Apple announces Nehalem-based Mac Pro
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:38AM
posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:38AM
Mac Pro, $2,499:
- one 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500 series processor with 8MB of L3 cache;
- 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 8GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;
- 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm
- 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);
- four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
- five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
- Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
- ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.
Mac Pro, $3,299:
- two 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors with 8MB of shared L3 cache;
- 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;
- 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm
- 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);
- four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
- five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
- Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
- ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.
New mac mini and imacs as well. Nvidia 9400 in mac mini and low end imacs and gt130 in high end imacs.
Wow, Nice casing design. I love it.
I'd buy that system, remove all Apple crapware .. and run Win7 on it.
...damn, i can get a system with exact specs for half the price they are charging for this one ... but well, apple has to maintain its 50% profit per item-sale moto.... lotsa fools will be buying this bullshit.
@AbbasJin: [citation needed]
maybe you should show us the exact same system elsewhere cheaper! oh you cant? whoops guess you look stupid now.
Two part post because I can only post three URL's.
Check it out:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117155 - 289.99 Quad Xeon
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131321 - 399.99 Mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148243 - 67.99 Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136298 - 69.99 HD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130383 - 79.99 Video Card
Total: 907.95
If you really need BT on your desktop for some unknown reason:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833242003 - 29.99
Unfortunately Apple is the only one with an LGA 775 socket motherboard that has four PCI express x16 2.0 slots, everyone else has moved on to Core i7. Here's something else funny, the GT 120 is actually the 9500 GT, it is NOT a part of the latest series from Nvidia.
Yes, I know I'm missing case, power supply, and a combo dvd drive, but would that really add ~$1600 to the price?
@Dubb.. that is the Kentsfield processor.. i dont think thats the one they are using
Sorry for jacking the thread, but I just had to..
The dual-CPU Mac Pro with solely the 2.66Ghz (not the top) upgrade (1 750GB HDD, 6GB RAM, shitty video card) brings the price to **** $5100 ****
@ Dubb, Nice research, but you forgot a few things aside from the case, dvd drive, and power supply.
Like the OS (Vista Ultimate I guess since it's available now).
But still a decent comparison on parts.
So everyone but HP now offer i7 computers?
What's that all about?
Should I buy this?
If you have to ask...
Build your own.
As Xeon have the same speed as normal i7 cpu now, if you buy a Quad you are throwing 1600$ by the window. The only advantage of Xeon is you can get 8 cpu.
Make yourself a favor, get a 899$ studio XPS quad 2.66ghz i7 with 3gb or RAM and a nice HD 3450 card... it will work just as well and you will save tons of money.
If you need 8 cores, you must do 3D applications because Adobe apps will not use them. Even After Effects choke on memory after using more than 4 cores... you'll need like 16gb of RAM for run the 8 cores. 3D apps on the other hand have no problem with that.
I am in 3D and 2D animation business... the Studio XPS is the best deal right now.
Thanks for that advice
It only supports 8GB or RAM. What a joke.
The low end version only supports 8gb. The high end version supports 32gb.
Hm?
I see 32gb as the max.
The information is wrong. :)
$2,500 base and I only get 512 mb of RAM? what?
... 521 is the videocard memory.
You get 3GB at first.
I thought DDR memory had to be paired up in order to use its dual channel capabilities. How did they pair up 3GB ?
The memory controller in the nehalem chips run in triple Channel mode instead of dual channel like the old motherboard based controllers. To run at full speed, you need three sticks, which I am guessing are 1 gig each in this case. Because of this, i7 boards have six DIMM slots instead of the usual 4.
Say it out loud, "Two thousand five hundred dollars." People will buy it for that price? Good thing they sell mp3 players and phones because they sure as hell can't sell a computer.
This isn't just for surfing the net & playing games. That is what your homebuilt PCs are for. Just like you wouldn't get a Mack truck as a daily driver. These are for getting work done, producing. These are for places that will make far more money using this computer than it costs.
