We don't know what you're looking for, but outside a few minor cosmetic changes (like one RAM riser board being upside down now) and a few technical changes (like SAS drive support, dual 16x PCI-E slots, etc.) Apple's new high performance Penryn Xeon machines -- the Mac Pro and Xserve -- look just the same as they were two weeks ago. Except faster now -- according to their site, anyway. Sorry to disappoint, though, Apple didn't demo the quad PCI-Express slots running eight simultaneous 30-inch monitors. Maybe next time.

Apple just updated their Xserve boxes. Starting at $2,999, Apple's calling their new Xserve the "most powerful apple server ever." The speed comes via two (max) quad-core 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon 5400 series processors. That's 8-cores pumping away inside a 1U rack server. Two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots provide up to 4x the I/O bandwidth of the previous Xserve in support of the latest multi-channel 4Gb Fibre channel and 10Gb Ethernet cards. We're also looking at built-in accelerated graphics to drive a 23-inch Apple Cinema Display and new front facing USB 2.0 to jack into. The three drive bays can support 73GB or 300GB SAS drives or 80GB and 1TB SATAs with a RAID option for choice of RAID 0, 1, and 5. Ships starting today.

Being the torrent junkies we are -- you know, those GPL'd Linux ISOs, somebody's gotta download 'em -- we were kind of stoked about that rumored SATA-based Xserve RAID we spied last week and the supa-cheep storage it would provide. Unfortunately, it looks like Apple is going to stick with Ultra ATA for the moment, though at least you can squeeze a bit more storage out of the unit now: Apple is including support for 750GB drives, allowing for a whoppin' 10.5TB of storage for under $1.31 per gigabyte. That's great and all Apple, and those dual or quad-channel 2Gb fibre-channel PCI cards are swell too, but when are we going to see the real deal with six built-in fibre-channels and that SATA sweetness?

[Via TUAW]

Ruh roh, Stevie J isn't gonna like this. Looks like AppleInsider landed some rare and much coveted pre-release Apple product pics; no, it's not of the iPhone sans phone or ultraportable MacBook Pro, it's of the long overdue Xserve upgrade to the Xserve RAID, which finally puts cheap and plentiful enterprise SATA drives in the enterprise enclosure. Other improvements AI claims Apple have made to the above "Q57" prototype include an additional four fibre-channel ports, although the fibre-channel controller has apparently yet to be made redundant. We're sure there are more than a few enterprise Mac users hoping they won't have to wait until WWDC 2007 to check this thing out, but we don't have any timeline for release, so we'll all be keeping an eye out for release.

Remember that new Apple Xserve we heard about in August? Yeah, the new one with the two dual-cores under the hood? Well, those up to 2TB of storage and up to 32GB of RAM rackmount servers have just gone on sale and will begin shipping next month. Of course, the very barebones configuration is $3,000, while that 32GB of RAM will add an extra $23,700 to your order. Just something to consider.

[Thanks, Clint M. and Evan D.]

Alright, we're going to clear this up right here: "quad processors" is different than dual dual-core processors. Despite the best efforts of Steve Jobs and his Reality Distortion Field. But with that said, we're not complaining. Dual dual-core chips sure is plenty of juice to be getting on with, and Apple's Xserve line sure manages a lot of power for its 1U rackmount design. The configurations mirror that of the Mac Pro, ranging up to dual 64-bit dual-core 3GHz Xeon "Woodcrest" chips. Apple added in redundant power with the space savings from losing those steamy G5 processors, and also made room for 2.24TB of storage. Configurations start at $2,999, range beyond the amount of cash we'll see in our lifetime, and should be available in October.

Managing all the information in all these damned Apple rumors that everyone is so insistent upon proliferating is no small task, but we know that there exists a vast amount of people hungry for any WWDC 2006 launch information they can get (and an equal amount lying in wait to say we're merely Apple fanboys). While we know how much you'd love for us to report on these as we go, we'll give you the short list, and invite you to leave rumors for us to add in comments. Bon appetit!

• A chap named Brian sent us another iPhone picture, this time it's called the iCall. The story goes: it was supposedly found by an insider on the floor in a storage room at the Moscone. Hey stranger things have happened (then again, remember the iHome?).
  
• MacRumors says we'll have Xeon Xserves, the Mac Pro, and new 1:1000 contrast ratio Studio Displays with iSight and Apple Remote support, Core 2 Duo mobile MacBook Pros, and loads of new stuff for Leopard.
• Scoble says Apple is "readying a dizzying amount of new products," but not much else.
• FirstAdopter thinks the Mac Pros will run Xeons, run from $1,800 - $3,200 in base configs, and have pretty much all the usual options. Ars Technica seems to think roughly the same, and pontificated on it for a few thousand words.
  
• Going back a little, Macworld reported that Blu-ray drive support may (or may not) make its way into Steve's presentation.
• Apple joins Kronos, therefore must be developing iPhone. Sure, take it to the bank.
• iPhone software found in iPod updater. Hurrah! Oh, wait, it still doesn't mean anything (yet).
• Someone posted an oh-so-bad iChat Mobile video on YouTube. In case you missed it, that was the iPhone rumor du jour last night. Thanks, Steve.
• Apple Insider is insisting MacBook Pros are going to go Merom (Core 2 Duo). Yeah, and why not? Just about every other laptop manufacturer already has, and they'd be downright foolish not to launch the MeromBooks at WWDC.

Now, don't get us wrong, we like the Intel iMac, mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and we expect we'll also like the so-called "Mac Pro" a great deal whenever that gets announced. But if there was ever one Apple product line in severe need of an Intel overhaul, it's their performance-sensitive server series, the Xserve. When would be the perfect time to introduce these machines? WWDC in August of course; and according to ThinkSecret, you corporate Mac nerds might be able to expect just that come fall. No Core Duos (or is it Cores Duo?) inside these boxes though, supposedly the new Xserves will be using Woodcrest chips, Intel's successor to the Xeon line.