I`m far from an expert (although I design processors so I should be I suppose 
)
Core solo
Core Duo
are not 64 bit
Core 2 Duo (including extreme)
Xeon
Nehalem
are all 64 bit
its really the older mac hardware you need to be careful of
OpenCL leverages GPU porcessing power but only for:
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce 8600M GT, GeForce GT 120, GeForce GT 130, GeForce GTX 285, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GS, Quadro FX 4800, Quadro FX5600
* ATI Radeon 4850, Radeon 4870
grand central is suppose to open up multi-core processors, and in a way it does.
The holy grail of software at present is getting singled threaded programmes to run on multiple cpu cores. Its an age old problem, you have 4 or 8 cores in your machine, but with single threaded programmes you'll only go as fast (on that task) as the fastest (single) core available, i.e. your work can't be slip across all the processors you have. Its not easy......... grand central comes along and we all thingk"yey" but reading between the line:
"With GCD, threads are handled by the operating system, not by individual applications. GCD-enabled programs can automatically distribute their work across all available cores"
ok, it all sounds nice, but the programme has to be muti-threading to start with and "GCD-enabled". all sounds cobblers to me!
This will only really give you a nice big speed boost on number crunching programmes, transcoding, compressing, image processing etc.
Its hard for me to see what an average Joe is going to benefit from GCD with everyday tasks.
ah well....sigh
Steve
