After having the machine for just over 6 weeks, I feel the time is right to post some more detailed views about my 2.66Ghz Apple Mac Pro.

This review is based on (almost) baseline specifications of the shipping Mac Pro, with an additional 2GB of RAM and an extra 500GB data hard drive.

Mac Pro 2 x 2.66Ghz, 3GB RAM (now 5GB) , 250GB + 500GB HDD.

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Performance

istat.pngComing off an iMac 1.83Ghz Core Duo, the Mac Pro is no small leap in the grand scheme of things. I was going from a Core Duo processor to a Quad Xeon processor. 2 cores to 4 cores. 1GB of RAM to 3GB of RAM. A 160GB HDD to 750GB of total HDD space - the Mac Pro performs just as it looks on paper, amazing.

I’ve had a few requests for different speed testing, so here are some quick results. Bootup time is under 30 seconds, depending on how many startup items I have enabled. I can generally boot in under 30 seconds, no longer enough time for a quick snack break in-between restarts.

Handbrake performs beautifully on the Mac Pro taking full advantage of all 4 Cores in the system. My custom encoding settings are H.264 at 2000kbps, and I can encode at around 60 frames per second, a huge leap over the 20 frames per second I was getting with the older iMac. When ripping with the MP4 file format, 100fps is easily achieved, making a DVD rip a super quick process of just 20 minutes.

I’m impressed at how well the machine takes advantage of four processing cores, and how well tasks are distributed over them all. This will become even more noticeable in Leopard, as much of the operating system is designed to take advantage of more than two processor cores, mening speed-ups are on the cards for even owners of the older PowerMac models.

Although speedy, I feel the Mac Pro needs more than 3GB of RAM for the tasks I’m putting it under. I expect to be adding another 2GB taking the system total to 5GB in the near future. (Update: 5GB is now in the machine.)

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Setup Process

I had heard installing hard drives and RAM into the Mac Pro was a quick and easy 5 minute task, much easier than in any other Mac ever released. I was initially not worried at all about the RAM installation, however the hard drive installation process scared me, it looked a little more complex.

Upon unpacking the machine and before the first boot, I removed the side door off the tower and proceeded to remove the RAM trays. Installing the RAM was a dead simple process which took all but three minutes. The HDD was almost as easy, taking just 5 minutes. Put the drive in the slider, tighten the screws, and slide it back in. It’s as easy as that.

The first boot-up was a little scary, due to the power being cut just as I was in the account setup process. Overall, I’m very happy with how easy this machine is to upgrade - looking forward to having to pop the tower open again in the future when I purchase more RAM/HDDs. Both the machine and drives are super quiet, even more so than the Intel iMac’s. The drives are both Seagate for those wondering, occasional writing can be heard on the disk, however I found it very easy to sleep in the same room while the machine is on.

Upgradability & Limitations

For those still tossing up between the baseline Mac Pro and a “lesser” system from Apple such as the iMac or Mac mini - take the plunge, spend the extra and get the Mac Pro.

Lets take a look at the limitations of both the new iMac and the Mac Pro:

iMac 24″, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 2 displays running at 1920×1200.
Mac Pro, 32GB RAM, 4 x 1TB HDD, 2 display running at 2560×1600 (on ATI card)

Although I’ve questioned if my decision to purchase this machine was correct after the recent 4th generation iMac announcement, I’ve come to my senses are realized I made the right choice. Afterall, I won’t need a new machine for years, if I had bought the iMac, I’d already want to upgrade to the new aluminum one - see? It’s a never ending cycle.

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Design

Keeping the same basic design of the older Power Mac tower and translated it over to the Mac Pro. I’m a big fan of the aluminium tower as it fits perfectly under my desk and although heavy, it isn’t the biggest thing to have to find a place for - still a lot slimmer than towers from companies such as Dell.

Internally, the Mac Pro is miles different from the previous Power Mac tower. It’s much more organized, has a much better airflow, and makes upgrades a swift and painless task.

I’m very impressed in the work the Apple design team invested into making the Mac Pro so simply functional to operate and perform upgrades on, you need to pop one open in person to see how exceptional it really is.

Concluding Thoughts

I’ve been blown away by the Mac Pro. The ability to run dozens of applications at once is priceless, I no longer have to keep an eye on system resources to see what applications need exiting, I can simply leave them all running in the background. One day I didn’t even notice both Aperture & Final Cut Express were open while I worked for a full 12 hours with no slowdown. Simply stunning.

Update: I’ve installed an additional 2GB of RAM taking the machine to 5GB. Much, much snappier. Page-outs are almost zero.

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