Apple revs up the Mac Pro
Apple has updated their other computer lines recently, and has now added some additional oomph to the Mac Pro desktop line, with faster base level processors, plus more storage.
This is the first update to the Mac Pro line since March of this year. The Mac Pro is the most robust and powerful of all Mac computers and is used primarily by graphic designers and video editors. Those applications really suck up system resources, and the Mac Pro lineup has a lot of resources to suck up. Apple users now have the option of a 3.33 GHz Intel Xeon processor on the single processor model for an additional $1,200. The base configuration uses a 2.66 GHz quad-core Xeon. There was no change to the two-processor model, according to an Information Week story.
Apple also increased the amount of disk storage that was available in the Pro lineup. Previously, the Pro series used one to four one TB drives. With this change, the older one TB drive has been replaced with a two TB unit, so with all four internal drive bays full, the Pro will have a maximum of eight TB instead of four. These larger drive are also now used in the Apple Xserve, which increases capacity in that server model to 6 TB if all three drive bays are used.
The base configuration of the new single-processor Mac Pro system uses a 2.66 GHz quad-core Xeon, three GB of system memory, a 640 GB HDD, a Nvidia GeForce GT 120 graphics card and one 18x SuperDrive for burning and playing CDs and DVDs. The system costs $2,499. The basic configuration of the dual-processor model uses the same components as the single-chip model, with the exception of two 2.26 GHz quad-core Xeons and 6 GB of memory. That system costs $3,299.
The Mac Pro line is really heavy-duty hardware, suited for some really heavy lifting. Prices are commensurate with that power. Without trying very hard, it is possible to boost the price of the dual-processor Mac Pro to over $16,000 by filling up all the memory slots and drive bays, plus adding a RAID card and the top level graphcs processing. That is a serious price for a really serious computer.
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