Apple Gets Down to Business With Mac Pro, Xserve Updates

"The new Mac Pro is the fastest Mac we've ever made," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Production Marketing. "With 3.2 GHz 8-core Xeon processing, a 1,600 MHz front side bus and 800 MHz memory, the new Mac Pro uses the fastest Intel Xeon architecture on the market."

"With the latest Intel processors and no client access licenses, Xserve offers unbeatable server performance and value for under $3,000," Schiller continued. "Xserve's power, storage and Leopard Server make it ideal for supporting Mac clients and mixed platform workgroups."

Taking Care of Business

Apple's decision to roll out its updated business-centric systems just days before Macworld instead of waiting for the conference indicates the hardware maker has what it considers bigger consumer products waiting in the wings to take center stage next week.

"It means we can expect announcements of more good stuff at Macworld," said Zippy Aima, an ABI Research analyst.

"It's so [Apple CEO] Mr. [Steve] Jobs can focus his keynote on other, more press-worthy items," Benjamin Gray, a Forrester Research analyst said agreeing with Aima. "What those will be are anyone's guess -- for another week, that is -- but rest assured there's no shortage of speculation."

Another influence for the pre-Macworld launch is that updating workstations and servers is pretty much de rigueur for any hardware maker trying to keep its products fresh with new technologies, said Alex Herrera, an analyst at Jon Peddie Research.

"This launch really isn't particularly noteworthy, and that's not a knock on Apple. Rather, it's just a normal part of being an OEM (original equipment manufacturers), rolling in the latest from your component supplier, in this case Intel. HP (NYSE: HPQ) , Dell and all the rest have done the same with the same components earlier, taking Intel's new 45 nm Penryn-class Harpertown processor and Stoakley platform. With the exception of Leopard, the Mac Pro is looking -- not surprisingly -- like workstations from all the other major suppliers," he explained.

For Apple, bringing out new versions of the Mac Pro and Xserve are not an effort to attract a larger share of the business computing market but an effort to stay in the mix with other OEMs.

"I don't particularly see them as strategic in opening up a larger share of the business computer market," Herrera told MacNewsWorld. "It's a necessary step to stay up to date and competitive in their markets -- though it can't hurt in helping expand share either."

That said, however, providing business customers with the opportunity to purchase systems offering faster performance and cutting-edge technology will catch the eye of purchasing and IT departments.

"Apple has constantly been working towards evolving their technology, and offering an even faster machine with new features is a positive sign and will definitely aid to further boost their position in the business computer market," Aima noted.

Intel-ligent Design

Both the Mac Pro Workstation and the Xserve server bring it with the latest in computing technology.

The new Mac Pro combines two of Intel's 45 nanometer quad-core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz and 12 MB of L2 cache in each; powerful new graphics courtesy of the ATI (Nasdaq: ATYT) Radeon HD 2600 XT chip with 256 MB of GDDR3 (Graphics Double Data Rate 3) memory; and up to 4 TB of internal storage with four 1-TB Serial ATA drives to offer perform for creative professionals, 3-D digital content creators and scientists, Apple said.

The system's new high-bandwidth hardware architecture, dual-independent 1,600 MHz front side buses and up to 32 GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory enable the Mac Pro to achieve a 61 percent increase in memory throughput, according to Apple.

Other goodies include a new PCI Express 2.0 graphics slot capable of delivering up to double the bandwidth of the previous generation Mac Pro as well as support up to four graphics cards from the latest generation of NVIDIA products. These including the GeForce 8800 GT with 512 MB of video memory, or the Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5 GB of video memory and a 3-D stereo port for stereo-in-a-window applications. That gives the Mac Pro the ability to "drive up to eight 30-inch displays" at one time for advanced visualization and large display walls, the company said.

The Mac Pro offers front and back connections for external devices with five USB 2.0, two FireWire 400, two FireWire 800, optical and analog audio in and out, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and a headphone jack.

The standard 8-core configuration starts at US$2,799.

"The Mac Pro is loaded with an alphabet soup of technical specifications that can make even seasoned analysts flinch, but it's also a bleeding-edge workstation that creative professionals and scientists will desire," Gray told MacNewsWorld. "With it, Apple is showcasing Intel's most powerful workstation platform in a highly configurable model."

"While the speeds and feeds are certainly impressive, its killer application is the Leopard operating system," he added. "The Mac Pro is a solid upgrade for targeted graphics and scientific clients, but it isn't a general-purpose enterprise desktop, a market Apple hasn't yet focused their efforts on."

"For the Mac Pro, with Apple now firmly in the position of using components supplied by the same IHVs as Dell, HP, etc., the specs are similar to what you can find elsewhere -- not necessarily everywhere, but you can certainly find them. Given the Mac Pro's strength in digital content creation, perhaps the best comparison might be with a vendor like Boxx," Herrera noted.

"[It] doesn't appear [that the Mac Pro has any standout features], with the exception of Leopard -- since PC OEMs don't have access. But again, not a knock on Apple, it's just part of the development model they have now, building machines out of parts from Intel, AMD and Nvidia -- the same stuff everyone else is," he concluded.

Are You Being Served?

Apple's new Xserve server, up to two quad-core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors running up to 3.0 GHz with 12 MB of L2 cache per processor; a new high-bandwidth server architecture, faster dual-independent 1,600 MHz front side buses; up to 32 GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory for a 64 percent faster memory throughput than prior models; up to 3 TB of internal storage and two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots for greater performance and flexibility, the company said.

In addition, the Xserve includes built-in accelerated graphics to drive up to a 23-inch Apple Cinema Display and a new front-facing USB 2.0 port. Each of the server's three drive bays can be configured with 73 GB or 300 GB of SAS drives, or 80 GB and 1 TB SATA drives to provide a mix of high performance and vast storage capabilities for a variety of server applications.

There is also a hardware RAID (redundant array of independent drives) card option that delivers hardware RAID levels 0, 1 and 5 with 256 MB of cache and an included backup battery for up to three days of cached data protection. Testing by Apple showed that the RAID card can deliver up to 251 MB/s RAID 5 performance without using a valuable PCI Express expansion slot, according to Apple.

The Xserve starts at $2,999 and is available at Apple resellers and the company's Web site.