New Mac: price / performance with Logic 8?

OK, just installed Logic 8 on my PB G4 1.67 and that pretty much put the whole deal over the top -- performance is terrible (I think I've got the same startup / freeze bug that seems to be going around) and trying to maintain a big iTunes library, five jam packs and a Time Machine backup has got files scattered from here till next Sunday. Seems like it's time to take a step forward & retire the PB for road use. I mainly intend to do recordings of acoustic music through a Duet, no big complicated mixes or anything. Little projects & songwriting. (I could actually mainly use Garage Band except the instruments and effects are way cooler in Logic, especially Space Designer.) So
--refurb iMac 2.0 dual core for $999? Big step up in performance from the G4, no? Keep me going for a while?
--refurb dual-core 2.0 Mac Pro for $1799? I already have keyboard, mouse, nice 20" monitor.
--new quad-core Mac Pro for $2100? this price includes 2 GB memory -- others are 1 gig.
--new 8-core for $2600?
I guess my first impulse is to go with the iMac, drop in another gig of memory & see how far that takes me. I don't do anything else that requires any processing power at all. (I'm mainly a writer, and could get by fine on a Mac Plus for my real work.) I'm tempted by that new quad-core, though -- seems like you'd have that box for a long time before you wore it out. Any advice?

apparently I asked a boring question, or at least one that nobody feels like answering. So let's put it this way:
Will an "iMac 20-inch 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo" with 2 GB of memory and an external FW hard drive to record audio to handle a 16-track project with a couple of softsynths, a couple of instances of Sound Designer, and a smattering of eqs, compressors and other toys? Can I record a screaming guitar solo over the top of this project without freezing all the tracks? (Actually, can one still freeze tracks? don't remember seeing this in the new version.) I mean, I know an eight-core would be better. But for my modest needs, will this $999 refurb tide me over until my University buys me a fancy one? Thanks.

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