That's not just hyperbole. The Mac Pro is cheaper than similarly outfitted hardware from Dell inc. And it makes one heck of a machine on which to run both Mac OS X and Windows XP. (Like Apple's other Intel-based machines, the Mac Pro does Windows.) The standard configuration, as I mentioned earlier, starts at $2,499; A Dell Precision 690 configured the same goes for $3,448. Of course, Dell gives all sorts of discounts depending on the day, time, and position of the moons around Saturn -- so your mileage may vary. But the standard pricing is what most people will be offered.
Note: Buyers can configure their Mac Pro in a lot of ways. Want more speed? Opt for the 3-GHz Woodcrest processors and fork over another $800. Or if you want more green in your wallet, choose the 2.0 chips, and keep $300. There are similar options for hard drives, video cards and wireless networking. On these professional machines, Bluetooth and Airport are considered build-to-order options, since many professionals are on a wired network and have no need for those features.
The Mac Pro can hold and address up to 16GB of RAM, sport 2TB of internal hard disk drive storage, hold two SuperDrives (the second one will add $100 to the cost), and use two ATI Radeon X1900XT cards that can support four -- four! -- of Apple's 30-in. monitors. Now, that is one screamer of production machine.
Performance
Apple has posted Spec integer benchmarks for the new machine that show performance more than twice that of the Quad G5. While quantitative analysis is great, real-world, qualitative performance is what will matter to users and their clients. So, how did Apple's latest and greatest perform? In any application compiled for Universal binary -- meaning it runs natively on Intel chips -- the speed increase was dramatic. Noticeable. Just plain " Wow that is fast." Take your pick. Watching the same image of a Mini Cooper rendered with Luxology Modo on both a Quad G5 and the Mac Pro was an example of fast and faster. When the Mac Pro was done the Quad G5 was still chugging along, only about one-quarter of the way done.