Calling knowledgeable Mac people!

[rlcmusic]

Hi,I really hope somebody can advise me on the following....I bought my Mac at the end of 2004. It's an iMac G5 (PowerPC 1.8GHz) with 2GB RAM. I'm running Logic Pro 8 and Leopard 10.5.2.I've had problems in the past but now I'm beginning to think, this Mac just simply can't cope anymore .I'm trying to record an orchestral track at the moment which from a "loading plug-ins/3rd party software" point of view is probably the most involved I've done. Just to give you an idea, it's circa 12-14 tracks (orchestral instruments from East West via Kontakt 3). the parts themselves aren't overly complicated and they're not always playing at once etc.. The E/W samples are on an external firewire drive.I've done everything possible that I am aware of to optimize performance (within Kontakt too) but it is still a complete nightmare "overload messages", stopping, stuttering etc...... I've also got all instruments within 1 instance of Kontakt which isn't ideal. I've read so much across the net with problems with Logic/Leopard versions/ etc... that sometimes I question what the problem is but I'm thinking it's the Mac itself.So my questions are:-1) Would you completely expect very low performance (with track like above) with my Mac spec?2) If you are a Mac owner (more likely a Mac Pro owner I guess) - can you happily have lots of instances of Kontakt loaded in one project or basically happily record "average" size orchestral pieces with no issues?3) Assuming that a Mac Pro would be the way to go - can you please advise on the spec. As I said, I have an external LaCie firewire drive for samples already. I'm also aware that Apple's RAM is very expensive! I am sure I will feint at the price of the Mac Pros when configured correctly but I'd really like to hear what would enable me to work with no issues!! I don't want to get a computer that will just "do" because if money is going to be spent, it needs to last for quite some time.Thank you very much for your help and best wishes,Rachel