@wyatt said:
I'll check the cost to step up to an i7 ...
Just to be clear... the i7 and Xeon E3 (for single CPU systems) are basically the same for each generation (Xeon has some more features like ECC, but they are not needed. And you get them without the internal graphics). So there is no need to switch to i7 now, if they offer you a faster Xeon. Maybe they are only selling Xeons in this product line...