The Mac Pro line is a series of Intel Xeon–based workstations computer manufactured by Apple Inc. The Mac Pro, in most configurations and in terms of speed and performance, is the most powerful computer that Apple offers, and is one of three desktop computers in the current Mac lineup, the other two being the iMac and Mac Mini.
Until being revamped in 2013, the Mac Pro outwardly resembled the last version of thePower Mac G5, and had similar expansion capabilities. An Intel-based replacement for the PowerPC-based Power Mac G5 machines had been expected for some time before the Mac Pro was formally announced on August 7, 2006 at the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference(WWDC).[1] The first Mac Pro was based on dual Dual-core Xeon Woodcrest processors. It was replaced by a dual Quad-core XeonClovertown model on April 4, 2007, and again on January 8, 2008 by a dual Quad-core XeonHarpertown model.[2] The 2012 Mac Pro was largely based on a model that was announced on July 27, 2010. It featuresNehalem/Westmere architectures Intel Xeon processors. They offer options of up to 12 processing cores, up to four optional 2TBhard disk drives/512GB solid state drives and ATI Radeon HD 5770/5870 graphics.[3]
At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) opening keynote on June 10, 2013, a redesigned Mac Pro was announced. In a radical departure from the previous case designs, which employed the standard, rectangular form factor, the new Mac Pro is shaped like a cylinder and takes up about one eighth the volume of previous models. Beyond form, the machine supports up to a 12-core Xeon CPU and four 1866 MHz DDR3 RAM modules, as well as dual GPUs and PCIe-based flash storage. While it is yet to be benchmarked or tested by the public, Apple claims that the new Mac Pro achieves twice the performance of the last model.[4]
First generation (tower)Edit
An Intel-based replacement for the Power Mac G5 had long been expected prior to the release of the Mac Pro. The iMac, Mac Mini,MacBook, and MacBook Pro had moved to an Intel-based architecture starting in January 2006, leaving the Power Mac G5 as the only machine in the Mac lineup still based on thePowerPC processor architecture Apple had used since 1993. Speculation about the G5's eventual replacement was common. Rumors initially expected the machine to differ physically from the existing G5 and considered a number of different possible internal configurations based on differentchipsets, but the coincidence of Intel releasing a new Core 2–based Xeon workstation processor platform just prior to the 2006 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) made it fairly obvious that the resulting machine would be based on it.[5] Even the naming was "obvious"; Apple had dropped the term "Power" from the other machines in their lineup, and started using "Pro" on their higher-end laptop offerings. As such, the name "Mac Pro" was widely used before the machine was announced.[5]
The Mac Pro was a workstation similar to other Unix workstations such as those previously manufactured by Sun Microsystems.[6] Although the high-end technical market has not traditionally been an area of strength for Apple, the company has been positioning itself as a leader in non-linear digital editing for high-definition video, which demands storage and memory far in excess of a general desktop machine. Additionally, the codecs used in these applications are generally processor intensiveand highly threadable, speeding up almost linearly with additional processor cores.[5]Apple's previous machine aimed at this market, the Power Mac G5, had up to two dual-core processors (marketed as "Quad-Core"), but lacked the storage expansion capabilities of the newer design.[5]
In general, the Mac Pro had been well received in the press.[7] The combination of high performance, reasonable expandability, very quiet operation and the quality of its mechanical design makes it routinely appear as the comparison system against which other systems are measured.[8] The Xeon platform is, however, Intel's “high end” system and not aimed at more general purpose use.[8] Nevertheless, current-generation Xeon CPUs are priced competitively in comparison to high-end desktop platforms, allowing Apple to sell a very powerful system at prices that are considered quite competitive, especially when compared to other UNIX workstations.[8]
Original marketing materials for the Mac Pro generally referred to the middle-of-the-line model with 2 × dual-core 2.66 GHz processors.[9] Previously, Apple featured the base model with the words "starting at" or "from" when describing the pricing, but the online Apple Store listed the "Mac Pro at $2499", the price for the mid-range model. The base model could be configured at US$2299, much more comparable with the former base-model dual-core G5 at US$1999, although offering considerably more processing power. Post revision, the default configurations for the Mac Pro includes one quad-core Xeon 3500 at 2.66 GHz or two quad-core Xeon 5500s at 2.26 GHz each.[9]Like its predecessor, the Power Mac G5, the pre-2013 Mac Pro was Apple's only desktop with standard expansion slots for graphics adapters and other expansion cards.
Apple stopped shipping the Mac Pro in Europe on March 1, 2013 after an amendment to a safety regulation left the professional Mac non-compliant. The last day to order was February 18, 2013.[10] Following an overview of the redesigned second generation Mac Pro at a media event on October 22, 2013 the previous 2012 model was removed from Apple's online store.
