Mac pro Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Mac Pro server config added to product lineup

by Dave Caolo (Nov 5th, 2010)

Shortly after announcing the end of the Xserve, Apple has added Mac Pro server configuration in its place. The new machine features a single 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Xeon 'Nehalem' processor, 8GB (4 x 2GB) of DDR3 ECC SDRAM, a pair of 1TB (7200RPM) hard drives, one 18x SuperDrive and ATI's Radeon HD ...

LaCie offers USB 3.0 to Mac users

by Dave Caolo (Nov 4th, 2010)

Cupertino may not be ready to offer us USB 3.0 quite yet, but LaCie is. The company has announced the availability of both the USB 3.0 PCI Express Card and the USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34 with Mac compatibility. To get things working, just install the free driver and pop in your card of choice. You'll ...

Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.5 released

by Michael Grothaus (Oct 28th, 2010)

Apple has released EFI Firmware Update 1.5 for the Mac Pro. The update is recommended for all Mac Pro (Mid 2010) models and addresses an issue that prevented the firmware password prompt from being displayed as well as another issue that prevented the Boot Picker from being presented if Ethernet is ...

Found Footage: The $900 'Mac Pro' in a cardboard box

by Steven Sande (Oct 5th, 2010)

Plato said, "Necessity is the mother of all inventions." He must have been talking about the guys at One Block Off the Grid, which is a cooperative of sorts for buying photovoltaic solar panels at a group discount. One of their staff members was running into issues trying to run Adobe After ...

Overclocked, liquid-cooled Mac Pro trades noise for speed

by Keith M (Aug 27th, 2010)

I wonder if it's only a matter of time before Apple decides to go to a liquid-cooled solution rather than keeping with bigger and faster fans. In any case, one technically adept person over at Asetek didn't want to wait for that day. He went about not only water cooling an older 8-core Mac Pro, but ...

Talkcast reminder: 10pm ET, new gear and new month

by Michael Rose (Aug 1st, 2010)

It's the first of August -- already? -- and we're back live tonight on Talkshoe, so call in and chat with us about the biggest Apple stories of the past week. On the docket this evening, we'll be talking about what iPad owners (and the iPad's detractors) are like, the revised iMacs and Mac Pro, ...

Mac Pro refresh bumps up the high end: these go to 12 cores

by Michael Rose (Jul 27th, 2010)

Processor BTO options range from four cores up to the aforementioned 16; the full matrix includes "Westmere" Xeon X5670 chops running at up to 3.33GHz on the single-chip machine and 2.93GHz on the dual-processor model. Only the dual-processor model can achieve dodecacore status. Mac Pros now offer ...

Apple warning retailers of short-term iMac shortages -- new models in the pipeline?

by Steven Sande (Jul 23rd, 2010)

Several sources are reporting that Apple is notifying direct and indirect sales channels of upcoming shortages of stock for the iMac. It appears that Apple is drawing down inventory in anticipation of the introduction of new models of the popular desktop machines. According to AppleInsider, a ...

Winscape: Apple-powered fake windows

by Mike Schramm (Apr 16th, 2010)

Just in time for the weekend, here's a technology that's arrived before its time, I think. Winscape is a set of two plasma televisions set up behind window panes, and hooked up to a Mac Pro. The Pro is running the custom Winscape software, which controls the "view" out of the windows according to a ...

27-inch Cinema Display, 12-core Mac Pro by June

by Michael Grothaus (Mar 19th, 2010)

AppleInsider is reporting that Apple is preparing to launch a 27-inch Cinema Display and 12-core Mac Pro by June. The 27-inch Cinema Display is rumored to use the same panel as the one used in the 27-inch iMac and will look similar to the 24-inch Cinema Display launched in October 2008. ...

Apple about to drop new hardware, raise prices?

by Michael Grothaus (Mar 17th, 2010)

Update: MacRumors now points out that the higher prices are likely an inadvertent rollback to older graphics, as they match up with the original pricing for those machines when they were introduced. Engadget has also pointed out some similar inconsistencies on the Apple Australia and NZ sites, ...

Apple tops Consumer Reports' tech support survey, second place not even close

by Dave Caolo (Mar 11th, 2010)

On Wednesday, Consumer Reports published the results of its latest tech support survey. Apple was on top for both laptops and desktops, well ahead of the company in second place. Consumer Reports asked 7,000 subscribers about their satisfaction with their computer companies across categories like ...

Mac Pro 'hexacore' Xeon Core i7 debuts Tuesday?

by Michael Grothaus (Mar 11th, 2010)

ZDNet is reporting that the next iteration of the Mac Pro will be unveiled next Tuesday, March 16th. Their sources indicate that Intel's new 'hexacore' Core i7-980x chip, which is also expected to be launched next Tuesday, will be in that machine. Code-named "Gulftown" the 32nm, six-core i7-980X ...

Mac Pro users reporting performance hit linked to audio use

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Feb 3rd, 2010)

Nehalem-based Mac Pro users are reporting in Apple's discussion forums and other locations that some audio tasks are causing performance issues. There is up to a 20% drop in performance while doing tasks as simple as listening to music in iTunes. Other users are saying there are similar issues when ...

Rumor: Mac Pro Intel 6-core i7 this month

by Dave Caolo (Feb 2nd, 2010)

Apple's top-of-the-line Mac Pro hasn't been updated since the Quad-Core model received support for 16GB RAM in September of '09. The last major revision introduced the Nehalem Xeon 3500 Processor last March. Today, HardMac is reporting that the Core i7-980X and Core i7-970 processors could ...