Adobe CS4/FCE/Photo Editing is it processor intensive?

[SOLLERBOY]

Like everyone else I am trying to decide on c2d or i5. I am a photography/interactive media student and will follow a career in photography. I have been using my 20" 2.0ghz imac since march 08. My photography is getting pretty serious and I am spending more and more time editing in photoshop etc. I am also spending huge amounts of time in dreamweaver and flash also some final cut. Since installing snow the imac seems to be running very fast. I could however do with more screen real estate. Would I see a huge gain in performance from 2.0 to 3.06?? how about from 3.06 to i5 2.66? in the tasks I use my mac for??

Also ,as the clock speed for the i5 is lower thank the c2d would it technically be slower when not utilising all 4 cores or would turbo boost make it faster??

Any advice/comments are appreciated. thanks.

 

[Umbongo]

Go for the Core i5 for what you are doing.

 

[Hellhammer]

I would get the quad but also 8GB of RAM

 

[Bbusyb]

You'll definately see an improvement in going for the more powerful processor, the i5 especially when it comes to rendering. Apps are already starting to be optimized for Multiple cores, so even if the App is currently not optimized, it very soon will be.

If what you say about your workload is accurate, your upfront investment in a more powerful machine will pay you back in spades especially with what Apple's trying to do with Grand central.

Along with the processor upgrade You should definitely consider getting the maximum RAM possible at a affordable price, which I believe is currently 8GB. Photoshop especially benefits from more RAM, especially if you are working on really big, multi layered file.