Processors
The 2010 and later Mac Pro systems were available with one or two processors with options giving four, eight, or twelve cores. As an example the eight core standard configuration Mac Pro used two Quad core ×8 Intel E5620007 Xeon processors @2.4 GHz,[9][11] but could be configured with two Hexa Core Intel Xeon Processor X5670 @2.93 GHz.[12] Since the processor(s) are socketed, the processor(s) could be easily removed and replaced with compatible 64-bit Intel Xeon processors. There was a limited universe of Xeon processor types suitable for an upgrade, and these processors differed with each model of Mac Pro, so a user must know the proper socket-type, Mac Pro system type (i.e., single- or dual-processor, model year, etc.), and other processor specifications before attempting an upgrade.
Memory
The original Mac Pro's main memory used 667 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMMs; the early 2008 model used 800 MHz ECC DDR2 FB-DIMMS, the 2010 and onward Mac Pro used 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC DIMMs for the standard models, and 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC DIMMs for systems configured with 2.66 GHz or faster processors.[13] In the original and 2008 models, these modules are installed in pairs, one each on two riser cards. The cards have 4 DIMM slots each, allowing a total of 32 GB of memory (8 × 4 GB) to be installed.[14] Notably, due to its FB-DIMM architecture, installing more RAM in the Mac Pro will improve its memory bandwidth, but may also increase its memory latency.[15]With a simple install of a single FB-DIMM the peak bandwidth is 8 GB/s, but this can increase to 16 GB/s by installing two FB-DIMMs, one on each of the two buses, which is the default configuration from Apple. While electrically the FB-DIMMs are standard, for pre-2009 Mac Pro models Apple specifies larger-than-normal heatsinks on the memory modules. Problems have been reported by users who have used third party RAM with normal size FB-DIMM heatsinks.[16] (seenotes below). 2009 and later Mac Pro computers do not require memory modules with heatsinks.
Hard drives
The Mac Pro had room for four internal 3.5"SATA-300 hard drives in four internal "bays". The hard drives were mounted on individual trays (also known as "sleds") by captive screws. A set of four drive trays was supplied with each machine. Adding hard drives to the system did not require cables to be attached as the drive was connected to the system simply by being inserted into the corresponding drive slot. A case lock on the back of the system locked the disks trays into their positions.
The Mac Pro also supported Serial ATA solid-state drives (SSD) in the 4 hard drive bays via an SSD-to-hard drive sled adapter (mid-2010 models and later), and by third-party solutions for earlier models (e.g., by an adapter/bracket which plugged into an unused PCIe slot). Various 2.5-inch SSD drive capacities and configurations were available as options.
The Mac Pro was also available with an optional hardware RAID card.[17] With the addition of a SAS controller card or SAS RAIDcontroller card, SAS drives could be directly connected to the system's SATA ports.
Two optical drive bays were provided, each with a corresponding SATA port and an Ultra ATA/100 port.
The Mac Pro had one PATA port and could support two PATA devices in the optical drive bays. It had a total of six SATA ports – four were connected to the system's drive bays, and two were not connected. The extra SATA ports could be put into service through the use of after-market extender cables to connect internal optical drives, or to provideeSATA ports with the use of an eSATA bulkhead connector.[18] However, the two extra SATA ports were unsupported and disabled under Boot Camp.
A built to order Mac Pro could be configured with up to 8 TB of storage (4 × 2 TB disks) or 2 TB (512 ×4 SSD).
Expansion cards
The 2008 model had two PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0 expansion slots and two PCI Express 1.1 slots, providing them with up to 300 W of power in total. The first slot was double wide and intended to hold the main video card, arranged with an empty area the width of a normal card beside it to leave room for the large coolers modern cards often use. In most machines, one slot would be blocked by the cooler. Instead of the tiny screws typically used to fasten the cards to the case, in the Mac Pro a single "bar" held the cards in place, which is itself held in place by two "captive" thumbscrews that can be loosened by hand without tools and will not fall out of the case.
On the original Mac Pro introduced in August 2006, the PCIe slots can be configured individually to give more bandwidth to devices that require it, with a total of 40 "lanes", or 13 GB/s total throughput. When running Mac OS X, the Mac Pro did not support SLI or ATI CrossFire,[19] limiting its ability to use the latest "high-end gaming"video card products; however, individuals have reported success with both CrossFire and SLI installations when running Windows XP, as SLI and CrossFire compatibility is largely a function of software.
The bandwidth allocation of the PCIe slots can be configured via the Expansion Slot Utility included with Mac OS X only on the August 2006 Mac Pro. The Early-2008 and later Mac Pros had PCIe slots hardwired as follows:
External connectivity
For external connectivity, the Mac Pro included five USB 2.0 and four FireWire 800ports. Networking was supported with two built-in Gigabit Ethernet ports. 802.11 a/b/g/nWi-Fi support (AirPort Extreme) required an optional module in the Mid 2006, Early 2008 and Early 2009 models, whereas in the 2010 model and later Wi-Fi was standard.Bluetooth also required an optional module in the Mid 2006 model, but was standard in the Early 2008 and newer models. Displays were supported by one or (optionally) more PCIegraphics cards. More recent cards featured two Mini DisplayPort connectors and one dual-link Digital Visual Interface (DVI) port, with various configurations of on-cardgraphics memory available.