Fortunately, I work for one of those places & they will not even question it when a workstation's total cost is over 7 grand when all is factored it, be it Mac or PC.
Why? Because it gets a job done. The OS and the hardware combo enables a work flow for me that could not be matched by a Windows based system - ever.
They will sell many, don't you worry - just not to you.
@Skeezle
Deluded much?
Skeezle, A mid-ranged gaming pc with a quad would be equivalent to the best Apple has to offer and far less cheaper!
Skeezle said "That is what your homebuilt PCs are for. Just like you wouldn't get a Mack truck as a daily driver. These are for getting work done, producing."
You, sir, are an idiot.
I build PCs for myself (video-edit business) and other businesses who need them for "getting work done, producing."
I just built a brand new system for my primary edit bay. Slightly less powerful than the top-end model listed here, much more than the low-end, and guess how much I paid? $1500.
I edit high-def video on this Vista workstation. With 12GB DDR3 RAM, After Effects flies.
You can keep up the elitist attitude that Macs are necessary for "getting work done, producing." I'm able to do these things while paying considerably less.
Funny, I have one sitting under my desk right now that was in the $4000 range.
@jpw;
You build your own PCs, I am so incredibly impressed! You must be a friggin' genius! How on earth did you ever figure out how to do that! Must have been years & years of extremely technical schooling! I bet you are rolling in the dough, especially since you can charge so little for a high end workstation!
I hope you build at least a dozen of those a week to say afloat in these hard times.
I had a hobby once too...
The above comment falls within the lines of what one does when they have no real counter argument: pick one facet of discussion hardly pertaining to original subject matter, go off on it and throw in some juvenile insults.
You should change your name to Sheeple. Seems more fitting.
@jpw21683
Just as a matter of interest, have you benchmarked your computers against the new Mac Pro? If not then I am confused as to how you can make statements like you are. The same largely goes for Skeezle as well but I'm more willing to bet that a Xeon-based Mac Pro will smack most other systems around, such as your "knocked up in my shed" system.
Skeezle, you are offensive to intelligence.
So I can be unjustly told I am an idiot for stating facts - yet when I get sarcastic back at the same person, I am offensive?
A 'gaming rig' or any hobbyist system running Windows would be useless for my job.
Key word in that sentence; 'job'
It's funny what you consider to be "facts".
Why would it be useless for your "job"? Because it's specifications are much better (hah)?
Or OSX magically runs the same apps better?
@jpw21683
Yes, home built, will almost always beat retail in price. However, you're forgetting that not everyone has the Time or the technical expertise, or even Inclination to build themselves a machine. And thats why Apple, hp, Dell, Acer, et al. are still in business.
@superhobo
Because Windows is cumbersome to my work flow. Yes, in my "job" things run MUCH better with OS X.
You sure spend a lot of time commenting on Apple stuff for someone who is so opposed to it. Can't you get attention elsewhere?
Alt+Tab and the Taskbar must be really tough concepts to understand. Damn.
Sure must be nice to have screenshots flying all over the place to see your open windows instead of having them easily selectable from one place.
What exactly is "cumbersome" about Windows?
Right click? (which Apple then marketed as an innovation)
I consider it my duty to fight stupidity wherever I see it, which is why I'm here.
Is that in addition to your duties of mopping floors & changing the trash?
Why would you change trash?
I'm bored of my rotten banana trash today, let's change it for scrunched up paper.
Skeezle; don't be so pretentious. The main point is that the business you work for has an over abundance of money and can afford to spend a premium for a PC which should cost less.
I have little sympathy for media companies who say they are drastically effected by piracy when they hurt themselves through exorbitant spending.
@jhaks
Thank goodness someone said it...
For some reason whenever i see used macs sold it's usually a going-out-of-business auction of some graphics or media company. This pricing might be one reason for it.
No, in addition to fighting elitism, snobbery, smugness and other symptoms of Mactardation.
