It will cost you $1200 to step into Apple desktop computers at the very least and even if won’t get very far. If you step up to the Mac Pro, you will enter dazzling price regions that exceed the territory of boutique PC builders. Spending $25,000 on a Mac Pro should not be a problem.
Mac Pro (2010 model)
The current Mac Pro, which is available with tow quad-core processors begins at about $3300 and tops out just below $16,500. The new Mac Pro generation announced today can add a few grand with a pricey new processor option, SSDs and up to six 30” Cinema displays.
The big news of the new Mac Pro is the support of two 32 nm Intel Xeon X5670 (2.93 GHz) six-core processors (for a total of 12 actual and 24 virtual cores), instead of the previous 45 nm X5570 quad-core CPUs. Apple promises about 50% more speed of the rig, even if we assume that the price won’t change much, as the X5570 and X5670 are offered within $100 in Intel’s tray-pricelist. We expect a 12-core system to carry a base price (official prices have not been released yet) of close to $6000.
What is new to the Mac Pro is the option of up to four 512 GB SSDs, which currently retail for about $1500 a piece. Apple will also offer two ATI HD 5770 graphics cards in tandem, which can run up to six 30” Cinema displays. Add it all up, include 32 GB of memory and you break the $25,000 barrier in no time.
We dare not complaining. We are just dreaming. Running 24 cores and 2 TB of SSDs should enable stunning opportunities. Even at $25,000.
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