What are the differences between the original Mac Pro configurations?

Please note that all systems mentioned in this Q&A have been discontinued. The original Mac Pro models were replaced on January 8, 2008 by the "Early 2008" Mac Pro models.

In recent history, Apple has offered systems in "Good", "Better", and "Best" configurations. Often the "Good" configuration shares technology with the previous generation of systems and only the "Better" and "Best" models offer the latest and greatest features.

However, this time, with the switch to Intel processors, Apple decided to simply offer one "suggested" model with numerous options available by custom configuration. All of the original Mac Pro systems, regardless of configuration, are powered by two Intel Xeon 5100 series processors -- either dual core (four cores total) or quad core (eight cores total) -- with 4 MB of shared level 2 cache per processor, a 128-bit SSE3 vector engine, and 1.33 GHz "64-bit dual independent frontside buses."

All of the original Mac Pro systems also use the same fantastically easy to upgrade case, packed with four easy to access "cable free" hard drive bays (marching across the middle in the photo below) that support Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drives, two 5.25" optical drive bays (top left), eight fully buffered (FB-DIMM) slots on two easy access riser cards (bottom right), and four PCI Express expansion slots (one double-wide 16-lane PCI Express slot is occupied by the video card in the default configuration, and three full-length PCI Express expansion slots are open).

Photo Credit: Apple Computer

Obviously, all of the millions of combinations are a bit outside of the scope of this Q&A, but here is a comparison between the "suggested" configuration and a minimum "bare bones" configuration (the least expensive possible way to configure the Mac Pro).

	"Suggested"	"Bare Bones"
Speed of Xeon Processors:	Dual Core 2.66 GHz x2	Dual Core 2.0 GHz x2
Memory:	1.0 GB	1.0 GB
Video Card:	NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT	NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Video Memory:	256 MB	256 MB
Hard Drive Capacity:	250 GB	160 GB*
Optical Drive:	16X "SuperDrive"	16X "SuperDrive"
Price:	US$2499	US$2124*

*On April 4, 2007, Apple dropped the 160 GB hard drive option. The least expensive configuration otherwise was identical but came with a 250 GB hard drive and sold for US$2200.

This "suggested" to "better" configuration may also be of interest. From August 7, 2006 to April 4, 2007, this was the fastest processor option available.

	"Suggested"	"Better"
Speed of Xeon Processors:	Dual Core 2.66 GHz x2	Dual Core 3.0 GHz x2
Memory:	1.0 GB	2.0 GB
Video Card:	NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT	ATI Radeon X1900 XT
Video Memory:	256 MB	512 MB
Hard Drive Capacity:	250 GB	500 GB
Optical Drive:	16X "SuperDrive"	16X "SuperDrive"
Price:	US$2499	US$3975*

*This configuration was US$4149 when configured on August 10, 2006. On April 4, 2007, Apple sold this configuration for US$3975.

On April 4, 2007, Apple began offering a system via custom configuration with two 3 GHz quad core Xeon X5365 processors (eight cores total) for an additional US$1498.

	"Suggested"	"Best"
Speed of Xeon Processors:	Dual Core 2.66 GHz x2	Quad Core 3.0 GHz x2
Memory:	1.0 GB	2.0 GB
Video Card:	NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT	ATI Radeon X1900 XT
Video Memory:	256 MB	512 MB
Hard Drive Capacity:	250 GB	500 GB
Optical Drive:	16X "SuperDrive"	16X "SuperDrive"
Price:	US$2499	US$4674

To purchase a new or used Mac Pro, free of sales tax, please visit site sponsor PowerMax. To purchase hard drives or memory for the Mac Pro, please visit site sponsor Other World Computing.