Apple has announced updated MacPro computers with eight-core standard configurations and a new system architecture. The systems consist of two Quad-Core Xeon chips running at up to 3.2GHz. The case will handle up to 4TB of internal storage. No high-definition burner option from Apple yet. They state in HDV rendering tests that the new 8-core 3.2GHz Mac Pro is:

* Up to 1.8x faster than Power Mac G5 Quad
* Up to 1.4x faster than Mac Pro Quad-core 2.66GHz
* 1.2x faster than the previous-gen Mac Pro 8-core 3.0GHz

Stated performance gains are even higher for HDV Encoding, ProRes Rendering, ProRes Encoding, and AE CS3’s Nightflight benchmark. See for yourself here. The Apple Store is updating right now, but I imagine will repoen soon for those that are looking to upgrade soon. A standard eight-core config will cost $2799.