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Apple Mac Pro Desktop (Two 3.0 GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon Processors, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, 16x SuperDrive) | 
| Brand: Apple Category: Personal Computer
Buy New: $3,599.00
Rating: 17 reviews
Media: Personal Computers Shipping Weight (lbs): 65 Dimensions (in): 28.2 x 23.2 x 12.6
Model: Z0EM1 ASIN: B000VR3E3C
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Availability: Not yet released
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| Features:
| • | Two 3.0 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, 1.6 GHz per processor bus | | • | 2 GB RAM expandable up to 16 GB, 320 GB hard drive, 16x Double-Layer SuperDrive | | • | ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB (Two dual-link DVI) | | • | Two FireWire 800 ports, two FireWire 400 ports, five USB 2.0 ports, and two USB 1.1 (on keyboard) | | • | Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, iLife '08, Comic Life, Omni Outliner, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive, iWork 08 (30-day trial), FileMaker Pro 3.5 trial |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Product Description Boost your productivity with the Apple Mac Pro desktop PC--the fastest Mac Apple has ever made. Combining two of Intel's new 64-bit, 45-nanometer Quad-Core Xeon 5400 processors running at 3.0 GHz, the Mac Pro is an unbelievably powerful workstation that can handle even the most intensive graphics rendering. Its industrial-style enclosure offers improved functionality with a cable-free installation process and massive upgrade ability--up to 32 GB of 800 MHz RAM and four hard drive bays for up to 4 TB (that's right--terabytes) of storage under the hood. And while it comes standard with a 16x SuperDrive (compatible with burning DVDR/RW and CD-R/RW discs), you can also add a second writing SuperDrive. Additionally, the Mac Pro MA970LL/A features a 320 GB hard drive, 2 GB of installed RAM, and the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (two dual-link DVI ports) graphics card with 256 MB of video RAM, both FireWire 400 and 800 slots, optical digital audio input and output, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, and iLife '08. The Mac Pro also includes a DVI to VGA adapter and an Apple keyboard and Mighty Mouse. 
Smart design makes installing massive amounts of memory, adding expansion cards, and increasing storage surprisingly simple. | Processor Based on Intel's next-generation Core micro-architecture, the two 3.0 GHz 64-bit quad-core Intel Xeon 5400 processors are based on state-of-the-art 45nm Intel Core microarchitecture. With a new high-bandwidth hardware architecture, 12 MB of L2 cache per processor (each pair of cores shares 6 MB), and dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses, the new Mac Pro achieves a 61 percent increase in memory throughput. These 64-bit buses give each processor a direct connection to the system controller and deliver improved processor bandwidth of up to 25.6GB per second--20 percent greater than the previous Mac Pro. Every Intel Xeon processor features an enhanced SSE4 SIMD engine. Capable of completing 128-bit vector computations in a single cycle, SSE4 is ideal for transforming large sets of data, such as applying a filter to an image or rendering a video effect. Because Intel designed this dual-core Xeon to be more efficient, it consumes less power than similar workstation-level processors, so your system fans don't have to work as hard to keep them cool. Working with Mac OS X Leopard, it also continues the tradition of enabling 64-bit computation. Ideal for scientific applications, the 64-bit Intel Xeon processors can express the extreme precision needed for floating-point mathematics and to express integers up to 18 billion. The Mac Pro incorporates a 256-bit-wide, fully buffered memory architecture with Error Correction Code (ECC), which corrects single-bit errors and detects multiple-bit errors automatically. These features are especially important in mission-critical or compute-intensive environments. Apple designed a more stringent thermal specification for the Mac Pro FB-DIMMs, so the internal fans spin at slower speeds and keep the system quiet. Graphics This Mac Pro comes standard with the new, high-performance ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card with 256 MB of GDDR3 memory, PCI Express 2.0, and two dual-link DVI ports. GDDR3 (Graphics Double Data Rate, version 3) is a graphics card-specific memory technology that's better able to deliver fluid frame rates for even the most advanced games and applications. It provides great performance for typical creative applications, and you get dual 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display support out of the box. With support for up to four graphics cards, the new Mac Pro can drive up to eight 30-inch displays at once for advanced visualization and large display walls. Hard Drive This Mac Pro (model MA970LL/A) comes loaded with a single 320 GB hard drive. It comes with four 3.5-inch internal hard drive bays for an enormous amount of internal storage--up to 4 TB. These bays are direct-attach and cable free, so it's easy to add or remove drives. Just attach the drive carrier to either a Serial ATA 3Gb/s or Serial Attached SCSI 3Gb/s drive, and slide the drive into place. There are no connectors or cables to contend with. Lock the drives with the side door latch, and you're done. You can also choose ultrafast 15,000-rpm Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) 3Gb/s drives with 300GB of capacity for the highest in disk I/O performance. Together with the Mac Pro RAID Card, these drives provide 250MB/s of RAID 5 disk I/O performance. That's enough data to play back one stream of 10-bit uncompressed HD content. It's the ultimate storage solution for highly demanding data transfer situations like editing uncompressed HD video content or updating ultra-high-resolution images. 
