro gamers and Quadros are for 3D programmers.. so if you are neither of the two then don't bother to upgrade the card..

another reason for them to go for the 7300GT may deal to it uses a passive heatsink..

[Kenban @ Aug 7th 2006 3:28PM]

If you can purchase the machine from the education store it can be had for as little as $1,962 + tax if you only go with the 2.0 Ghz processors and the 160 GB HD. Base system is $2,299 in the Education store.

[Josh @ Aug 7th 2006 4:10PM]

JK, many pro apps use the video card, so rendering speeds are affected by the performance of the video card.

[tf @ Aug 7th 2006 5:00PM]

"JK, many pro apps use the video card, so rendering speeds are affected by the performance of the video card."

And if you are using "pro" apps for "pro" purposes, you can afford to pay for an upgrade.

$2500-$3000 means nothing to even a half decent (and by that I mean commercially successful/viable but not good) graphic designer... Nevermind Video production or any other graphic intensive pro use.

[jake @ Aug 8th 2006 10:22AM]

Yeah, I have to agree that the video card is a non-issue for many. A lot of people use Macs for audio production, myself included; I would much rather invest money in RAM and storage, than be forced to pay for an uneeded video card. Give my support for high res, and I'm happy.

[Eric @ Aug 8th 2006 11:10AM]

Put the Quatro card in the Mac Pro and the price is about the same as the Dell. And you get OS X. What a deal!

As for who needs fast graphic cards, I do. Aperture on a Quad G5 Mac and the middle-level graphics card is fast. Put the X800 XT in my dual 2Ghz G5 at home and Aperture flies. But stick the basic card in and Aperture becomes unusable.

I believe there are four upgrade options for graphics cards. So you Mac owner wannabes, get over yourselves and get outside Steve Ballmer's RDF. It's 10X worse than Jobs's RDF. :-P

[Tuke Jai @ Aug 8th 2006 1:13PM]

It's useful and necessary for Apple to give a base price. They can't just put 'it depends' as the list price.
But maybe along with the base price, they could list a few 'example configurations' with their corresponding price. Aka- give their recommendations for a 'gamer setup', a 'web designer', 'bioinformatics', or 'expensive free-cell generator' set-up. It could prevent people from getting caught up in what vid card (or whatever) is placed in the base-line product and would let people quickly see what system they could create for their money.

[PHIL @ Aug 8th 2006 4:17PM]

Who is REALLY doing "gaming" on a mac anyway? I mean... I run a Nintendo Emulator on my mac and it runs fine! Mike Tyson's Punch Out has never run smoother.

[Sallomon @ Sep 7th 2006 12:49AM]

...i don't know but all I can say is that I'll get me one with 3Ghz of raw power in it, i'll worry about the easy-to-install kaka later such as a better card, i'll be broke by then anyways... (grr)

[MarginalDeer @ Aug 9th 2006 2:57PM]

Well, finally a taste of both worlds. Curious to see how vista rates this beast. Gaming with Windows when needed, and of course the amazing OS X for everything else. Still dissapointed by the graphics, but let's hope theres an SLI or Crossfire MacPro coming.

[anominas @ Aug 9th 2006 9:17PM]

if the video card is bad in the mac pro then check out the one in the MacBook. then complain about that

(the base card is better than the one in my new dell.

(it was the non intel graphic config

[Zc @ Aug 11th 2006 2:15PM]

If you people are so concerned about how bad the video card is, then install Mac OS X on your own "gaming PC." Thing is Intel right? Yesh.

[liquidmark @ Aug 11th 2006 4:20PM]

@ David

"so it may not play the latest and greatest games..."

Um, My iMac plays games very well overall. That's in OSX AND Windows.

I find it very hard to believe that theMac Pro wouldn't be suitable for gameplay.

Tho, I feel that ANYONE that spends more than $4-500, just to play a game, Is a fool.

I use my machine for work, mostly, and the ocassional game or two.

[Sam Samaha @ Aug 13th 2006 3:56PM]

Well, Just ordered a 3.0 machine fully loaded with 4GB and 4 drives, the ATI X1900, and bluetooth.. price was stratosphereic, but it's the future of Apple, and I'm in for the long haul..

now to find a home for my Dual 2.5 G5.. Amazing how fast things move in the world of computing. It seems like yesterday I just spent $5000 on that system!

[hvyhytr @ Aug 24th 2006 12:41PM]

As per Apple's long history, you ended up with less than the best options available. Compare your hardware options to what you can purchase from any typical PC vendor. Now that the available hardware is identical the only thing Mac fans really have is their great OS and a pretty face (oh, case).

The best computing day will be when OSX can be run on a PC.

[Tom @ Sep 21st 2006 9:03PM]

how odd, an intel chipset wich supports crossfire when built into a nobrand box or a dell doesn't support crossfire when built into an apple.