New Intel Xeon processors due March 29: Could new Mac Pro be far behind?

MacRumors.com's Arnold Kim writes that a few of the participants in his website's forum are eagerly awaiting the arrival on March 29 of a new Nehalem-based Intel Xeon processor -- suitable for use in the fastest Mac Pro desktops.

What do these new chips bring to the table? Raw power: TechRadar found that 2.8GHz Nehalem Xeon processors scored a SPECfp benchmark of 160, compared to the current Penryn-based Xeon processors that scored just 90.

Kim makes a good point -- part of the reason we haven't seen much movement lately in the Mac Pro line is because of the popularity of Apple's notebook lines: something Apple admitted in its first-quarter conference call on January 21. What that means for the final release date of any new Mac Pro models is anyone's guess.

Once the processors are available for sale, anecdotal evidence would suggest it's just a matter of time before Apple includes them in new Mac Pro models. That's not a guarantee, though.

Last year, when Apple last updated the Mac Pro line, they offered a single highly-customizable build-to-order option, rather than a range of trim levels.

[Via IGM.]

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Source: http://www.macrumors.com/2009/02/02/mac-pro-suitable-xeon-ne…

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MacRumors.com's Arnold Kim writes that a few of the participants in his website's forum are eagerly awaiting the arrival on March 29 of a...

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Tom

"part of the reason we haven't seen much movement lately in the Mac Pro line is because of the popularity of Apple's notebook lines"

Why would this be part of the reason for the Mac Pro? There haven't been any advances in the CPUs it uses, so Apple has nothing to update. The price on the components also hasn't changed much since the introduction of the last model. About the only thing I could think of to change would be video card selection. But at this point, the ATI 4870 is still MIA, and no word on a new NVidia card that supports EFI and OS X.

February 02 2009 at 5:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

iBearTouch

Mac mini me pleeeasse!

February 02 2009 at 4:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

diotav

I'm currently selling my Mac Pro just to buy a newer version. March would be OK but June (MacWorld) is too far away!

February 02 2009 at 4:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

escowles

I've been waiting for an update to the Mac Pros, too. I've got a 5-year-old PowerMac G5 which is still usable for my purposes, but can't do VMWare. I was hoping for an update at Macworld, but obviously there wasn't one.

I was just about to bite the bullet and buy one now, so I'm glad I saw this!

February 02 2009 at 3:50 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Alex

I'm also waiting on the next refresh of Mac Pros. Ever since I read the early reviews of the i7 processors I knew I wanted the Xeon equivalent in a Mac Pro. I've been holding on to my G5 for far too long.

February 02 2009 at 3:20 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jamus

Economic slowdown or not, Apple has always let themselves get pinched into a corner with the G5/Mac Pro lines. Given the expense of those systems, I always hate to see them lag behind so much.

February 02 2009 at 2:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Jamus's comment

ZorinLynx

You can also argue that these systems don't need updating as often, because people tend to buy them and hang onto them for several years rather than upgrade more often.

My first gen (2006) Mac Pro still feels blisteringly fast and it's going to be 3 years old in August. These are insanely fast machines; they don't need speed bumps every 3 months! ;)

February 02 2009 at 3:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Randy

I'm actually holding out for a Mac Pro refresh and the wait (and apple's silence) is killing me. But on the bright side, I'm watching the price drops on the core i7 motherboards, and will build my next desktop if I don't hear anything substantial soon.

February 02 2009 at 2:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Randy's comment

Carlos

The reason why there hasn't been a new Mac Pro refresh out yet is because I haven't bought one yet. ;)
It seems that every time I buy something, 15 days later it gets refreshed.

February 02 2009 at 9:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply