First of all, just joined and I'm liking what I see, I have already found possible answers to my questions. Nice layout.

I have a 2008 (March) Mac pro 2.8Ghz eight core machine with 12Gb ram.

Its duties are exlusively centred around music creation and production.

I use Logic Pro 9 and lots of other music software both 64 bit and 32 bit. It does NOT need to cope with photographs, documents, graphics, rendering, etc. just audio and music software manipulation.

1. I have been advised that there would be little benefit in going 12 core - it would not be cost effective because of the relatively low demands made on the processor by manipulating audio and using music software. Is this correct?

2. Looking at my options on the Apple store the closest proccessor speed in an 8 core machine is 2.4Ghz. Will this be faster than my current 2.8Ghz four year old proccessor bearing in mind that my current machine does sometimes struggle with some requests made upon it?

3. Are there any known issues with Macs from 2008? It has already had a new graphics card and is now (according to maintainence) either suffering from a power supply unit failure or processor failure - I hope it's the former!

4. I have lost faith in my current machine but can you suggest any possible upgrade paths I could consider to make it faster, more powerful and reliable? Is it possible to purchase Apple care for a machine of this age (I think I know the answer)?

5. I have always resisted going online with computers I have had for music in the past. I am told Macs are far more resistant than PCs to viruses etc. Is this correct?

Thanks in advance,

Paul Baggott