Also unveiled at the WWDC in San Francisco is the desktop Mac “dream machine” most of us have been expecting for a while now. Apple is singling out pro audio (namely its Logic Pro application) to demonstrate speed, but it should be just as effective with video. The new “tower” Mac will have two Intel Xeon Core 2 dual-core CPUs that run at speeds up to 3GHz. Don’t confuse this with Core Duo — Core 2 is the latest Intel architecture, fully 64-bit with a 4MB shared L2 cache. The processor is also more efficient on a “per-watt” basis. The bottom line? The new top-of-the-line desktop Mac will be more than twice as fast as the existing G5 Quad. Whew, that’s taking the term “blazing fast” to the extreme.
As mentioned, Apple is particularly targeting audio pros early on, by demonstrating that Logic Pro will run almost twice as fast (officially, it’s 1.8x) as it will on a G5 Quad. Apple also addressed issues concerning the limitations on internal storage. Current G5s are limited to two drives, while this new baby will have four hard drive bays for up to two terabytes of onboard storage (plus plenty of expansion via external drives) plus a second optical drive. As always, we’ll give you more information as soon as we get our hands on it!