SHOWCASE: Apple has updated its consumer desktop range with quiet fanfare, which includes a new Mac Pro with Intel “Nehalem” Xeon processors, an affordable 24-inch iMac and Mac mini with integrated graphics.

Apple's refreshed Mac Pro now supports 4-core or 8-core (2x quad) Intel Xeon processors.

Under the hood of the new Mac Pro, you’ll find an Intel Xeon processor up to 2.93 GHz, with integrated memory controller for three 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC memory and NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (512MB GDDR3 memory). To simplify that in two words, it’s pretty top-of-the-line. Price starts from US$2,499 (quad core) and US$3,299 (2x quad core), with additional options for specs customization. More info can be found here.

Of course, then you have the 24-inch iMac, which costs US$1,499 and gives you 30 percent more display space (the 20-inch used to cost the same), twice the memory and storage. The Mac mini (US$599) takes this one up a notch with Core 2 Duo processors, five USB ports and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics within that aluminum unibody. More info here.

More images after the jump.