re: the Va. Tech thing: it'll be great for other institutions (maybe UVA or Wake?) to play oneupsmanship to the present G5 supercluster.
I sold my eMac and iBook on eBay, and I can now afford the low-end G5 at that refurb price. I suppose it won't kill me to wait another three weeks (MWSF) but it's risky because the stock of 1.6s may dry up and no G5s may be available at $1399 any more.
I "graduated" from low-end G3 (first Mac, bought in January, 700 CD iBook) to low-end G4 (bought in the summer, 700 cdrw eMac, modded w/Pioneer 105 DVDR) -- I'll be happy to move up to the low-end G5. 🙂 and when business picks up I can later justify a dual.