The Xserve has impressive specifications and will probably be valuable in many facilities.

But for a large number of multimedia professionals -- especially those in the audio-editing field, the long-awaited rackmount Mac is a big disappointment.

The problem is that Apple made the Xserve a little too deep -- 28 inches deep, which requires a minimum of a 29-inch rack -- where a large portable rack case measures a mere 19 inches deep and takes 18-inch rack equipment.

Since pro-audio is one of Apple's strongest markets, they may not feel compelled to entice those users with hot new equipment, but there are a lot of audio gurus who have been waiting for this unit and now can't use it.