Tech & Accessory News
Apple gives us a fascinating first look at how the Mac Pro, which is assembled in the USA, is made from start to finish with the help of countless iMacs positioned at production lines. The Mac Pro will go on sale later this year in December starting at $2,999 for a 3.7GHz quad-core Intel Xeon E5 processor with a 256GB PCIe-based flash storage, dual AMD FirePro D300 graphics cards with 2GB GDDR5, and 12GB ECC RAM entry-configuration.
Apple has released today the updated Mac Pro and it is available to purchase right now. This is Apple's fastest Mac ever with up to 12 cores. You can get your Mac Pro from 4,6,8 and 12 Core-Intel Xeon configuration starting at $2,499. If you want to go all banana crazy with your money, the 12-Core configuration will run you a whopping $4,999.
Source Apple
Well it seems like Apple hasen't forgotten the Mac Pro. As they have just announced that they are going to release a 12-Core version of the Mac Pro in August! It is said that the new Mac Pro will be 50% faster than the previous Mac Pros's!
Press Release:
Apple Unveils New Mac Pro With Up to 12 Processing Cores
CUPERTINO, California-July 27, 2010-Apple® today unveiled a new Mac® Pro line with up to 12 processing cores and up to 50 percent greater performance than the previous generation.* Featuring the latest quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors, all-new ATI graphics and the option for up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD), the new Mac Pro continues to deliver amazing performance and expandability for the most demanding consumers and professionals.
“The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and configurable Mac we’ve ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With up to 12 cores, the new Mac Pro outperforms our previous top-of-the-line system by up to 50 percent, and with over a billion possible configurations, our customers can create exactly the system they want.”
At the heart of the new Mac Pro’s performance are next generation quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors running at speeds up to 3.33 GHz. These multi-core processors use a single die design so each core can share up to 12MB L3 cache to improve efficiency while increasing processing speed. These systems feature an integrated memory controller for faster memory bandwidth and reduced memory latency; Turbo Boost to dynamically boost processor speeds up to 3.6 GHz; and Hyper-Threading to create up to 24 virtual cores. The Mac Pro now comes with the ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics processor with 1GB of memory and customers can configure-to-order the even faster ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of memory.
For the first time, Mac Pro customers have the option to order a 512GB SSD for the ultimate in reliability and lightning fast performance. With the ability to install up to four SSD drives in the system’s internal drive bays, the new Mac Pro can provide ultra high-speed disk bandwidth and random disk performance, two times faster than the average performance of a standard disk drive.** Mac Pro also now features two Mini DisplayPorts and one dual-link DVI port. The additional Mini DisplayPort output allows customers to connect two LED Cinema Displays without an additional graphics card or adapter and the dual-link DVI port supports legacy DVI-based displays up to a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels.
Every Mac Pro comes with Apple’s innovative Magic Mouse and customers can also order Apple’s new Magic Trackpad as an option. The Magic Trackpad brings the intuitive Multi-Touch™ gestures of Mac notebook trackpads to the desktop. With its glass surface, the wireless Magic Trackpad allows users to scroll smoothly up and down a page with inertial scrolling, pinch to zoom in and out, rotate an image with their fingertips and swipe three fingers to flip through a collection of web pages or photos. The Magic Trackpad can be configured to support single button or two button commands and supports tap-to-click as well as a physical click. Magic Trackpad is available separately for $69.
Continuing Apple’s commitment to the environment, Apple’s desktop lineup is a leader in green design. The Mac Pro meets stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.*** The Mac Pro enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and the interior is designed to be more material-efficient. The Mac Pro uses PVC-free internal cables and components and contains no brominated flame retardants. The new Apple Battery Charger provides a convenient and environmentally friendly way to always have a fresh set of batteries for your Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. The Apple Battery Charger is available as an option for $29 and comes with six long shelf life rechargeable batteries.
Every Mac also comes with Mac OS® X Snow Leopard®, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife®, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto®, with breakthrough ways to organize and manage your photos by who appears in them and where they were taken; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand® which offers a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar.
Optional Apple professional applications include Aperture®, Final Cut® Express, Final Cut Studio®, Logic® Express and Logic Studio®.
Pricing & Availability
The new Mac Pro will be available in August through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.The new quad-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:
one 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3530 processor with 8MB of fully-shared L3 cache;
3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 16GB;
ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
18x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire® 800 ports;
AirPort Extreme® 802.11n;
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.The new 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $3,499 (US), includes:
two 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5620 processors with 12MB of fully-shared L3 cache per processor;
6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
AirPort Extreme 802.11n;
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.Configure-to-order options include:
one 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3565 processor for the quad-core Mac Pro;
one 3.33 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon W3680 processor for the quad-core Mac Pro;
two 2.66 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon X5650 processors (12-cores) for the 8-core Mac Pro;
two 2.93 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon X5670 processors (12-cores) for the 8-core Mac Pro;
two ATI Radeon HD 5770 cards with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
one ATI Radeon HD 5870 card with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
up to 16GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory for the quad-core Mac Pro;
up to 32GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory for the 8-core Mac Pro;
up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD); or
up to four 1TB or 2TB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm;
Mac Pro RAID card;
dual-channel or quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel card; and
up to two 18x SuperDrives with double-layer support.Accessories include: Magic Trackpad, Apple Battery Charger, wired Apple Mouse, wireless Apple Keyboard, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, the AppleCare® Protection Plan; and pre-installed copies of Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server; iWork®, Logic Express 9, Final Cut Express 4 and Aperture 3. Complete options and accessories are available at www.apple.com/macpro.
