Apple adds 3.33GHz Xeon, 2TB hard drive options to Mac Pro
By Donald Melanson 
posted December 4th 2009 2:41PM
posted December 4th 2009 2:41PM
We know it can be tough scraping by with a measly 2.93GHz Xeon processor and 1TB hard drives in your Mac Pro, so you'll no doubt be pleased to know that Apple has finally seen fit to add a bit of extra horsepower to its humble little desktop. That includes a new option for a speedy 3.33GHz Xeon processor, which will add a hefty $1,200 to the base price, and a new a 2TB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200rpm hard drive option (also now available on Apple's Xserve server), which is a comparative bargain at just $350 -- though you can, of course, add four of them. Unfortunately, anyone that's thinking about doubling up on those 3.33GHz Xeon processors is still out of luck, as the 8-core rigs still top out at just 2.93Ghz. 
@jon
Sorry mate I meant to say Dell in the post. I was thinking about one post and writing about another. My mistake... Yes DIY is always cheaper than Retail/Etail in parts and possibly labor but service is invaluable when you're talking about support for something you just spend $3K + for... But pure hard ware to hardware without service and support then DIY will always be cheaper... This isn't an Apple issue though, like I've stated it's a Retail vs DIY issue.
@stabbytheicepic
Sure you should be capable of fixing it in theory. I'm not sure what you do for a living but take it from me, in my years of experience, things happen to desktops and servers over time that can sometimes be unexplainable... when that is the case it's nice to be able to yell at an actual company who's obligated by contract to replace your system. It's a lot better than shelling out another $3K+ for a system, wouldn't you agree? Also this is a professional grade workstation.... What company have you ever walked into and saw a bunch of DIY boxes in the server room or the lab area? Any company that has mission critical data would not intrust that data to a DIY box...
@mrt2
It becomes an apple issue when they don't allow you to build a DIY machine. That's where the real argument is. The apple "experience" has become somewhat of a joke since they dropped the powerpc chips.
@stabbytheicepic
Also my theory about you being able to build a box much cheap at Dell, HP, or Alienware is blown? Where's the link? I'd like to see this. Maybe you're on a sub-site of their websites that I'm not seeing...
@stabbytheicepic
Your last statement lacks logic somewhat... No OEM let's you DIY. By mere definition you DO IT YOURSELF. If you're buying it from ANY ready made shop then they are DOINT IT FOR YOU... so I'm not sure I'm following you about your gripe with Apple for them not letting you DIY... Did they pass a law that you can't go to new egg or price watch and buy your own stuff? What am I missing?
@mrt2
You can't buy parts and stick OSX on a home built machine. Unless you go hackintosh.
@stabbytheicepic
You're right about that and that's a fact that can't be argued but this whole conversation was about Apple overpricing compared to DIY which isn't an Apples to Apples comparison no pun intended and my whole point in all these posts was to shed some clarity on the apparent misconception that is Apple is overpriced but when you look at it in perspective to that sector it's actually appropriate pricing. This age long battle that will still go on until the end of time with people saying silly things like 'I can build a computer for less' is just a foolish way of thinking. It's never been an Apple vs DIY issue that everyone makes it out to be. It should only be 2 arguments if there has to be an argument at all:
1. Apple vs. industry rivals (Alienware, FalconPC, Dell)
2. OEM/Retail/Etail vs. DIY
You can't mix and match the two because that would only be a futile argument made illogically although purposefully just for the sake of making one specific company look bad. People put so much emotion behind things like this when it only benefits to look at it objectively. It's like the age old snow boarding vs skiing argument or snow boarding vs skateboarding or even coke vs pepsi. Which is better? The one that works the best for the job. It's all relative for what you're doing. When I need mission critical workstations for my environments I will choose dual quad core Mac Pros because they are workhorses, quiet, and good efficiency on electricity (saves on some of our budget). Also support is phenomenal and the things never go down. I won't have to worry about registry corruption or silly issues with driver conflicts etc or even patching and rebooting every 30 days (literally... every 30 days. MS patch schedule is the second Tuesday of each month) although this is a bit unfair as well because a lot of that is just the OS itself and not the hardware... I have a MacPro with an average up time ofr 360 days a year... Anyhow at this point I'm rambling. I say all that to say, I have an equal number of OS X machines and Win Machines in my environment and I see our total cost of ownership each year and I know the the Macs always stay in budget but the PC's budget is much higher and always goes over. When you're in your small little world with just a Windows machine and no OS X machine to compare on a daily basis other than from others who think just as you do and are in the same isolated tech environment therefore giving you know objective thoughts to balance yours out it's easy to lean more to the side that your familiar with. However when you've spent the majority of your professional career in an environment with 600 Workstations (not desktops but true workstations) half Apple and Half Lenovo and Dell with a mass replacement of 35% of your mission critical machines each year, you begin to see trends and objective data a lot clearer.
