core2duo and corei5/7

[zoran]

Im thinking of geting the imac27" but im puzzled with the core2duo model and the corei5, and ofcourse the corei7.
What are the main differences between core2duo and corei5 or 7? which and why should i prefer, i will be using adobe apps (illu,pshop,indesign and a little of premiere and flash)

[richard.mac]

the Core 2 Duo in the iMac's are the previous generation and a mobile CPU. the Core i5/i7 are one of Intel's current generation desktop CPUs. the Core 2 Duo has two cores and runs at a fixed speed, while the Core i5/i7 have Turbo Boost and have four cores, with the Core i7 having 8 threads.

[spinnerlys]

Core2Duo - 2 physical cores (therefore 2 threads at the same time) on one CPU at whatever GHz

Core i5 - 4 physical cores (therefore 4 threads at the same time) on one CPU at whatever GHz

Core i7 - 4 physical cores on one CPU at whatever GHz, but they allow Hyperthreading, which means you can have up to 8 threads on one CPU.

MRoogle, Wikipedia and that little sister of MRoogle can also provide some information about this I suppose.

[Hellhammer]

I would get either i5 or i7, because it's like 300$ more. Not that you really need because not all Adobe apps can even utilize it but in future they will.

[ascender]

You'll also be able to find the benchmarks for the iMacs via google. The quad core cpus appear to be much, much faster than the C2D, but the C2D is still a very capable machine. If you're doing anything CPU intensive, go for a quad core.

[TMRaven]

It is important to note that not all core2duos are mobile processors, and not all i5/i7s are desktop processors. Intel makes too many processors as it is, and they all share same names, which is very confusing.


I'm pretty sure the core2duos in these latest generation of iMacs are wolfdales, so they're desktop variants of the core2duo cpu. They offer very high clock speed and great power for their amount of heat. In most cases you won't notice any difference between a high end core2duo and a low end lynnfield like the i5 750, which is the baseline cpu in the nehalem iMacs. The difference between the two is 2 cores to 4 cores and an advancement in cpu architecture that mainly provides turboboost and better cpu performance.

Since you're gonna be using adobe products like premiere pro, I would definitely recommend the lynnfield i7 860 variant of the iMac, because of hyperthreading-- something very useful in video editting/encoding. Even if you weren't, choosing one of the nehalems would be the smart move, because you're buying an iMac with the mindset that you'll be keeping it for 5 years. 5 years down the line I'm sure more things will be optimized for nehalems than core2duos.

[kasakka]

Premiere rendering is probably the only place where the quad core will be noticeable. In anything else the dual core will be just as fast as the quad core really.

I'd go for the i5 iMac anyway.

[opera57]

Yeah I would probably go for the i5 at least, due to the fact that its a quad core and more cores can never be a problem! I have the 3.06ghz dual core and its a great system but at times when using it for a lot of tasks it can slow down quite a bit! http://scottty.com/imgs/signature_silverapple.jpg

[Kallel00]

I recently received my i7

The processor is awesome ... never have any slowdowns whatsoever doing all sorts of multitasking. I got 8 GB too, but not sure Im seeing any difference than what I had with 4GB heh


Definately go i5 at least. Even on a maxed out 17 MacBook with 4GB, Im suffering from all kinds of slowndowns here and there. C2D doesnt compare ;(

[unixfool]

C2D is fine for me. I was on a strict budget and have yet to do much that would warrant an i5/i7. Sure the extra headroom would've been nice, but if I need it later, I'll just sell my C2D 27" to finance an i5/i7. It's really not a big deal to me. I just wanted a new Mac...this is my first non-notebook Mac that I've bought (the Power Mac was given to me). I'm loving it.

[zoran]

Can you all specify what apps you are using so i can see who is the closesest to the apps ill be using? (Pshop,Illu,Indesign,Premiere,Flash)