Mac Pro Finale

Yesterday, Apple announced the latest major revision of the long overdue Mac Pro along with the iMac and Mac mini. According to an old blog post, my interest in purchasing a Mac Pro runs as far back as 2005. Since that time, I have commented on the Mac Pro's major refreshes in 2006 and 2008.

Keeping the tradition alive, here's my summary of the 2009 revision: I'm officially out of the Apple Pro workstation market! The lack of an external case redesign aside, the Pro systems have essentially increased in price by $500, not a trivial amount considering that these systems start at $2500 on upwards. I'm sure modo rendering will scream with these machines but my current iMac 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo is doing just fine.

Members of the Macrumor forums have pointed out that there isn't a Nvidia Quadro FX solution available anymore as well as the need to purchase two graphic cards to drive two Apple LCD displays using the Mini DisplayPort. Personally those issues wouldn't affect me but I still don't like the fact that an AirPort Extreme card isn't standard. I do love the beautifully redesigned interior though, definitely the best in the industry. Mabey if I get back into computer graphics as a career I'll reconsider the workstation market but for now I'll move on.

As a final sendoff, here's my dream config if I were to buy one today:

• Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
• 8GB (4x2GB)
• 640GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
• ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
• One 18x SuperDrive
• Apple Mighty Mouse
• Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) and User's Guide
• AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi Card with 802.11n
• Apple LED Cinema Display (24" flat panel)

Total: $4,548.00