About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Jun 3 2009 - Apple's Mac Pro is an extremely expensive system with a $3299 base price tag for the eight core system that will detract many people. For those looking for a high performance workstation for very processor intensive tasks such as video editing, the platform is extremely well suited. The upgrades to the new Xenon 5500 processors and the integrated DDR3 controllers have given a very large performance boost over the previous versions.

It would still be nice to see Apple offer a bit more in terms of base features for such a high price tag.



Pros

• Eight Core Processor Setup Provides Strong Performance
• Extremely Well Designed Case
• Capable of Running Multiple OS

Cons

• Very Expensive
• Wireless Capable But Not Included
• Fairly Weak 3D Graphics

Description

• Dual Intel Xenon 5500 Quad Core Desktop Processors
• 6GB PC3-8500 DDR3 ECC Memory
• 640GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
• 18x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 Graphics with 512 Memory
• Intel HDA Audio
• Dual Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1
• Seven USB 2.0, Two FireWire 800, Two FireWire 400
• Mac OS X 10.5, iLife '09

Guide Review - Apple Mac Pro Performance Desktop PC

Jun 4 2009 - There are two versions of the Apple Mac Pro. The single Intel Xenon 5500 is priced at $2699 and a dual Xenon for $3299. There are significant architecture differences between the two that I don't really recommend anyone look at the single processor version. The dual Xenon model offers much greater flexibility, performance and expansion.

The new Xenon 5500 based Mac Pros offer a major leap forward in performance thanks to the new integrated DDR3 controllers. This gives the system a much greater level of memory bandwidth over the previous DDR2 based systems that improves performance in tasks such as video rendering. It is also nice to see Apple increase the base memory level up to 6GB over the previous 2GB. Of course, if that isn't enough, it can be upgraded up to 32GB.

Storage is somewhat low for such a high priced platform. The 640GB hard drive is a bit on the small size but a welcome upgrade from previous versions. Those looking to use it heavily for video editing will definitely want more space and will likely use a high speed FireWire 800 based drive array. Apple still doesn't support the Blu-ray video standard and only ships with a dual layer DVD burner.

The graphics are probably the weakest aspect of the Mac Pro. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics card is essentially a rebadged and dated 9500 series graphics processor. It is unlikely that the system will be used for 3D gaming though. If you do want a more powerful graphics card, be sure to look for one that is fully compatible with the Mac OS X operating system.

The price of course is going to be the issue for most with the Mac Pro. What they have to realize is that this is a workstation class system for specialized computing. If you need such a computer, then the Mac Pro is an excellent choice, otherwise there are much more affordable options.