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Powered by Intel's newest quad-core processors, the redesigned system architecture delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor. The Mac Pro combines two 45nm Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2GHz, each with 12MB of L2 cache per processor, and ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics with 256MB of GDDR3 memory with a new 1,600MHz front side bus. That connects to as much as 4TB of internal storage and a basic 2GB of 800MHz DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM memory that is expandable up to 32GB;

"The new Mac Pro is the fastest Mac we've ever made," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With 3.2GHz 8-core Xeon processing, a 1,600MHz front side bus and 800MHz memory, the new Mac Pro uses the fastest Intel Xeon architecture on the market."

For applications demanding

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even greater graphics power, the new PCI Express 2.0 graphics slot delivers up to double the bandwidth compared to the previous generation, and supports the latest generation of graphics cards from Nvidia such as the GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of video memory and Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of video memory and a 3D stereo port for stereo-in-a-window applications. With support for up to four graphics cards, the new Mac Pro can drive up to eight 30inch displays at once.

Like the previous model The Mac Pro is the most expandable Mac ever, with 33 million possible configurations. For example the four internal hard drive bays enable direct-attach, cable-free installation of four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives, plus support for two CD- and DVD-burning SuperDrives.

Optional 15000rpm SAS drives can deliver up to 250MB/sec of RAID 5 disk I/O performance and combined with SATA or SAS drives, an optional Mac Pro RAID card can provide the highest degree of data protection and disk I/O performance.

Externally there are five USB 2.0, two FireWire 400, two FireWire 800, optical and analogue audio in and out, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and a headphone jack.

For more information go to apple.com/uk/macpro.

UPDATE: The Mac Pro costs from £1,488.51 exc. VAT, £1,749.00 inc. VAT.