Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
The differences between the recently released Mac Pros and the 2009 models they replace are minimum — an update , really , with graphics and processor speeds brought up to 2010 standards . If there is one new specification that sets this generation apart from old Mac Pros ( and all previous Mac , for that matter ) , it is the new , double - digit number of processing center uncommitted in one system .
The new Intel Xeon Westmere CPU that make their Apple debut with the newMac Prooffer up to six cores per central processing unit . And for $ 5000 , you’re able to equip a Mac Pro with two six - core processor , for a totality of 12 processing cores . That system ships with a 1 TB 7200 - rpm hard drive , 6 GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon HD 5770 computer graphic card with 1 GB of video remembering .
The new Westmere CPU support Intel ’s Hyper Threading engineering that can offer twice as many practical cores ( 24 in this subject ) to applications that can make economic consumption of them . The processors also employ TurboBoost technology to power down those extra cores when idle to provide more magnate to the one or two cores that a typical software might actually apply .
2.66GHz Xeon Westmere 12-core Mac Pro Speedmark scores
If 24 virtual cores seems like a lot , you ’re not alone . In our older Speedmark 6 bench mark test cortege , we used CineBench R10 , which had a hard sentence using all of those cores ; the software crashed when attempting to black market the multiple mainframe mental test . Fortunately , CineBench R15 was bring in a few months ago and it hold up 24 ( and more ) processor cores . The updated CineBench tryout is admit in our brand spanking new Speedmark 6.5 trial suite , which we used to measure this system of rules ’s performance against other Macs .
If the $ 5000 Leontyne Price did n’t give it away , our mental testing of the 12 - core Mac Pro show that this Mac Pro is not mean for the mean consumer . With iMacs and lower - priced Mac Pros outperforming the 12 - core model at many everyday tasks , it was only in the handful of high - end , specialised software program try that the 12 - core Mac Pro shined . upshot from HandBrake , CineBench CPU , and MathematicaMark ( all using the available 24 virtual processing cores ) , were the degraded we ’ve seen . The 12 - core Mac Pro ’s Speedmark 6.5 score was 21 percentage faster than the 8 - core 2.4GHz Xeon Mac Pro , with a 52 percent eminent MathematicaMark score , 36 percent faster CineBench R15 CPU score , and 19 percent firm HandBrake event . The young 12 - sum Mac Pro was 26 pct quicker overall than the newfangled low - end Mac Pro , a quad - sum system endure at 2.8GHz .
As shew in our “ Fastest Macs money can buy ” paper , the 12 - core Mac Pro was not the overall swiftness king in our tests . It was exceed by a $ 3699 establish - to - order ( BTO ) Mac Pro with a 3.33GHz 6 - core Xeon Westmere processor , which was faster in 10 of our 17 tests , and matched the 12 - marrow Mac Pro ’s scores in two other tests . prove the 12 - essence Mac Pro with 12 GB of RAM ( six 2 GB DIMMs provide byCrucial ) showed very minuscule improvement over the 12 - core Mac Pro with 6 GB of RAM — just one Speedmark full stop .
The 12 - core Mac Pro was 34 percent faster , overall , than the 2009 8 - core 2.26GHz Xeon Nehalem Mac Pro , and 42 per centum quicker than the 2009 quadriceps - core 2.66GHz Xeon Nehalem Mac Pro .
compare to the high - end stock conformation 27 - inch iMac with a 2.8GHz Core i5 quad - core CPU , the 12 - core Mac Pro was 33 percent quicker overall . Looking at some BTO option on the iMac , however , the iMac fare good and costs well less . A 2.93GHz Core i7 quad - essence iMac cost less than half as much as the 12 - core Mac Pro , which was just 17 percent faster overall — almost all of the public presentation welfare of the 12 - gist Mac Pro was in our multi - processor savvy program labor . The 12 - core Mac Pro was 37 percent faster in our HandBrake test , 73 percent faster in our CineBench CPU test , for example .
Macworld’s buying advice
The 12 - core Mac Pro is sure as shooting not for everyone . It is expensive and unimpressive when execute everyday computing labor . However , for anyone who makes a living work on high - end applications that can use and abuse the 24 virtual cores , the amount of clock time saved on processor - intensive tasks resultant role in the 12 - core Mac Pro being a deal .
[ James Galbraith is Macworld ’s lab director . ]