Digital (TOSlink optical) audio and analog 1⁄8" stereo mini jacks for sound in and out were included, the latter becoming available on both the front and back of the case.
Unlike other Mac computers, the Mac Pro did not include an infrared receiver (required to use the Apple Remote). Beginning with Mac OS X Leopard, Front Row could be accessed on the Mac Pro (and other Macs) using theCommand (⌘)-Escape keystroke.
Case
From 2006 through 2012, the exterior of the Mac Pro's aluminum case was very similar to that of the Power Mac G5, with the exception of an additional optical drive bay, and a new arrangement of I/O ports on both the front and the back. The case could be opened by operating a single lever on the back, which unlocked one of the two sides of the machine, as well as the drive bays. All of theexpansion slots for memory, PCIe cards and drives could be accessed with the side panel removed and no tools were required for installation.[20]
The Xeon processors generated much less heat than the previous dual-core G5s, so the size of the internal cooling devices had been reduced significantly. This allowed the interior to be re-arranged, leaving more room at the top of the case and thereby allowing the drives to double in number. Less heat also meant less air to move out of the case for cooling during normal operations; the Mac Pro was very quiet in normal operation, quieter than the much noisier Power Mac G5,[21][22] and proved difficult to measure using common sound pressure level meters.[23]
Specifications
Second generation (cylinder)Edit
Apple received criticism after an incremental upgrade to the Mac Pro line following the 2012 WWDC. The line received more default memory and increased processor speed but still used Intel's older Westmere-EP processors instead of the newer E5 series.[31]The line also lacked current technologies likeSATA III, USB 3, and Thunderbolt, the last of which had been added to every other Macintosh at that point. An email from Apple CEO Tim Cook promised a more significant update to the line in 2013.[32]
Apple unveiled a completely redesigned Mac Pro during the WWDC 2013 keynote. Apple Senior Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller presented a "sneak peek" video of the product, a very unusual move for the company. The video revealed an overhauled case design, a polished silver aluminum cylinder built around a central thermal dissipation core and vented by a single fan, which pulls air from under the case, through the core, and out the top of the case. The model is assembled in Austin, Texas.
The 2013 Mac Pro has a vastly redesigned configuration of ports. The Mac Pro has anHDMI 1.4 port, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, six Thunderbolt 2 ports, four USB 3 ports, and combined digital Mini-TOSlink optical /analog 1⁄8" stereo mini jacks for sound in and out. The Thunderbolt 2 ports support up to 36 Thunderbolt devices (six per port) and can support up to 3 simultaneous 4k displays. This design requires 2 GPUs to support the 7 display outputs (HDMI and 6 Thunderbolt). The new Mac Pro no longer has FireWire 800 ports, dedicated digital audio in/out ports, aSuperDrive, or a DVI port (although DVI devices can easily be attached using anHDMI-to-DVI adapter). The new Mac Pro removes the ability to replace hard drives by foregoing the four 3.5-inch drive bays for proprietary PCIe-channel flash storage. It also removes the ability to add PCIe cards internally, leaving the RAM as the only user-servicable part. The I/O panel is illuminated when the unit senses it has been moved to make it easier for the user to see the ports.
Specifications
Mac Pro ServerEdit
On November 5, 2010, Apple introduced the Mac Pro Server, which officially replaced theXserve line of Apple servers as of January 31, 2011. The Mac Pro Server came with an unlimited[9] Mac OS X Server license and an Intel Xeon 2.8 GHz Quad-Core processor, with 8 GB of DDR3 RAM.[34] In mid-2012, the Mac Pro Server was upgraded to an Intel Xeon 3.2 GHz Quad-Core processor with 8GB of DDR3 RAM. The Mac Pro Server was discontinued on October 22, 2013, with the introduction of the second-generation cylinder Mac Pro.
Operating systemsEdit
The Mac Pro comes with the BIOS successorEFI 1.1 and handles booting differently from the conventional BIOS-based PC.[35]
Apple's Boot Camp provides BIOS backwards compatibility, allowing dual and triple boot configurations. These operating systems are installable on Intel x86 based Apple computers:[36]
- OS X 10.4.7 and later
- Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 32-bit & 64-bit (hardware drivers are included in Boot Camp)
- Other x86 operating systems such as Linux x86, Solaris, and BSD
This is made possible by the presence of an x86 Intel architecture as provided by the CPU and the BIOS emulation Apple has provided on top of EFI.[36] Installing any additionaloperating system other than Windows is not supported by Apple, because the Boot Camp drivers are Windows only.[36] It is often possible to achieve full or nearly full compatibility with another OS by using third-party drivers.[36]
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