And people like you who try to justify squandering away thousands of dollars on a whim.
The real reason why this machine costs so much - the hardware, sliding RAM slots and high quality case, and R&D - is wasted on the people who actually use it for playing with Photoshop and Final Cut.
PS: Do you change trash? I usually just throw it away.
New Airport extreme..With dual band option
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MB763?mco=MTE2NzI
Love how engadget get it wrong and blame it on everybody else.
They can't spot simple Typos apparently too:
The new systenms feature either a single core 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500
So thats a single core quad core eh?
I would venture a guess they mean Single CPU 2.66 or even Single Processor 2.66
But... but... it's SHINY!!! ooOOooOOoo
*bazookabarf*
OMG what a piece of CRAP!. It looks like Apple has done it again. Managed to build another outdated,underpowered machine with a huge price tag.Sure the Nehalem is a descent processor but why cripple it with Only 3GB memory and a 512Mb Nvidia gt120.For those who don't know the Nvidia gt120 is a re-branded Geforce 8600gt. You can currently buy a 1GB 8600gt for ~$50.00. I won't even get into the 640GB hard drive. This is a joke and a complete waste of money but, then again it is targeting Apple fanboys.
How much RAM does it need?
At least 4 gb starting out I'd say would make more sense.
I couldn't agree more - I was looking to buy one of these, but this is outrageous. Only 8GB supported and the GT120 which is the re branded 8600GT? Apple, you just lost a potential sale.
No, it's targeting high-end graphic design/video/photo houses and academia. The fan-boy market is actually quite tiny, despite the fact that they upset you so.
i7's are Triple Channel CPUs. For the best performance, they need all three channels filled, just like dual channels need both channels filled for maximum performance. So, not 4GB, but 6-12GB.
We seem to have a lot of "selective readers" here.
You can upgrade the graphics on either machine to the ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB for $200.
The low end is maxed at 8GB RAM, the Hight at 32GB RAM.
And BTW xdurus, The Mac pro is a badass machine. I have the 2x 3.2 quad core xeon model (previously hight end as of today).
I can have PS CS4, lightroom, capture one pro, bridge, safari, mail, all multitasking/processing without a hiccup. And I "only" have 6GB RAM.
@eric f."We seem to have a lot of "selective readers" here.
You can upgrade the graphics on either machine to the ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB for $200."
You've got to be joking. You are talking about buying a new system for $2,000+ then upgrading it to be comparable with a system that still isn't worth $2,000+
200 for an UPGRADE to a 4870? No thank you. You can get brand new ones much cheaper than that
xdurus - obviously your definition of "worth" needs some tweaking. Have you seen how the logic board and RAM slots just sort of slide out? Does your PC do that? Here's a hint for those of you that are especially dense: R&D is not free. Aluminum is not free, custom logic boards, cases and everything Apple designs is not free. You may not care that there are dozens and dozens of sensors that can tell you every tiny little thing about every single component in a Mac Pro, but they're in there anyway - and they're not free.
Furthermore, Mac Pros are not gaming machines, and gaming seems to be the only benchmark you dim-witted mouth breathers are able to use. Mac Pros are WORKSTATIONS. They are optimized for the fastest possible I/O using Intel's latest technology. People actually use them for work, not gaming. You think they have 8MB of L3 cache per processor for gaming? You think they run completely silently for gaming?
Exactly how far up your colon is your head right now?
"Furthermore, Mac Pros are not gaming machines, and gaming seems to be the only benchmark you dim-witted mouth breathers are able to use. Mac Pros are WORKSTATIONS. "
They certainly seem to be leaning that way, yet for some reason they feature low end consumer gamaing graphics cards rather than proper workstation cards (e.g. Quadros).
