The ToyBox

Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin

Apple releases 12-core Mac Pro desktop computer

By Rachel King | August 9, 2010, 9:43am PDT

Summary: Apple has been busy upgrading nearly all of its computers this year, from the MacBook Pro to the iMac. The latest refresh is in the Mac Pro desktop line with the now-available 12-core edition.

Apple has been busy upgrading nearly all of its computers this year, from the MacBook Pro to the iMac. The latest refresh is in the Mac Pro desktop line with the now-available 12-core edition.

Posted to the online Apple Store today with the tag line “the fastest Mac ever,” the basic configuration will get you dual 6-Core Intel Xeon Westmere 2.66GHz processors, 1TB of hard drive space, 6GB of memory, a SuperDrive and ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics with a dedicated 1GB of GDDR5 memory.

Pricing starts at a whopping $4,999, but buyers do get free shipping!

{Note: The computer in the above image is the quad-core Mac Pro.]

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Topics

Apple Macintosh, Apple Inc., Apple Mac Pro, Computer, Desktop Computer, Desktops, Productivity, Hardware, Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

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Why bash it?

archangel9999 10th Aug 2010

I'm not a Mac fan, but what's the point of bashing it - they produced a 12 core machine - take it at that

It costs twice as much as a comparably configured Win7 box and the Mac will cost more like $11K+ to outfit it minimally the way someone who really needs 12 cores would want it - and the Mac will be maxed out with no further upgradability.

But if a Mac buyer is happy paying twice as much for less - who cares? As PT Barnum always said...

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Recycling works

Scubajrr 9th Aug 2010

Cant't think of someting new to write. Just submit a week old blog about apple.

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RE: Apple releases 12-core Mac Pro desktop computer

Scubajrr 9th Aug 2010

@Scubajrr I meant 2 week old. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/12-core-mac-pro-arriving-august-4999/9065

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2Week Old Blog While PC's had 'em Two Years Ago!

i2fun@... 10th Aug 2010

@Scubajrr But of course CrApple always tries to grab the headlines for something that's already been done. Like the first phone with a Screen over 300dpi.... so everyone can go Wooooow Apple has the first Magical and Revolutionary Mac with 12 whole cores (as if it's never been done before). lol... Now that they've come out with the Magical and Revolutionary Retina IPS Screen (when a phone was out 2yrs ago with one over 300dpi)..... haha What do you think their next Magical and Revolutionary idea will be? Maybe a an antenna that actually works would to completed calls!!! wink

As if having a screen that was merely another die shrink by 24 pixels is So Spectacular. When all it took was LG shrinking a die and Apple having to put in a monster power sucking back light to make it even near as fast in response time as LCD's were 10yrs ago. FAIL!!!

Retina is a miserable 25ms, when Super AMOLED's Response Time is 0.01ms and it has 100,000:1 contrast ratio compared to Retina IPS's funky 800:1 last gen contrast ratio.

So Retina makes a fine ebook reader, but for Action, Sports Games and movies, it's sooooo slowwwwww as to make a racing games not just ghost, but make real full action racing disappear from the screen. In the future Retina will be uncovered as the full fake junk it is!!!

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Feeding Time At The Zoo

yobtaf 10th Aug 2010

@i2fun@... Do you guys have anything to contribute to this discussion, to the world or humanity?

You just act like a bunch of adolescent boy giggling and words like breasts and heckling the speaker.

I know, this makes you happy because all you want is attention and I'm giving it to you.

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RE: Apple releases 12-core Mac Pro desktop computer

roteague 9th Aug 2010

Yawn ....

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Some people subscribe to certain areas...

olePigeon 9th Aug 2010

Some people subscribe to certain areas or blogs of the website, so there are bound to be duplicate stories from different blogs.

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used to this...

wendellgee@... 9th Aug 2010

ToyBox = Press Release blog.

Sometimes they don't even bother to change the words. Just post it. Without comment. And call it Journalism.

