Review: Apple's Nehalem-based Mac Pro 'fastest Mac ever'

April 5, 2009 (Computerworld) Every time it updates its professional-level workstation, Apple brands the new Mac Pro as “the fastest Mac ever.” It’s an interesting dilemma for the company, because the boast — albeit true — is both exciting and humdrum. Wouldn’t it bum you out if the latest top-of-the-line Mac weren’t also the fastest?

Don’t worry. The latest update for the Mac Pro pretty much lives up to expectations. In some ways, the basic quad-core 2.66-GHz Mac Pro that Apple sent over for review screamed. But it falls short of last year’s version when it comes to great expectations of across-the-board performance leaps.

With this iteration, the Mac Pro takes a significant step forward by moving to Intel’s new Nehalem processor, leaving behind the previous model’s Harpertown and Penryn chips. (Yes, they’re all officially Intel Xeon processors, but Intel’s nomenclature is so arcane that it’s better to go by those code names to keep the models straight.) For $2,499, the entry-level Mac Pro offers a quad-core 2.66-GHz processor, 3GB of DDR3 EEC memory, a 640GB hard drive, an 18x double-layer SuperDrive, and an Nvidia GeForce GT120 video card. For $800 more, you get two 2.26-GHz quad-core processors (for a total of eight cores) and 6GB of RAM. It’s a hefty price bump, mostly for the additional CPU; Intel’s newest processors still command a premium cost. There are also a variety of CPU options: Moving to a 2.93-GHz single quad-core Xeon adds $500 to the price of the base model — or you can get two of them for $2,600 extra in the top model.

For the complete review, hit the source link below.

source:computerworld