Mac Pro

Essentials

Family: Mac Pro

Codename: ?

Gestalt ID: 406

Minimum OS: 10.4.7

Maximum OS: 10.7.5

Introduced: August 2006

Terminated: January 2008

Processor

CPU: Intel Xeon 5100 Series ("Woodcrest")

CPU Speed: 2x2.6 GHz

CPU Cores: 2

FPU: integrated

Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz

Data Bus Width: 64-bit

Address Bus Width: 64-bit

Level 1 Cache: 32 kB data, 32 kB instruction

Level 2 Cache: 4 MB on-processor

ROM: EFI

RAM Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM

Minimum RAM Speed: 667 MHz

Onboard RAM: 0 MB

RAM slots: 8

Maximum RAM: 16 GB

Expansion Slots: 3x 16-lane PCI Express

Video

GPU: Nvidia GeForce 7300GT (16-lane double-wide PCI Express slot)

VRAM: 256 MB

Max Resolution: all resolutions supported

Video Out: DVI (dual link)

Storage

Hard Drive: 250 GB 7200 RPM

ATA Bus: Serial-ATA

Optical Drive: 32x/24x/24x/16x/16x/6x CD-RW/DVD±RW/DVD+R DL

Input/Output

USB: 5 (2.0)

Firewire: 2

Firewire800: 2

Audio Out: 2x stereo 24 bit mini, Optical S/PDIF

Audio In: stereo 24 bit mini, Optical S/PDIF

Speaker: mono

Networking

Modem: optional external 56 kbps

Ethernet: 2x 10/100/1000Base-T

Wi-Fi: optional 802.11b/g

Bluetooth: optional 2.0+EDR

Miscellaneous

Dimensions: 20.1" H x 8.1" W x 18.7" D

Weight: 42.4 lbs.

Announced at WWDC in August 2006, the Mac Pro completed Apple's transition to Intel processors, replacing the PowerMac G5 (Late 2005) as Apple's professional desktop Mac. The Mac Pro was based on two 64-bit, dual-core Intel Xeon 5100 "Woodcrest" processors, which included a 128-bit Vector Engine. The Mac Pro's case resembled its PowerMac predecessor's--with the exception of a second optical drive bay--but the interior of the case was completely redesigned. The Xeon processors required less heat-dissapation than G5 processors, allowing a smaller cooling system. The Mac Pro had four easily accessible hard drive bays (for a BTO maximum of 2 TB of storage) and easy access to its 8 RAM slots, which allowed for a Maximum of 16 GB of RAM.

With the Mac Pro, Apple decided to do something different in terms of configuration. Since the majority of Apple's professional customers tended to heavily-customize their Macs at purchase time, Apple offered a single, heavily customizable Mac Pro model. In effect, this shifted the decision-making for what configurations to sell to the resellers, leaving Apple with a streamlined manufacturing process. The single model sold for $2,499, and included two 2.66 GHz, dual-core Intel Xeon 5100 processors, 1 GB of RAM, a 250 GB hard disk, a SuperDrive, and an Nvidia GeForce 7300GT graphics card with 256MB of VRAM. BTO options included a 2.0 and 3.0 GHz dual-core or 3.0 GHz quad-core processor, up to 16 GB of RAM, up to 2 TB of storage, a second SuperDrive, a variety of graphics cards, and Airport Express and Bluetooth support.

Picture Credits:
Apple, Inc.