Why are there so many non-Apple dickwads on this forum. Who the hell doesn't know that you can build a slap-it-together PC for pennies on a dollar. A person could hand-build a sports car that could out-handle a Porsche Boxster for one-quarter the price. Who really gives a crap? I'd still want the Porsche Boxster. You buy what you like. Most businesses do not buy hand-assembled PCs. They buy something that they can get serviced on a contract. Most people cannot deal with hand-built PCs. Unless you're good at trouble-shooting, they can be a pain to service.
I know for a fact that if I built a PC with hand-picked parts I could build something less expensive that would certainly match benchmarks with Apple's best Mac Pro as long as I could acquire the same processors, but I couldn't vouch for it's reliability. Get a clue. Most computer users in this world do not build their own computers. As simple as it is to build an excellent computer around a decent motherboard and power supply.
I can very easily hand-build a PC out of parts with the best parts I can afford. It isn't that difficult. Apple doesn't even offer dual linking graphic cards nor can processors be overclocked easily. But I don't really care about all that stuff. I'd just want a reliable machine that if it needed repairs, I'd use AppleCare. A Mac Pro would last years longer than necessary, and most of my Macs are still running well after five years. Anyway I'm not going to be using it to play games.
It's just a personal preference to own a product. It's as simple as that. You're not being suckered if you know what you're buying and the reasons why you're buying it. This Mac Pro is not perfect, but it's as good as it gets for me. I want something that's relatively powerful and I can sit it in the corner and it just runs unattended for a year or two. The Mac Pro can do this.
Even though a gamer might consider a Mac Pro underwhelming it's still probably in the top 2% of all the world's desktop computers for outright computing power.
Zak, fastest possible I/O???
One 640gb 7200rpm drive in a $2500 machine???? ROFL
@ iphonerulez
Of all cars to compare you pick the poor mans porsche. In case you didnt know, Boxsters are lame.
two 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors, I think my face just melted.
I'm a little confused as to why they dropped octo-core in the base model. Sure the Nehalem is faster but won't those extra cores really come in handy when SL hits? I've been waiting for a MP refresh but maybe I'll pick up a clearance 8 core...
Because the octo is over $3K. That's a lousy base price.
Do NOT buy the older machine now. FB-DIMMs are dead. If you do buy an older machine, buy all the RAM you will EVER need up front, because FB-DIMMs will be very expensive in no time due to low demand.
The new systems feature either a single core 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500
Oh my, this site gets worse and worse.
...Yeah, this is underwhelming.
You hate Apple and everything they do, so any announcement would be "underwhelming" to you. Congrats on being indifferent towards something you didn't like in the first place.
Actually, I find my octocore/16GB RAM Mac Pro at work to be amazing, especially for the price it went for last summer. It truly does deserve the consideration of being Apple's flagship computer despite the really tired G5 design.
This new Apple "flagship"? Yawn.
@ Zak
Yeah, there seems to be a lot of that going on here, doesn't it? Kinda reads like an inferiority complex.
Am I the only one wondering what a 'single core 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500' is?
Great wording on that one.
Then better yet...
'a dual 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500' - If its 'a' that means one... how could it be dual?
Try getting everything straight before the post. You wont get cool guy brownie points from any readers by being the first ones with the infoz up.
Wow, you would think that you can't just throw more RAM in there... At least OS X can handle more than 4gb without having to buy a 64bit version. Just try and build this for less money...
More specifically, the system does 64 bits out of the box, no need to buy a *separate* version.
One OS version to rule them all. =]
Uh... you do realise that with Vista you have the choice of 32 or 64 bit and that it's a free swap?
Obviously not.
Oh, and the GT120 is just a renamed 9600GT. Ouch.
Renamed 9500GT.
EPIC FAIL
just got a comp, i7 920 (basically same chip as "xeon 3500" which really should be 5550), 6gb tri channel, raid, hd4850 (because it was cheaper than gtx280), AND a 24" 1080p monitor for 1500, and the closest mac pro (2.66gh single chip, 6gb single channel ram, hd4870, no raid, no monitor) was 2900...
Why can't apple learn from their mistakes and make a mac, not a mac pro, not an imac, just a mac...
