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New Mac Pros and Xserve

by Christina Warren Jan 8th 2008 at 9:20AM

Well, as Nik posted a bit earlier this morning, the Apple Store is indeed down worldwide. As commenters in that post noted, Apple has updated the Mac Pro line before major trade shows before, and as commenter John pointed out, Apple has just updated the front page of Apple.com announcing upgrades to the Mac Pro and Xserve line. I think it's a pretty safe bet that these machines will be available as soon as the Apple Store comes back online.

So what are the specs? For the Mac Pro the machines are now 8-core standard (!) running up to 3.2 Ghz each (and this is on the new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon). "Fastest Mac ever" is a phrase bandied around a lot -- but in this case, it's absolutely true.

From the press release, the basic configuration ($2799 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.
Full CTO options are detailed in the press release linked above.

As for the Xserve, it now includes built-in accelerated graphics to drive up to a 23" Cinema Display and front facing USB 2.0 ports. It is also taking advantage of the new Intel 45 nanometer core technology.

The basic configuration ($2999 US) includes:
  • a single 64-bit 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Xeon processor with 12MB of L2 cache and a 1600 Mhz front side bus;
  • 2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM RAM, expandable up to 32GB;
  • a single 80GB SATA Apple Drive Module;
  • dual Gigabit Ethernet on-board;
  • internal graphics;
  • two FireWire® 800 and three USB 2.0 ports; and
  • an unlimited client license for Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard.
The unlimited client license for Leopard OS X Server is pretty fantastic, as are the power and cooling specs. Full configuration details can be found in the press release here.

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Well, as Nik posted a bit earlier this morning, the Apple Store is indeed down worldwide. As commenters in that post noted, Apple has...
 

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Liquidmark

God, everyone is complaining about the GT... But DANG! It's only a $200 upgrade option!

I'd love to get one.

January 12 2008 at 11:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
James

Hey Works for me, I was Happy to see the price drop, but it is still high, compared to US price, and the stuff come from the same place, so why Apple Canada so much more! instead of the exact same, since thats about the dollar now.

January 08 2008 at 10:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Daley

Base models of both are $100 cheaper in Canada... finally Apple is listening.

January 08 2008 at 7:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Daley's comment
Mike I

Listening to America's economy which sits under our dictator, psychopath president.

January 08 2008 at 9:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
xaqtly

Why all the complaining? Are people seriously comparing these Mac Pros to iMacs and saying the Mac Pros are too expensive? Did you not catch the part about the Mac Pros having 4x the processing power of the iMacs? Or do you think something like that should be free?

January 08 2008 at 3:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
freakscene

What I want to know is, where are the new displays? My Mitsu is about to die, and I'm still stuck with choosing these outdated Cinema HDs?? C'mon Apple, step up your game.

January 08 2008 at 3:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
James

comparing time and money from now to the futer like you are with the Pc offices costing more is fair. BUT

Its all about what we have to dis out upfont. This is a very high price, Apple HIKED the price up $100 for Canadians. What about doing something about our Dollar being better that the US right now, why do we still have to pay more, for the same product made in the same place in China.

We all know we get what we pay for, but if you read books like, The Tiping Point, Long Tail, Blink, we want better for cheaper and smaller.

January 08 2008 at 2:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
parsnip_lee

Peter, max price is far from $4300...I got one up to 24k+. The most basic model is $2200, thats not a bad price considering the gains in productivity and lack of maintenance downtime that you would have to deal with in a PC-based office.

January 08 2008 at 1:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Peter Payne

Hm, same case, no new features, $4300 max price (ack!). Sorry, I'll sit this generation out. GIVE US A MINI TOWER, APPLE! I've got 8 employees to buy Macs for and I cannot buy them these expensive friggin' towers. Ain't gonna happen.

January 08 2008 at 1:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Peter Payne's comment
Mike I

A mini tower ain't gonna happen. Just how you can't afford this computer, Apple can't afford the losses that will occur with a mini tower. It's business as usual. :)

January 08 2008 at 9:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ball

If you're going to pay that much for a machine, it really should be more capable of doing whatever you want it to, and the ATI chipset definitely gets in the way.

January 08 2008 at 12:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Todd Bradley

It's about freakin' time.

January 08 2008 at 12:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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