You now simply push a single thin bar that extends across all the PCI Express 2.0 slots to release any or all cards. With the new Mac Pro, that second step is much easier. Then you had to feel around behind the card, searching for a little plastic tab mounted on the motherboard, which you needed to lift up in order to release the card. In the past, to remove a card, you’d first need to turn two large thumbscrews that held a small plate keeping the cards in place. Another nice design change helps ease the removal of PCI cards from the four full-size PCI Express 2.0 card slots. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve struggled over the years to remove that first drive.

Now, though, the large plastic piece holding the fan near the front of the Mac Pro is much smaller, giving your fingers more room to grip the hard-drive sleds. The Mac Pro still has four internal cable-free hard-drive slots, using a sliding tray to attach the drives directly to the motherboard. The memory design no longer requires the large heat sinks. The quad-core Mac Pro has four memory slots that ship with 3GB, 6GB, or 8GB of 1,066MHz DDR3 SDRAM modules the eight-core Mac Pro has eight DIMM slots for a maximum of 32GB of RAM. The memory modules are no longer installed on two sliding trays-instead, the memory and processor all rest on a sled at the bottom of the case, which you remove by releasing two latches. Upon opening the case, you immediately notice major changes in the layout of the components. The new Mac Pros have been remodeled on the inside to provide for easier access to components. On the graphics card, one of the two dual-link DVI connectors at the rear of the system has been replaced with a Mini DisplayPort connector, which lets you connect either to Apple’s 24-inch LED Cinema Display ( ) or, with adapters (not included), to a second DVI display. The five USB 2.0 ports, two on the front and three on the back, remain. First, the two FireWire 400 connectors from previous generations have been replaced with backward-compatible FireWire 800 ports, bringing the number of FireWire ports to four-two on the front and two on the back. There are some minor changes to the exterior, though-specifically in the type and number of connections. Aside from the second optical-drive slot on the front, the Mac Pro continues to use the same big-handled, aluminum case as the Power Mac G5, introduced nearly five years ago.

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