Now that Apple has filed for the trademark of “Mac Pro”, it’s pretty obvious that this will be the Intel replacement of the PowerMac G5. The PowerBook, iMac, and iBook replacements all were lavished with statistics of higher performance than of the older models but the question is, will this be true of the Mac Pro?

The PowerMac is sporting a quad-core G5 which makes it the choice for multimedia professionals. It’s been a known fact that non-Universal programs such as Photoshop CS2 are having speed issues on the Intel-based Macs and coupled with the fact that Adobe is pretty much set on a 2007 update, this could put the Mac Pro at risk if it can’t overcome the slow factor.

Macworld tested PowerMacs against the MacBook Pro in February and found in all but three tests (boot-up, frame rate, and packing a zip archive) that the G5 processor was still mightier than the Intel dual-core chips. Universal binaries will be sure to change those numbers; however, by how much? If rumors are close to being accurate, we could see Mac Pros by summer giving about six months (at least) before Adobe, Microsoft, and other Universal hold outs release updates for the new faster Intel chips.

But what if Steve’s got a trick up his sleeve? (Surprised?) What if the Mac Pro will get two dual-core chips? That’ll make it a quad-core-like chip much like the G5 it will replace. With the extra umph, this may be enough to ignore the slower rendering and other issues of Photoshop and such like applications. Think of the power of the Mac Pro when Universal binaries come out! Could it be this is the game plan? Could it be?

Speculation is a great thing, but some validity can made to such incredible stories with some foundation. Truth is, Intel is coming to the PowerMac replacement. Intel’s chips have come down in price and stuffing more in to the top-of-the-line Mac is a no-brainer. Universal applications will be the norm of Mac software life by summer of 2007. All things will come together eventually and yes, then, the Mac Pro will be better than the PowerMac. Way better.

[tags]adobe,photoshop,powermac,universal,mac pro,less power,two dual-core[/tags]