By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 09:00 AM EST

Apple on Tuesday introduced its new Mac Pro workstations using Intel's "Nehalem" Xeon processors and an updated system architecture that delivers twice the performance of the previous model.

"The new Mac Pro is a significant upgrade and starts at $300 less than before," said Apple senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller. "The Mac Pro features an advanced system architecture, new faster processors and our best-ever graphics options to deliver a faster, more powerful system that our professional customers are going to love."

The new machine starts at $2,499 with 2.66GHz Intel Xeon processors with integrated memory controllers. Three channels of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC memory increase memory bandwidth 2.4 times while lowering memory latency up to 40 percent.

Apple promises three times greater video performance with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics card with 512MB of dedicated GDDR3 memory. An ATI Radeon HD 4870 is available as a custom option, and the Mac Pro has a Mini DisplayPort and DVI port, meaning it can support Apple's new LED Cinema Display as well as existing DVI based models including the 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display.



Other features include:

• Four direct-attach cable-free hard drive carriers
• Capable of up to 4TB internal storage
• Mac Pro RAID card optional
• Exceeds current Energy Star 4.0 and future Energy Star 5.0 requirements
• Highly recyclable aluminum enclosure
• Interior designed to be more material-efficient
• PVC-free internal cables and components
• No brominated flame retardants
• Achieves EPEAT Gold status

Specifications

Quad-core Mac Pro ($2,499):

• one 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500 series processors with 8MB of L3 cache
• 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 8GB
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory
• 640GB Serial ATA 3GB/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm
• 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW)
• Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately)
• four PCI Express 2.0 slots
• five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse

8-core Mac Pro ($3,299):

• two 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors with 8MB of shared L3 cache
• 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory
• 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm
• 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW)
• Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately)
• four PCI Express 2.0 slots
• five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse

Build to order options and accessories:

• One 2.93 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor for the quad-core Mac Pro
• Two 2.66 GHz or two 2.93 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors for the 8-core Mac Pro
• Up to 8GB for the quad-core Mac Pro, up to 32GB for the 8-core Mac Pro of 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory
• Up to four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm
• Mac Pro RAID card
• Up to two 18x SuperDrives with double-layer support
• ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics with 512MB of GDDR5 memory
• AirPort Extreme(R) 802.11n
• Apple Keyboard
• Apple Wireless Keyboard
• Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse
• Mac OS X Server Leopard

Pricing and Availability

The new Mac Pro will be available next week through the online Apple Store, Apple Retail Stores, and authorized resellers.

The new quad-core Mac Pro is priced at $2,499 while the 8-core model starts at $3,299.