Upcoming Intel Xeons only for Apple?

There’s a rumor about an Apple exclusivity on the Intel Xeon processor update. It would be used in the Mac Pro refresh and here’s what’s new:

• 6 Cores (12 threads), that’s 50% more than current Xeons
• 12MB of cache (versus 8MB now)
• 32nm manufacturing (versus 45nm)
• New Xeons will consume less power

As it is the case with recent Intel CPUs, the new Xeons will achieve at least performance parity on single-threaded apps, but will increase performance on multi-thread apps dramatically. On the In/Out (I/O) side, there’s going to be Ethernet 10Gbps and the maximum memory amount will be 128GB. We don’t expect new Mac Pros to show up before January 2010. Apple would most likely enjoy a few months of exclusivity, if any.