[crander]

The workstation Xeons support dual (separate physical packages) processor configurations. These are for real workstations and how you get to 12 or 16 cores. Of course just about no one needs a real workstation anymore and a six or eight core single processor ala i7 900 series would work just fine for most in a Mac Pro.

[jiggy2011]

right, for super high powered workstations the Xeon makes sense but allot of the benefit seems to be the ability to run 2+ seperate CPUs, but they sell Mac Pros with only a single Xeon inside them which seems pointless.

There seems to be a total gap in the apple lineup for people who want an at least somewhat expandable computer that lets you pick your own monitors rather than forcing one on you, but doesn't make you pay for server grade hardware.

Most Mac Pros I have seen used were primarily being used for photoshop or ruby dev, very unlikely that justifies the xeon.

To me it seems like saying "you either can buy this 2 seater car with 1.2L 80hp 4 pot engine or a 5 seater car with a 5L 600hp V8"