New 12-core Mac Pros available to order in UK

The UK Apple Store is back online, showing the new Mac Pro, 16 months after Apple last updated the top-end range of Macs. The UK store is now listing the Quad-Core, 8-Core and 12-Core models and numerous configurations available to order. The flagship 12-core Mac Pro costs £3,999.01 including VAT.

Aimed at filmmakers, graphic designers and other creative industries, Apple's high-end Mac Pro now features a pair of either quad-core  or six-core Intel Xeon processors, with up to a 12MB L3 cache and speeds ranging from 2.66 GHz to 3.33 GHz.

The Mac Pro comes with Turbo Boost, which allows it to dynamically boost CPU speeds up to 3.6 GHz, while Hyper-Threading allows for the creation of up to 24 virtual cores. A first for the Mac Pro line, customers can add a 512GB solid-state drive into one or all four of the drive bays.

The ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory is now standard, though customers can substitute the faster ATI Radeon HD 5870, also with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. Both of these cards feature dual Mini DisplayPorts and one dual-link DVI port, allowing you to connect two LED Cinema Displays without the need for a second video card.

The new Mac Pros are available to order today with a "2 weeks" shipping date, available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com/uk), Apple Retail Stores and Apple Authorised Resellers.

The new quad-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of £1999 inc VAT (£1701.28 ex VAT), includes:

• One 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3530 processor with 8MB of fully-shared L3 cache;
• 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 16GB;
• ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
• two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
• 1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
• five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n;
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
• Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.

The new 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of £2799 inc VAT (£2382.13 ex VAT), includes:

• two 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5620 processors with 12MB of fully-shared L3 cache per processor;
• 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
• ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
• two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
• 1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
• five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n;
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
• Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.

The new 12-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of £3,999.01 inc VAT (3,403.41 ex VAT), includes:

• two 2.66GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores)
• 6 GB (6 x 1 GB)
• 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
• ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
• two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
• 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
• five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n;
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
• Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.

Configure-to-order options include:

• one 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3565 processor for the quad-core Mac Pro;
• one 3.33 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon W3680 processor for the quad-core Mac Pro;
• two 2.66 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon X5650 processors (12-cores) for the 8-core Mac Pro;
• two 2.93 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon X5670 processors (12-cores) for the 8-core Mac Pro;
• two ATI Radeon HD 5770 cards with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
• one ATI Radeon HD 5870 card with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
• up to 16GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory for the quad-core Mac Pro;
• up to 32GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory for the 8-core Mac Pro;
• up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD); or
• up to four 1TB or 2TB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm;
• Mac Pro RAID card;
• dual-channel or quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel card; and
• up to two 18x SuperDrives with double-layer support.