The Mac Pro is loaded with connectivity options. | Using Mac OS X, you can stripe two, three, or all four hard drives in a RAID 0 array to increase performance and create a massive volume for video editing; or create a RAID 1 mirror for protecting your critical digital media assets against a drive failure. For the ultimate in data protection and enhanced performance, add the optional Mac Pro RAID Card with 256MB of RAID cache, a 72-hour cache-protecting battery, and hardware RAID levels 0, 1, 5, and 0+1. Apple's RAID Utility software makes setting up and managing the RAID card easy. Memory While this Mac Pro comes loaded with just 1 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 RAM--which is satisfactory--this Mac Pro has two memory riser cards with four fully buffered DIMM slots each. Just slide out the riser cards and snap in the memory. You don't have to dig around inside the computer or wrestle with wires or cables. With a total of eight DIMM slots available, you can install up to 32GB of 800MHz ECC fully buffered DIMM memory. Expansion and Connectivity The Mac Pro features four full-length expansion slots, including a high-performance PCI Express 2.0 graphics slot, with up to twice the bandwidth of PCI Express. The graphics slot is double-wide, so it doesn't cover up an adjacent slot. In addition, three available expansion slots, one PCI Express 2.0 and two PCI Express, provide room to grow. And thanks to a tool-less PCI bracket, you can take out cards as fast as you put them in. - Two FireWire 800 ports (one on front panel, one on back panel)
- Two FireWire 400 ports (one on front panel, one on back panel)
- Five USB 2.0 ports (two on front panel, three on back panel)
- Two USB 1.1 ports on included keyboard
- Front-panel headphone minijack and speaker
- Optical digital audio input and output Toslink ports
- Analog stereo line-level input and output minijacks

Preloaded with Leopard, you'll enjoy enhanced productivity and a clutter-free desktop (thanks to the redesigned 3-D Dock with Stacks). | Preloaded with Leopard and iLife '08 The biggest Mac OS X upgrade ever, the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system features over 300 new features, including: - Time Machine, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac
- A redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs
- Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application
- Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them
- A brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock
- Major enhancements to Mail and iChat
Leopard's new desktop includes the redesigned 3-D Dock with Stacks, a new way to organize files for quick and easy access with just one click. Leopard automatically places web, e-mail and other downloads in a Downloads stack to maintain a clutter-free desktop, and you can instantly fan the contents of this and other Stacks into an elegant arc right from the Dock. The updated Finder includes Cover Flow and a new sidebar with a dramatically simplified way to search for, browse and copy content from any PC or Mac on a local network. Time Machine lets you easily back up all of the data on your Mac, find lost files and even restore all of the software on their Mac. With just a one-click setup, Time Machine automatically keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on the Mac. In the event a file is lost, you can search back through time to find deleted files, applications, photos and other digital media and then instantly restore the file. The Mac Pro also comes with the iLife '08 suite of applications that make it easy to live the digital life. Use iPhoto to share entire high-res photo albums with anyone who's got an e-mail address. Record your own songs and podcasts with GarageBand. Break into indie filmmaking with iMovie and iDVD. Then take all the stuff you made on your Mac and share it on the Web in one click with iWeb. Dimensions It measures 20.1 x 8.1 x 18.7 inches, and weighs 42.4 pounds. What's in the Box Mac Pro, Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse, DVI to VGA adapter, USB keyboard extension cable, install/restore DVDs, printed and electronic documentation
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
Speed Demon! May 5, 2008 Christopher R. Gillespie (Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA) Best Mac I've ever owned. Speed Demon! Very reasonable price for the performance! It's no mid-level computer but a truly high-end performer. Aperture, Final Cut Pro, file serving, etc all fly.
