Over the past 3 years on these pages we have successfully challenged the myth that the Apple G4/G5 platform was the best and most powerful platform for music production. We have shown that, feature for feature, pound for pound and dollar for dollar, the MusicXPC is a much better value than any comparable Apple computer. Apple have now seen the light themselves and abandoned the noisy, impotent G5 platform in favor of the Intel platform. This is the same platform Apple has lampooned for years. Well the truth was that the Intel platform had left the G5 in the dust and had moved so far in front that the proud folks at Apple had no choice but to buckle. If you can't beat them join them. So we can say that we no longer have processor wars with Apple, because they have adopted our platform. We will continue our focus on making the best computers for the musicians and producers who are our customers on the Intel platform. Still the best platform.
| MacPro [MA609LL] | Professional S3 | |||
| PROCESSOR & RAM | ||||
| Processor | Two Dual-Core Intel Xeon | One Intel® Core 2 Duo | ||
| Speed | • |
2.66 GHz | 2.13 GHz | |
| Cache | 4MB | 4MB | ||
| Front Side Bus | • |
1.33 GHz | 1.066 GHz | |
| RAM Speed | DDR2 667 | • |
DDR2 800 | |
| RAM Size | 2 GB | 2 GB | ||
| RAM Maximum | • |
16 GB | 8 GB | |
| Chassis | Aluminum | Alluminum | ||
| STORAGE | ||||
| Optical Drive | DVD+/-RW/CD-RW | DVD+/-RW/CD-RW | ||
| Write Speed | 32x32x16x16 | • |
48x40x16x16 | |
| Hard Drive Interface | Serial ATA | Serial ATA | ||
| Hard Drive 1 | 250GB, 7200 rpm, 8MB cache | 250GB, 7200 rpm, 8MB cache | ||
| Hard Drive 2 | none | • |
320GB, 7200 rpm, 8MB cache | |
| Hard Drive 3 | none | • |
320GB, 7200 rpm, 8MB cache | |
| Hard Drive 4 | none | • |
320GB, 7200 rpm, 8MB cache | |
| STORAGE EXPANSION | ||||
| 5.25" Bays | 2 | • |
4 | |
| 3.5" Bays | 4 | • |
5 | |
| Media Card | none | • |
50-in-1 | |
| Total Drive Bays | 6 | • |
9 | |
| VIDEO & GRAPHICS | ||||
| Video Card | PCI-E x16 | PCI-E x16 | ||
| Video RAM | 256MB | 256MB | ||
| Dual DVI/VGA output | Yes | Yes | ||
| Video In | none | • |
Composite | |
| S-Video out | none | Yes | ||
| TV out | none | Yes | ||
| Max Analog Resolution | 2560 x 1660 | 2560 x 1660 | ||
| Max Digital Resolution | 1920 x 1200 | 1920 x 1200 | ||
| COMMUNICATIONS | ||||
| Wireless Networking | none | none | ||
| Bluetooth | none | none | ||
| Ethernet/LAN | Gigabit 10/100/1000 BASE-T | Gigabit 10/100/1000 BASE-T | ||
| EXPANSION | ||||
| PC Card slot Type II | none | none | ||
| ExpressCard/54 slot | none | none | ||
| ExpressCard/34 slot | none | none | ||
| PCI 2.3 slots | none | • |
3 | |
| PCI-E x1 slots | none | • |
1 | |
| PCI-E x4 slots | none | • |
1 | |
| PCI-E x16 slots | • |
3 | 2 | |
| PORTS | ||||
| USB 2.0 | 5 | • |
6 | |
| FireWire 800 | • |
2 | none | |
| FireWire 400 | 2 | 2 | ||
| FireWire 400 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Parallel Port | none | • |
Yes | |
| Serial Port | none | • |
Yes | |
| Joystick Port | none | • |
Yes | |
| MIDI Interface | none | • |
16 channel I/O | |
| AUDIO | ||||
| Microphone in | Yes | Yes | ||
| Headphone out | Yes | Yes | ||
| Audio Resolution | 24-bit/96kHz | • |
24-bit/192kHz | |
| Stereo In/Out | Yes | Yes | ||
| Rear L/R | none | • |
Yes | |
| Surround LFE | none | • |
Yes | |
| AC'97 Support | none | • |
Yes | |
| INPUT | ||||
| Keyboard | • |
109 keys |16 function keys | 105 keys |12 function keys | |
| Numeric Keys | Yes | Yes | ||
| External Optical Mouse | Yes | Yes | ||
| Kensington Lock | Yes | Yes | ||
| BATTERY & POWER | ||||
| Battery | none | none | ||
| Power Supply | 300W | • |
600W | |
| DC Input | none | none | ||
| ENVIRONMENTAL | ||||
| Operating Temperature | 10° - 35°C [50° - 95°F] | • |
5° - 35°C [41° - 95°F] | |
| Max Operating Altitude | 3,000m [10,000 ft] | 3,000m [10,000 ft] | ||
| Relative Humidity | 10 - 90% non-condensing | 10 - 90% non-condensing | ||
| Frequency | 50 - 60Hz | • |
47 - 63Hz | |
| Line Voltage | 100 - 240V AC | • |
90 - 264V AC | |
| RoHS Compliant | Yes | Yes | ||
| SIZE & WEIGHT | ||||
| Length | 475 mm [18.7"] | 482 mm [19.0"] | ||
| Width | 206 mm [8.1"] | 219 mm [8.6"] | ||
| Height | 511 mm [20.1"] | 436 mm [17.2"] | ||
| Net Weight | 19.2 Kg [42.4 lbs] | 14.2 Kg [31.3 lbs] | ||
| PRICE & WARRANTY | ||||
| Operating System | Mac OS X Tiger | Microsoft Windows XP® | ||
| Retail price | $2,799.00 USD | $2,799.00 USD | ||
| HPA Recovery System | none | • |
Yes | |
| Free Telephone Support | 90 days | • |
2 years | |
| Standard Warranty | 1 year | 1 year |
• means better