Neil, there's a benchmark test at the german Logicuser site, and if I remember correctly, the new iMacs will *at least* perform as good as my Macbook (an "old" CoreDuo 2.0, 2GB RAM). In addition, I'd say that performancewise (at least in terms of CPU power) I'm getting around 4x the power compared to my rather nicely running PC laptop, which is a Pentium M 1.86 with 1GB of RAM, for some things probably even more. Audiotrackcount is ok as well. I can run about 50 stereo tracks in 24bit at 44.1kHz from the internal 120GB Samsung drive (I replaced the stock one). Nothing to exactly write home about, not bad for an internal 2.5" drive either. So, given that you find (or have) a proper audio interface, you should experience quite some performance boost. Regards Sascha