Apple Updates Mac Pro With Up to 12 CPU Cores

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, thanks to the use of Intel's quad-core and 6-core Xeon processors (up to 3.3GHz), all-new ATI graphics and the option for up to four 512GB solid state drives.

The Mac Pro now comes with the ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics processor with 1GB of memory, and customers can configure-to-order the faster ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of memory.

Apple also updated its all-in-one iMac line with the latest Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7. The dual core chips run up to 3.6 GHz, while quad-core speeds are up to 2.93 GHz. Discrete graphics include the ATI Radeon HD 5750.

The new Mac Pro will be available in August and the iMacs are available now. Check out the prices and configs for the Mac Pros below:

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.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • welshmousepk
    But i can buy a windows system thats more powerful, for less cash, right?

    how are people still buying these things...
    Reply
  • proxy711
    wow a $2500 dollar computer with 3gbs of ram....that's not even the standard.
    Reply
  • Agges
    Ummmm looking at configurations on Apple's website it seems they forgot hardware that is newer than two years - except the processor.. Hold on, $3000+ what?
    Reply
  • lordcrazex
    welshmousepkBut i can buy a windows system thats more powerful, for less cash, right? how are people still buying these things...bull's eye!!~~ :D
    Reply
  • L0tus
    $2500 for an HD5770 + ~i5-ish build!? Epic rip-off.

    The IQ of Mac customers seriously worries me.
    Reply
  • hardcore_gamer
    welshmousepkBut i can buy a windows system thats more powerful, for less cash, right? how are people still buying these things...
    macmaniacs :P
    Reply
  • Jarmo
    welshmousepkBut i can buy a windows system thats more powerful, for less cash, right?
    Nope. Or maybe for a bit less. These are in line as far as Xeon based workstations go.

    I'd rather have a "normal" i7 based minitower though.
    Or actually I'd prefer an AMD solution, hence my Phenom II tower at home.
    Reply
  • wittermark
    lol apple is stupid
    Reply
  • del35
    "But i can buy a windows system thats more powerful, for less cash, right? "

    You have to be technologically illiterate and logo-desperate to buy the kind of crap Apple puts out.
    Reply
  • They still donõt use USB3, eSATA... stupid!
    Reply