Mac Pro Westmere Introduction

A Mac Pro is expensive enough to begin with, but paying more for the same performance is silly. The focus of my attention is on the hexacore 3.33GHz “Westmere” configuration. It looks to be the top performing model of the line (or close to it) and a much lower cost than the 12-core models. Of course, specialty uses can make use of 12 cores, but most software cannot.

Viewpoint

This special report takes a photographer’s viewpoint on the Apple Mac Pro, asking what is good enough and what is the absolute best for most users.

Performance and value

Here is the base configuration that will make 95% of Mac users very happy. See the Buying a Mac Pro page for recommended configurations.

Upgrade to a pre-tested and pre-configured MPG Pro Workstation for top performance.

See the Buying a Mac Pro page for recommended configurations

View Apple Mac Pro Upgrades at OWC

Keep reading

Subsequent pages go into details on the new Mac Pro Westmere 2010.

See also

In-depth Review of the March 2009 Mac Pro Nehalem.

Mac Pro Nehalem Shootout

Blazing-fast PCIe storage for Mac Pro Tower

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