I added a new addition to the museum last month: a Mac Pro. I’ve got a Power Mac G5 which uses the same style case but didn’t have the Intel iteration in my collection. I picked up a 2006 model for $150 on eBay. This is the first Mac Pro and the one of the final Macs to make the Intel transition. All models included two dual-core CPUs for a total of four cores running at either 2.0, 2.66, or 3.0 GHz. Mine is the mid-range model with the 2.66 GHz CPUs. It has 11 GB RAM and came with a 240 GB SSD installed.
The Mac Pro was a big deal for Apple because it brought a significant speed boost to its professional line. It brought quad core configurations across the board (versus the G5’s dual core at the low end) and pushed the top clock speeds to 3.0 GHz (up from teh G5’s 2.5 GHz). These systems achieved higher performance while significantly reducing heat generation and power usage, allowing Apple to cram more internal drive bays, expansion slots, and DVD RW drives into the same case. The Intel transition allowed Apple to upgrade the Mac Pro with an 8 core variant in 2007, and a 12 core variant in 2010.
Overall the Mac Pro is very much like my G5, but the layout is completely different. In the video below I explore the Mac Pro, compare it to my G5, and run some performance tests on it.
Relatively Ambitious 