"Perfect for professionals who have a heavy workload. Whether you are working in graphic design, film editing or publishing, this desktop has what it takes to get the job done right."
Rosie Khdir
Apple has outdone itself once again with its new Apple Mac Pro 8-Core. Thanks to new technological advances this classic Apple style desktop is now more powerful and 1.9x faster than previous models.
With all its power, the Apple Mac Pro 8-Core is perfect for professionals who have a heavy workload. Whether you are working in graphic design, film editing or publishing, this desktop has what it takes to get the job done right.
What we like best
The latest Apple Mac Pro desktops are the fastest Macs ever and still manage to be energy efficient. For example if you’re using an application that doesn’t need every core, Turbo Boost shuts off the idle cores and increases the speed of the active ones.
One of the best things about the new Apple Mac Pro 8-Core is the ease in which it can be upgraded. Not only have the guts of the machine been streamlined but accessibility has been made easy; it has a slide out processor tray and hard drive to add memory and storage.
What we like least
This desktop is quite pricy and users would have to be sure this was the right desktop for them. It is also quite bulky compared to models such as the iMac, and so is not as attractive to home users who want a more seamless design.
Considering its power and expense it is not advised as a home computer, but it is great for a professional user, especially those working with digital and creative media. It is quite expensive but you get a great deal for your money and thanks to its easy upgrade facilities it will no doubt last you a long while.
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Processor Speed
2.4 GHz
Processor
Intel Quad Core Xeon 'Westmere'
RAM
Up to 32 Gb RAM
Screen Size
NA
Graphics
ATI Radeon HD 5770
Hard Drive Storage
Up to 2 Tb Hard Drive
Battery
NA
Multimedia
18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD-R DL/DVD-RW/CD-RW)
SDXC card slot
Two Mini DisplayPort outputs
One dual-link DVI video output
Five USB ports
Four Firewire ports
Weight & Size
206mm (W) x 511mm (H) x 475mm (D)
18.7Kg
Connectivity
Built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) wireless technology
Two independent 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet (RJ-45) interfaces with support for jumbo frames
Operating System
OS X Snow Leopard
Chrome you say? It’s an operating system unlike anything you’ve really seen before. People have called it a “glorified browser” but that’s far from an insult.
Think of everything you do and can do online; listen to music, watch video, read books, papers and magazines, communicate, create and edit documents and pictures with things like Google Docs.
Google Chrome browser (confusing that isn’t it) now features native Flash and PDF reader. With the exception of Word and Photoshop, almost everything I do on my computer at work and home is done now through the browser, or secondary software like Spotify.
A web focussed OS which loads in seconds on my netbook, makes sense.
Google argue that other OS are out of date; their basic architecture and design philosophy comes from a time when the web either didn’t exist or didn’t have such a big impact on our lives. And now browsers are simply bolted on top of Windows or Mac OS.
Chrome is not aiming to compete with Windows 7 or Snow Leopard, and you would never be able to run a huge program like Photoshop on it, instead with netbooks and tablets Chrome OS makes the internet part of the device.
And here lies a small problem; in Googleplex down in Mountain View, California, the Wi-Fi signal is probably so good you can taste it. Not so in North London. With Chrome OS should my Wi-Fi die, my Chrome OS netbook will be little more than a paperweight.
It’s undoubtedly the future for lightweight devices, but it might have to wait for our internet infrastructure to catch up.
Secondly there’s some confusion about its real place as Toshiba for one have unveiled working pre-production models of an ultra slim netbook running Android, Google’s phone OS. Chrome looks the better for the moment, but who knows how that will work out.
What’s it going to look like?
Take a look at the Google Chromium blog to find out, it’s changing all the time, but it basically will be a browser, media player, apps and widgets, and that’s about it.
The finished Chrome OS will probably look an awful lot like the Chrome browser. A bit Spartan certainly, but Google thinks that it’s all you need.
Once it’s ready where can I get it?
It’s out “this fall” according to Google. And that’s the most information you’ll be getting for the moment.
It seems likely that it won’t be available for open download like Ubuntu, and Dell, Acer and HP have all been rumoured to be producing Chrome OS loaded devices.
The Chrome excitement was given a new shine by Amit Midha, Dell’s President for Greater China and South Asia, saying Dell wants to be “one of the leaders” with the new technology.
A Dell Mini 10 or Dell Streak seem like the most likely products to get Chromed, and with a hardware giant like Dell behind it Chrome could become very popular. We’ll keep you updated.
Image Credit: Wiki Commons
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