They built a more powerful machine and it ended up costing more. They also stuck with consistently high end parts (reasonable since it’s a workstation). Notably, the 50% more L2 cache on their CPU is going to cost a pretty penny, and getting the extra GDDR on the video cards isn’t free either.
I think it’s reasonable to say that Apple has pricedthe base model pretty well, at least for now. Those components will get cheaper over time, and it remains to be seen if Apple will discount their Pro accordingly (unlikely, given Apple’s previous pricing history, they were selling 2.4Ghz C2D 13" Laptops for $1100 well beyond the point where that was a reasonable thing to do). Also, it will be a lot easier to beat Apple’s price if you look at something other than the base model. Apple is notorious for overcharging for upgrades.
If the base model Mac Pro fits your needs today (or in a few weeks when it’s actually available), then it’s a pretty decent buy. That’s more than you can say of most workstations.