Yeah but, Is it shiny?
Congratulations on underlining the points that anyone in comments with half a brain has made. You could build a PC for less. Congrats. I could do my own dry cleaning, electrical installations and interior design if I wanted. I value my time more, so I use a smoking fast machine that boots fast, blazes through design and animation suites and doesn't hang, bluescreen, or otherwise shit itself periodically. Maybe I'll take all that time I don't have to spend with my mutt PC and learn something useful.
one of the best things related to gadgets i've ever seen
The reason the $2499 Mac Pro only supports 8GB of ram is because when you have a single processor in dual processor system 1/2 the dimms go away.
The Mac Pro has 8 dimms, 4 per processor. You remove 1 processor then you only have access to 4 dimms.
why though, my single chip i7 handles 6 dimms in trichannel, so two chips should mean 12banks (with 4gb sticks that means 48gb rather than just 32)
Most of you guys are pretty stupid. All of you who bash apple need to get your facts straight. Like iNNeR_KaoS said to get the best performance you need triple channels not 4, thats the way it was made so don't blame apple for something they didn't make.
No this is Apple's fault. They have sacrificed full tri channel (9/6/12/18) memory slots for aesthetics.
Yeah but triple channel is only marginally faster than dual channel.
From an application, real-world standpoint, you'd be better off with 4GB Dual Channel than 3GB Triple Channel.
Except of course if all you run is a memory subsystem benchmark.
Anyway, Apple is being bashed because of the pricetags on these boxens. Granted, you get Xeons and ECC memory and these don't come in cheap. But looking at this from the PC side of the fence, it's just ridiculous.
I mean, I upgraded my comp in December : got me an i7 920 / 6GB DDR3 / 4870HD 1GB + an MTRON 3500 SSD, for significantly less than the entry level mac pro. Even if you'd factor in all the components I didn't change, you'd still get more performance for (way) less.
Did anyone else notice how they limited the PCIE Bus again? We're back to 1 x16 slot just like the original model. Oh and no heat spreaders on the RAM.
The first one is priced ridiculously high, and I know, I know "mactax lawl," but for such a big, burly desktop, it should be priced lower for the relative lack of power.
Both are priced high, the $3,299 Mac Pro is using two $375 processors, you used to get two $800 processors in a $2,799 machine.
not even a Quadro offering, Apple just lost another sale.
Isnt that the whole point of being 'graphics oriented?' The graphics card options are pathetic on this.. just goes to show that the whole 'macs better for graphics' is an outdated myth.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Why make a Xeon based workstation with ECC RAM and then put a low level consumer desktop graphics card in there??
yeah I think it's more the workflow that makes macs better at gfx, but I'm in the 3D business and without a Quadro I'm ordering another workstation in which I can put my own gfx card. It's pathetic that a workstation's gfx aren't user upgradable, I thought the Mac Pro was praised for it's upgradability, but it's the gfx card that usually needs the first upgrade.
These are video compressing monsters.
Unfortunately, many of the best encoders are on Windows.
(Don't kill me, I love Mac OS... but I love Windows too!)
What a joke!
I have the previous generation low end model and it cost me $2299. It had a 2.8GHz processor and support up to 32GB of RAM. It had all of the specs the high end model has. With the 8800GT upgrade I still came at the $2499 (I think but maybe less). The new model costs $200 more with a slower clock speed processor, only 8GB of RAM support, and a slower video card if you compare the $2499 pricepoint.
Except for maybe a Mac mini in a few years, that was the last Mac I purchased. If these new nettops can do HD video and make a nice HTPC, I may not even need the mini.
I'll go back to building my PC's. It doesn't hurt Windows finally had a worthy sucessor to XP.
The specs for PCI slots are for open slots. Since one x16 slot is taken up by the video card, it isn't listed in the open slot specs. Dumb and confusing to market that way I know, but trust me, it really has two x16 slots.
That picture is the old model Mac Pro