This one managed to sneak under the Gearlog radar earlier this week, as we scrambled to cover the CES madness. Apple, it seems, couldn't wait a full week for another chance at media glory: On Tuesday, it launched its newest desktop and server in advance of Macworld Expo.

The new Mac Pro features a PCI Express 2.0-based ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card with 256Mb, 3.2-GHz 8-core Xeon processing, a 1,600-MHz frontside bus, 800-MHz memory, and four terabyte hard drives. "The new Mac Pro is the fastest Mac we've ever made," said Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, Philip Schiller. The system starts at $2,799.

Like the new Macbook, Apple's Xserve server is also based on the new Intel 45-nm quad-core Xeon processor. The unit starts at $2,999, including up to a pair of quad-core 3.0-GHz Intel Xeon processors.

The announcement really seems geared more toward professionals--more consumer-minded Apple fans will likely have to wait until Macworld next week to find something to really cheer about.