*Testing conducted by Apple in July 2010 using preproduction Mac Pro 12-core 2.93 GHz units and shipping Mac Pro 8-core 2.93 GHz units, all configured with 6GB of RAM. Based on render performance of Maxwell Render 2.0.3 using Benchwell’s sculpture.mxs. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.
**Testing conducted by Apple in July 2010 using preproduction Mac Pro 12-core 2.93 GHz units configured with 6GB of RAM, 1TB 7200-rpm hard disk drive and 512GB solid-state drive. Testing conducted using Iometer 2006.07.27 with a 30-second ramp-up, 5-minute run duration, 128KB request size, 8 outstanding IOs, and 150GB test file. Average rotational media performance calculated by creating the test file on the outer, middle and inner sectors of the drive and averaging the results from all three measurements. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.
***EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit www.epeat.net.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
What is Apple playing at, the Mac Pro has been out of date for well over a year and it still hasen't received an update! But Apple have given an update to the iMacs as well as releasing the infamous Magic Trackpad. Apple also released a new product, a battery charger. Nice one Apple...
The 21.5" iMac's and the 27" iMac have all received Intel's new I3 processor which can be upgraded to Intel's Core I5 as well. The speeds of the I3 range from 3.06GHz to 3.2GHz, while the I5 is 3.60GHz. The Quad Core I5 and I7 chips have also received a speed boost at 2.8Ghz and 2.93Ghz respectfully.
The Magic Trackpad was rumoured for quite some time now and has been finally released. The Magic Trackpad is as you'd expect, a device that lets you do all of the usual stuff a normal trackpad would like clicking and scrolling. Except it is external and is for a desktop. It is 80% larger than the trackpad on the Macbook Pro and uses 2 AA batteries. Apple’s says that the "Magic Trackpad gives you a whole new way to control what’s on your Mac desktop computer. When you perform gestures, you actually interact with what’s on your screen. You feel closer to your content, and moving around feels completely natural. Swiping through pages on screen is just like flipping through pages in a magazine, and inertial scrolling senses the momentum in your fingers as you move up and down a page." It is available now and costs $69.
Apple also released their own AA battery charger to keep devices like the wireless keyboard and Magic trackapd charged. It costs $29
Yesterdays prediction about new Mac Pros and iMacs seem to have come true. As if you pop over to the Apple Store right now there is the usual "Updating Store" notice which leads me to believe that they are going to update the long overdue desktop Macs. Along with the update for the desktop Macs, there were also rumours about a 27" Cinema Display to accompany the new Mac Pro. So what do you think they will launch, but by the time you are reading this, they may already have...
Tomorrow, Steve Jobs will get up on stage at the keynote of WWDC and announce all the new products from Apple. Even though this year's WWDC has been sort of spoiled by the Gizmodo iPhone leak, it should be interesting to see what he will announce.
1) iPhone 4G/HD: If this doesn't get announced I'll eat my hat! This is almost certain to be announced. With the Gizmodo and vietnam leak this is going to be a sure bet that it will look like this. The main features supposed to be on the new iPhone is a front-facing camera, a higher resolution display, longer battery life, 1Ghz A4 processor, thinner profile and bigger storage.
2) Apple TV: This has goon a while with out an update so WWDC is a prime time for it. This also has had some leaks but this time from engadget. According to their source "think of an iPhone but without a screen." Also their source says that it will have the same internals as a the new iPhone, i.e the 1GHz processor, but only 16Gb of flash storage. However, it supposed to have cloud storage and streaming capabilities. Other features include 1080p output and an impressive price tag of only $99!
3) Mac Pro: Similar to the Apple TV, the Mac Pro has gone almost a year without an update. However this could be because Apple was waiting for the new 6-Core intel processors to put in the flagship model. This would mean that the Mac Pro could have up to 12-Cores!
4) Mac Mini: Alike the Apple TV and Mac Pro, the Mac mini has gone a while without an update. Not much to expect, except faster intel core 2 duo chips, more RAM, bigger hard drive and might be a little cheaper.
5) iTunes Music Streaming: Ever since Apple bought the music streaming service, Lala, there has been much speculation about a music streaming service from Apple. And with Apple shutting down the Lala servers on May 31st, WWDC would be the place it would be announced.
Even though there isn't a live video stream of the event, there are many places where you can get live text feeds. Here are some places you can find them.
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