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RE: Apple releases 12-core Mac Pro desktop computer

eriksmalley 9th Aug 2010

so basically Apple copied a PC.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/home/dream_machine_2010

yea this system is $15k but alot of that is because of other items like the case, video cards and some other stuff thrown in like dual power and water cooling. but motherboard/cpu's are basically same. the PC world has had this for a few months or more

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RE: Apple releases 12-core Mac Pro desktop computer

brbaldwin 9th Aug 2010

@eriksmalley its using Intel chips.. copy? no, they are competing and doing a GREAT job of with a 1/4 price difference imo..

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heh, Apple comes late lacking....

dtroyerSMU 9th Aug 2010

@brbaldwin ... a 5770? come on. 1TB hard drive? and ONLY 6GB ram? Totally lacking. The best part is the CPUs. The motherboard, well, probably lacking as well. $5000 starting price, well, all of these parts would be 1/2 the cost with better quality if home built.

Sorry, Apple failed again at mimic PC.

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You do know that an Apple works better on lesser specs

wackoae 9th Aug 2010

@dtroyerSMU than a comparable Windows PC ??

I know you are too dumb to understand that concept, but pretty much every OS but Windows, have better performance on similar hardware specs.

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RE: Apple releases 12-core Mac Pro desktop computer

cornpie 10th Aug 2010

@wackoae Whatever you say about the respective performance of competing OS's, you have to look at the tasks someone would probably be doing with such a system. Given the likely uses for this system, the Radeon 5770 falls in the midrange of ATI's lineup though you can upgrade to a 5870. But both of those are - and gaming oriented cards. A workstation level card such as a FirePro or Quadro would be more appropriate - but do not seem to be an option. Also, anyone buying a 12 core system is probably doing tasks that would lead them to want to max out the RAM too. Up to 32 GB is available which is good but at the $5K starting price for the 12 core, I would expect more.

Bottom line is that it seems to me like a strange combination of components for this type of system.

Finally, calling other posters "dumb" because they disagree with you is offensive - which is why I'm flagging you.

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"You do know that an Apple works better on lesser specs"? huh?

i2fun@... 10th Aug 2010

@wackoae Yeah..... with a fraction of the available software as a PC w/ Linux or Windows! haha.... Ever wonder why 80% of top Super Computer run on Linux? Yeah..... that's because it has 80% of all software that powers them and over 95% of the HPC (high performance computing) Cluster Market!

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RE: Apple releases 12-core Mac Pro desktop computer

DeusXMachina 10th Aug 2010

@cornpie
1) flagging is for spam, not posts you personally don't like. Its overuse by people such as yourself is TOTALLY breaking the system, since flagged posts are not reply-able. As such, the threaded structure of these boards falls apart.

2) considering the nature of the post that was being replied to, and the fact that it is not your responsibility to police the board for content, flagging for ad hominem borders on the ridiculous.

3) considering that what dtroyerSMU wrote is stupid, calling the poster "dumb" is not really a stretch.

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Ah, the same old myth promulgated by people

frgough 9th Aug 2010

with no clue about manufacturing and no idea about A lots, B lots, C lots, and reject lots.

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What's Different?

yobtaf 10th Aug 2010

@eriksmalley I'll tell you jerky.
It has a a better operating system than a PC running Windows (whatever).

What you guys don't understand is the only exception, a program like Nuke 6X, written for Linux runs best in Linux. Other then that OSX is just more stable.

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RE: Apple releases 12-core Mac Pro desktop computer

Meella 9th Aug 2010

12-core?! WOW, amazing! well, I think this is just Apple's development strategy and plan.

I'm a diehard Mac user and already own a Mac Pro, I really like it, and it of course do good jobs for me, work, entertainment, or someothers. No doubtly, MAC pro maybe a little expensive than other PC, but I think it just worth its value, I believe the professionals are professional, like ifunia, a MAC multimedia software developer, dedicated in simplifying Mac life, just do the professional conversion tool for MAC.

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Not enough

Daniel Breslauer 10th Aug 2010

I don't think it's enough. The CPU is great. But 6 GB RAM is really not all that much, for this price - I could get a laptop with 8 or 16 GB for less. Also 1 TB of HD space is not that much for this price.

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RE: Apple releases 12-core Mac Pro desktop computer

nix_hed 10th Aug 2010

@Daniel575
you can't get a laptop with 12 cores at any price though. And if you look up the prices of the processors, there's almost half the cost of this machine in two chips.