The researchers at ZDNet announced a new overclocking process for Macs, which they claim helps turn Apple’s cheapest dual-CPU Mac pro version with 2.8 Giga Hertz Xeon E5462 into a laptop with the performances of the company’s priciest model with 3.2 GHz Xeon X 5482.

Normally, such an upgrade, requested at one of the official Apple stores will cost $1600, so there will surely be many users interested in ZDNet’s announcement. According to their tests, an overclocked Mac Pro with two 2.66 GHz X5355 CPUs can be pushed all the way to a stable 3.1 GHz and the 2.8 GHz version can be taken as far as 3.241 GHz, with small variations from CPU to CPU.

According to their estimates, an overclocked Mac Pro is faster that the most expensive model, but unfortunately, the forced upgrade comes with certain risks. First of all, one relatively minor setback involves the laptop’s desktop clock, which will run a lot faster after the procedure. In order to fix this, users will have to restart their computers, leaving the system on.

Another problem regards the system’s crash, as the team working on the project failed to restart the Mac at 3.214 GHz. The maximum increase that kept the system running was at 3.178 GHz.

ZDNet’s officials explained that the new version of the tool, which is already in development, will surely fix the bugs and offer a safe and useful upgrade solution. At this point, users will have to decide, based on their needs and financial possibilities, which is the best way of dealing with their Macs.