Apple Gets Nehalem Early, h264 and VMWare Performance Boosts

[Digital Skunk]

Let's say hypothetically, if one could do the following for the same price (or nearly so):
a) sell a like-new 2x2.8 Mac Pro (10GB RAM, 1 or 2TB storage)
b) buy a 2x2.26 Nehalem Mac Pro

...would it be worth it?

In other words, will the Nehalem 2x2.26 outperform the "old" 2x2.8 on all tasks?

If I can upgrade for little to no money (hypothetically speaking), would it make sense to jump to the new architecture?

Or, to really get the performance increase does one have to step up to the 2x2.66 or 2x2.93 Nehalems (at much greater cost)?

Thanks!

If that's the case, then you may proceed, but I can't be too sure there will be much better performance going from the 2.8 --> 2.26. I know that it won't be slower, but it may not be much faster, then you'd have to weigh in would all that hassle be worth it and how much would you charge for your machine.

If you are selling your current rig for "X" dollars and buying the base octo for "X" dollars + $150, why wouldn't the person get the octo new? Or your current machine used for "X" - $200?

The benchies will tell the tale. If the base octo is like the base octo or yore then I may just grab the previous octo @3GHz or 3.2GHz. If the base octo is just as fast as the mid range or top end octo of yore then I'll go new.

Lastly, like you say, if I need to get the 2.66 octo or 2.93 octo to really get something then I'll just wait another year for Apple to get their act together.