Quiet, Heavy, Big. no AirPort option. April 27, 2008 Lloyd B. Showalter (Virginia's Shenadoah Valley) 1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Quad-Core Xeon they call it, but Harpertown is the newest version and it is server grade COOOOL. Heat kills and this is fast and cool and should be around for a good long time. It is the easiest Mac to expand, period. Amazon got it to me fast and in pristine shape. RANT time! Can not order with AirPort installed. Airport for this puppy has three cables and you use two and is best done by Apple, really. So if AirPort is a must, the money you save here is not worth the hassel of taking this big dog in for the card.
My best Mac ever. April 24, 2008 Cristian A. Rodriquez (Houston, Texas USA) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchased this Mac particularly for it's processing power. I do a lot of work in 3D and my G5 was taking days to complete some of my rendering work.
This Mac has surpassed every expectation I had. Something that would take 42 hours to render gets completed in a bit under 8 hours.
If you need the processing power get this Mac, if you only need it for Adobe Creative Suite CS3 work, the iMac 24" is probably a better choice.
Aside from the processing superiority, what most impressed me was the ease of migrating my old Mac to this new one with Apple's Migration Assistant. Got everything done in a little bit over two hours. Did not have to reinstall any of my main applications, not even the Adobe CS3 suite. Very smooth and easy.
The fist thing that I did was plug in more RAM. I added 4 GB for a little bit under $200, so now I have 6 GB of RAM. I did notice a huge difference in speed after the upgrade, particularly running several things at once. I will probably add another 4 when my budget allows.
Insane to the Brain!!! April 21, 2008 B. FREEDMAN (California) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Pro's
This computer is insane I usually run 3 operating system (OSX,VISTA 64 bit, XP 64 bit using vmware and only used about 12% on the computers power with about 9 programs open at the same time. I have 6 gigs, and the most Ive used so far was 5.3. I do a lot of video editing (final cut pro + soundtrack pro) and this machine will literally last me probably 7-10 yrs because of its power. I'd say this machine is 2 yrs ahead of it time! I have at one time used 76% of the computers power when I was encoding a video...... But other wise well built machine, and plenty fast! Plus its quieter than my macbook pro!!!
Con's
Memory 4 gbs $200! No choice for gpu's, but the one that comes with it is plenty good.
This is a great machine... April 20, 2008 Christopher Hall 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This machine was purchased as an upgrade to my MDD G4. The stock configuration makes this machine great for web browsing, but not too useful for processing images and page layout,- something I expected, so I upped the RAM to 6GB and it is doing much better. This is the quietest machine I have ever owned. I added two more SATA hard drives, plus 2 external hard drives for various projects I have in the works. Leopard is as stable as can be expected from an operating system. Not bulletproof, but pretty good. This machine has locked up, needing a hard shut down, only once since purchase. This is a typical Mac - its a workhorse, its stable, its pricey. But it does what its supposed to. I highly recommend this to anyone that is serious in graphic design.
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