Today Apple introduced new Mac Pro workstations based on Intel’s latest “Nehalem” architecture, the most advanced microprocessor architecture in Intel’s history. The new Mac pros deliver substantial performance advantages over previous generation Mac Pros and even more power over late-generation IBM PowerPC-based Power Mac G5s. In the 3D market, rendering performance is improved by 1.3 – 1.7x faster.
Apple's new "Nehalem" based Mac Pros feature an innovative slide-out mechanism making adding memory a snap.
The new workstation-class systems feature ATI’s very latest Radeon HD 4870 GPU with 512 MB of GDDR5 memory offering an astonishing 115GB/s of memory bandwidth. Interestingly, the new system only offers two graphics card choices rather than the three choices provided before. The base GPU is the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512 MB while the power choice is the new ATI Radeon HD 4870. The older workstation-class Nvidia Quadro card is no longer available as an option. However, it may be available as an add-in later directly from NVIDIA, but that is speculation at this time.
While the overall case design remains the same, Apple has improved the way you access internal memory for upgrades. There is a new slide-out tray system which makes adding and altering memory configurations just as easy as adding new hard drives to its 4-bay configuration. Apple has not introduced any new displays for these new Mac Pros. Instead, users have a choice of the new 24″ Apple LED Cinema Display ($899.USD) or the older 30″ Apple Cinema HD Display ($1799.USD). The latest Apple LED display option provides integrated iSight camera, microphone and speakers.