Looks like Apple has announced a new Nehalem based Mac Pro with a starting price of $2,499. The new systems feature your choice of a single core 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500, or a dual 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500, start with 3GB of memory, a 640GB hard drive, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of RAM.

The new systems should be available next week online and in stores, so break open your piggy banks and get your credit cards ready.

Mac Pro, $2,499:

* one 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500 series processor with 8MB of L3 cache;
* 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 8GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;
* 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm
* 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
* Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);
* four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
* five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
* Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
* ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.

Mac Pro, $3,299:

* two 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors with 8MB of shared L3 cache;
* 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;
* 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm
* 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
* Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);
* four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
* five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
* Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
* ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.

[Engadget]