I wish I made ~$300 for installing a hard-drive. How much does that come out to an hour???
@nate345
When you are using slave labor in a foxconn sweat shop, that money goes straight to Jobs for more turtle necks.
@(Unverified)
Two words: Stock Options
That's a 2008 model Pro in the picture, not an '09 Nehalem. Best get back to arranging my ties in colour order.....
I know Mac's seem expensive, and they are, but they have really good resale value, something a PC does not. Every Mac product ive ever owned has sold for 70% of what I origionally paid, whereas most of my PC's have gone in the bin eventually.
Just sayin'
@TechCrunch
Completely agree there. People only look at the initial cost and not the overall value of the system. I have an almost 3 year old MBP and know that right now I can get at a min $900 for it when I sell it. But you will never convince most of these morons to looks at the big picture.
@TechCrunch
Well come now, the people who buy those are people who want to be part of the mac club but can't afford to buy the proper machine and pay the bend over tax. If you were true to Apple community you would not sell it to them being the paltry second rate ass clowns they are.
Also 70% seems a bit high, I can't imagine paying $6,000+ for only a modestly equipped MacPro and turning around 3 years later and selling it for $4,200. Processors are still processors and go out of style in 12-24 months.
sorry to be picky, but thats a picture of the old mac pro.
this is the current model:
http://images.apple.com/macpro/images/design_expansion_hero20090303.png
If it were available in duel socket w/ 3.33 ghz chips :)
3.33 + 3.33 = 6.66
Your paying the devil.
Jokes aside look at like this Apple is less than 10% of the total PC market yet they are nearly half of all money spent on PC's.
http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/Nearly-half-the-money-spent-at-US-retail-on-desktop-PCs-goes-to-Apple/1259171586
Looks like they are charging way more than a 100% mark up to me. Think if the SEC looked at it this way there would be some investigation into gouging.
That said I'm not an apple hater frankly love the machines but find their business practices unacceptable and find all these posts and arguments entertaining.
@spodee
LOL exactly. Well not entirely all mark up, when you buy a mac you are also buying your entry into the exclusive club of "people who waste money to be liked and belong to stupid clubs".
What to do with Mac Pros? Buy the cheapest model with the best motherboard and expand it yourself.
that comment about gouging was pretty dumb, dude.
if i wanted to sell you a boiled egg for a cool mil, what kind of investigation would be warranted? buy it for my exburant price, or shaddap and keep it moving.
i enjoyed reading the responses to mrt2's comments. because they make sense, unlike these im not cool enough to have an apple pc fools. you can feel whatever way you want, but damn, try to at least make some sense ya morons.
by the way, i cried everytime i see someone try to compare one of those generic junk pc cases(atx? ahahahha) . maybe some of ya feel like you deserve junk parts.
oops, i meant mrt2's comment made sense. the responses were desperately trying to dance around the facts and just ran out of steam.
Bargain?
How could you say bargain to any Apple Desktop. I hope that was a joke.
They make the highest markup in any desktop pricing. WTD! Rip-Off BTW!
All Apple had to do is to add some more memory in the bloody machine. who the heck wants to buy a $2499 machine with ONLY 3GB of memory?
@bhagiratha
Y'know... the people who just poop out money?
and all this firepowah only to be mated to an absolute maximum of one radeon 4870
@fighterfelix
And... why do you need more than one? Mac Pros are not gaming machines, they're professional workstations.
Always amusing to see the teenagers here mouth off about things they nothing about.
Newsflash, all vendors charge way over New Egg prices for add ons like memory and bigger hard drives. Go check Dell's site. Or HP's or any other site.
The Mac Pro is not the same as some piece of crap PC you put together by buying parts from new Egg.
The Mac Pro has been consistently cheaper than other workstation class machines from Dell and elsewhere. You see in the real world, where daddy doesn't buy you a PC, the first thought is not about frame rates in WOW.
@Darwin of course of course ;p because all multi-billion dollar companies have a infrastructure based on macintosh/apple machines. All the best performing computers are macintosh/apple. All the cheapest machines are all macintosh/apple.
Apple users think they have have the best computer hardware/software money can buy and for the best deal and that their software is infallible and easier to use then windows. Oh but wait PC's (which is microsoft and hardware vendors that make devices to work with winodws) IS the computer market. Apple only exists because microsoft HAS to for monopoly sake. but what do i know im a PC user our preferred type of computers never sell. not like you apple boys
That picture is of the wrong computer.
thats not a deal! thats typical apple pricing. oh but wait there are uneducated apple users that will waste the money on such things. Can't blame apple though, i'd cash in on tards as well.It worked with twilight it'll work with apple users.