Scott....
First, I don't anyone to misunderstand my post.
I have been a Apple/Mac user since 1986. I am not a newbie to Macs, but I am an end-user, not a programmer. I gave that up 15 years ago. I started with an Apple IIc, then a Mac SE30, a Performa, PowerMac 7100, PowerBook 1400cs, two G4 desktops (one at home, one at work), and I still have FOUR Macs in my house: the G4 (collecting dust), a 15" PowerBook G4 aluminum (my traveling buddy), 17" Powerbook G4 Titanium (my daily driver), and my G5 Dual Processor (2.7 GHzx2, 2 GB RAM, 400 GB HD, 300 GB backup) (home...photo processing, etc.)!
The point being: in all those Macs I have had 1 key pop off, 1 superdrive failure, and 1 hinge break. NEVER a processor failure, NOTHING has ever occurred that couldn't be fixed here at home with a few self diagnostics, and a very rare disk restore. I've never encountered an issue that I couldn't fix...until now.
I encouraged a friend to get a PowerBook before they went out of production, but she got the new MacBook with Core Duo processor. It has been nothing short of a nightmare with strange unpredictable failures, screen images on the fritz, overheating and other issues. The Apple Store has run diagnostics for 2 days and say..."it all checks out ok."
I realize that you are not considering the MacBook, but I would strongly encourage you to get over to the Mac Discussion forums
Mac Forums and read and/or post to see if the Core Duo has created similar problems in their desktops.
It saddens me to see what Apple has done. I fear they have rushed a product into production without fully debugging the new processors. I think it is a HUGE tactical error on their part and may be massively damaging to the Mac reputation. I hope I am wrong, but that's my fear...
Hopefully I will have a Mac until I die, but if these current problems are system wide I will stick with my current G5 until it rots away...
Good luck!
Ed