We can finally say goodbye to the PowerMac. Apple introduced the final piece in their transition to Intel processors in the form of the new Mac Pro. This desktop system is one crazy system folks! Instead of using Intel’s latest desktop oriented dual core processors, Apple chose the Core 2 Duo XEON processor lineup (otherwise known as Woodcrest). Why you might ask? Well Apple wanted to place dual physical processors into their Mac Pro, and Intel’s XEON lineup are the only ones capable of supporting that configuration. With each processor actually a dual core processor, you’ll instantly get a four way machine with the Mac Pro. Dual processors with dual cores translates to a Quad-Core system.. sorta.

So what’s in the new Mac Pro? Well the base system comes with the following:

  • Two 2.66GHz Dual Core Intel XEON 5100 Series processors
  • 4MB shared L2 cache per processor
  • 1.33 GHz 64 bit dual independent frontside buses
  • 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 ECC memory with room for up to 16GB of memory
  • 250GB of HDD
  • SuperDrive
  • NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT
  • Two FireWire 800 ports
  • Two FireWire 400 ports
  • Five USB 2.0 ports
  • Two Gigabit Ethernet ports

Sounds very much like a server right? Well it pretty much is but it’s all wrapped up inside a desktop workstation. How sweet is that? So how much is the base configuration? It’ll cost you $2499. That’s right .. $2499 for a dual processor dual core XEON system. That’s a pretty darn good price especially when you consider what you’re getting with it.

In the meantime, Apple also updated their Xserve line of servers to make use of the Intel XEON 5100 line of processors but that’s not really the big news here. The Mac Pro could be the next replacement to my home workstation which already is a dual processor XEON system (minus the dual core goodness unfortunately but at least it has hyper-threaded goodness).  If Apple would just release a good home theater PC user interface including video recording, I’d be all for it in a heartbeat. In the meantime, Windows MCE will still be the heart of my entertainment system. However, the rest of my life is starting to feel the itch of Apple.

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