New MacPro - Why are the processors so expensive?

Wow, do you buy a new comp every time it goes out of warranty. Wish I could do that. Yeah the difference in price for a marginal up in clock speed seems strange. If I were you I'd stick with the base 2.26, and be happy with 8-core nehalem goodness ^^

OR, if you want a good deal, check out the refurb section at the apple store:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/mac_pro

2008 2.8 8-core Penryn for $2400 is decent... also refurbs get the same apple warranty. And can add applecare too if you want.

If history shows anything, you might want to wait for perhaps the next rev. or one after that. As they will most likely double the cores to 16 in 1-2 years.

It's not just Apple charging too much, but Intel too. The processors you mention probably aren't Xeon Nehalem, just the Core i7 Nehalem - they share the same socket but differ on how they operate in dual processor systems; the Core i7 doesn't do dual processors. And so the Xeon Nehalem is more expensive clock for clock than the Core i7 that you can't put in the new Mac Pro, but the Xeons use less power.