Apple refreshes Mac Pro, iMac lineup

Apple has refreshed its Mac lineup, including its Mac Pro and iMac.

First, the Mac Pro line (statement). The latest Mac Pro has up to 12 processing cores and a 50 percent performance bump compared to older models. In a nutshell, Apple is bringing the latest Xeon processors to the Mac Pro as well as new ATI graphics and options for up to four 512GB solid state drives.

Among the key points:

• Mac Pro will get quad core and 6-core Xeon processors running up to 3.33 Ghz. the Mac Pro comes with ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics processors.
• The new lineup will have the ability to install SSD drives in the system's internal drive bays.
• These pups aren't cheap. The quad-core Mac Pro will run you $2,499. The 8-core Mac Pro will start at $3,499.

The highest end model will feature the following:

• 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.

And then there's the iMac lineup (statement). In a nutshell, the iMac has been refreshed with Intel's Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. The iMac starts at $1,199 and goes to $1,999 and will feature processor speeds of 2.93 GHz to 3.6 GHz.

Here's what you'll get with the 27-inch iMac with a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i5 for $1,999:

• 27-inch 2560 x 1440 LED-backlit display;
• 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache;
• 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB;
• ATI Radeon HD 5750 discrete graphics with 1GB GDDR5;
• 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
• Mini DisplayPort for audio and video input and output (adapters sold separately);
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet;
• four USB 2.0 ports;
• one FireWire 800 port;
• one SDXC SD card slot;
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse.