Ars Technica on "Mac Pro" specs
updated 12:10 pm EDT, Mon July 17, 2006
Ars on Mac Pro specs
A quad-core "Mac Pro" will likely prove an expensive venture for Apple, according one report detailing predictions about Apple's forthcoming Mac Pro. Ars Technica has offered a detailed tally that includes 1GB of RAM, an ATI X1900 XT graphics card, 250GB hard drive, motherboard, six SATA-II ports, five PCI slots (2 PCIe, 3 PCI-X, 1 PCI), power supply, Apple's Mighty mouse with a keyboard, DVD burner, and two Xeon 5150 CPUs running at 2.66GHz. The cost totaled $3,269.44, which included the OEM prices of most manufactured components. With a discount of 12.5 percent and mark up margin of 20 percent for Apple, the quad's cost would be amount to a hefty $3,493.23. The report also reinforces recent rumors surrounding the enclosure of the Mac Pro, suggesting that Apple's new enclosure will remain similar to its current Power Mac G5.
Woodcrest will likely arrive in both Apple's forthcoming "Mac Pro" and Xserve models, while the company utilizes Intel's Conroe chips in the low end Mac Pro and iMacs, according to Ars. Apple will probably use Intel's Merom chip in its MacBook Pro, MacBook, and Mac mini models due to heat requirements, as the Conroe chip would be too hot for the Mini and consume too much power for usage in notebooks. The Mac Pro is expected to roll out this August at WWDC.
always been this way
07/17, 12:50pm reply
Apple's top of the line, or all desktop units, have had the same price for the last several years. Prices never go up or down, but specs go up for each new model. Top of the line will always hover around 32-3400.
Chris Paveglio
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2002
No surprise
07/17, 01:30pm reply
Agreed - the top of the line MacPro will be $3000-$3500 so that's in the right range. Current top PowerMac is $3299.
I would not expect six SATA ports (four max; the PowerMac only had two), nor six slots (four max, one used by video card).
I would hope the middle and high end both sport quad cores, to separate them from the almost complete lineup of dual cores. Depends on pricing of course.
mitchcohen
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2005
Enclosure
07/17, 01:41pm reply
Good to hear about the enclosure keeping much the same. Its awesome. If it aint broke....
-CJ
christophersj
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2003
Sense?
07/17, 05:00pm reply
It can't be just me, some of those specs seem quite odd. If one accepts the "2 optical bay" speculation, where will they make room for 6 hard drives? I think SATA controllers are not very expensive items, so for there to be more than 2, that means they've made provision for more than 2 drives (unless they have a pair of eSATA connectors externally, that might be interesting).
Slots are another matter, the last series of machines were ALL PCIe, putting a PCI-X and a plain PCI doesn't seem to make much sense.
Then there was all the talk about "more efficient" Intel chips. That sure seems to imply cool running; several folks I know who have MacBooks and MacBook Pros tell me they are mini thermonuclear reactors (run very hot).
Not much matter to me as I have a plan... the next OS rev I don't think is going to have much Intel exclusive stuff, so it's the one after that. The towers will be on their second or maybe third gen architecture, so end of 08 is my target.
paulc
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2000
re: sense?
07/17, 05:18pm reply
>> Slots are another matter, the last series of machines were ALL PCIe, putting a PCI-X and a plain PCI doesn't seem to make much sense.
It makes a lot of sense actually. Apple messed up by moving to PCIe too soon. This is a bigger issue in the professional market where pros really need to use cards that may not be available in the newer format.
porieux
Baninated
Joined: Mar 2001