The Mac Pro overview, part 1: inside and out
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Aug 21, 2006 at 9:34am
Today I’m starting a multi-part review/look at the Mac Pro, which was announced on Aug. 7. I received one last week. This is Macsimum’s first multi-part review, but the Mac Pro is a complicated system with more new features than you might suspect. Today we’re going to look at the case itself.
But first a recap: the replacement for the Power Mac G5 sports two dual-core Intel Xeon processors running up to 3GHz. The Mac Pro features the new Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 series processor based on the Intel Core microarchitecture. The desktop features two dual-core Intel Xeon processors running up to 3GHz, each with 4MB of shared L2 cache and independent 1.33GHz front-side buses. With 667 MHz DDR2 fully-buffered memory, the Mac Pro also boasts a 256-bit wide memory architecture.
Those hoping for a new pro desktop design were doubtless disappointed—at least regarding the outside of the Mac Pro. The aluminum case is pretty much identical at first glance to its PowerPC predecessor, though there are some welcome improvements. There are now two USB 2.0 ports on the front, and one each of FireWire 400 and 800. There are three more USB 2.0 ports on the back. Do the math, and you’ll see that the Mac Pro sports a total of five USB 2.0 and four FireWire ports. Thank you, Apple. I was able to put away a couple of hubs and save some desktop space.
By the way, the Mac Pro case is the same size (20.1 by 8.1 by 18.7 inches) as the G5 tower, but weighs two pounds less—a “mere” 42.4 pounds
The Mac Pro comes with a latch on the back as did the Power Mac G5. In addition to opening and closing the case, the latch also holds the hard drive bays in place.
But the big changes to the case are on the inside. Using Intel’s “Woodcrest,” or Xeon, chips has resulted in a pro desktop that uses less power than the hotter-running PowerPC G5. As a result Apple has simplified the cooling and ventilation system drastically. None of the Mac Pros require a liquid cooling a la the high-end Power Mac G5s, so there’s more room to pack goodies inside the case (not to mention that the new pro desktops run cooler and much quieter than their forebears).
What has Apple done with this extra room? Made space for two more hard drives and a second optical device. The Mac Pro features an all new, direct attach storage solution for cable free, snap-in installation of up to four 500GB Serial ATA hard drives for a total of 2TB of internal storage (the most ever on a Mac) and support for two optical drives to simultaneously read and/or write to CDs and DVDs. Every Mac Pro includes three full-length PCI Express expansion slots and one double-wide PCI Express graphics slot.
However, unlike the Power Mac G5, the Mac Pros lack the clear plastic panel that was visible when you removed the side. The panel was needed to ensure adequate air cooling, but it’s no longer needed with the Intel chips.
The pro desktop also includes dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, optical digital input and output, analog audio input and output, and optional built-in support for AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. And therein lies one of my biggest gripes: why is Apple not including its wireless technologies as standard in its pro desktop when they’re standard issue on the pro laptop and all consumer Macs? And why can’t they provide a keyboard and mouse in an “aluminum flavor” rather than shipping the iMac white versions?
Tomorrow we’ll look at the Mac Pro’s new type of memory—and how it and extra hard drives are installed.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
