Dual Core with 8GB or Quad Core with 4GB

[teepeetim]

Hi,

Mega quick question. I edit HD video and want to reduce the render time in FC as much as possible. I have been using a 2.4 GHZ 2008 macbook with FCE for a while but I'm now at a stage where render time matters.

I have a lowish budget of £1500 and have looked at the dual core, 13inch 2.7 with the thought about bumping the RAM up. Or getting the quad core 2.0 ghz and sticking with the 4gb RAM but having the option to upgrade.

I currently daisy chain 3 FW hardrives out of a FW 400 port on the MB and would look to do the same out of the 800 port on the MBP.

Question is where is my money better placed on the dual with RAM or the quad.

Extra Info: I am looking to go to FCP at some stage. I use quite a few heavy plug ins such as noise reduction.

Regards

Tim

 

[daneoni]

Quad. You can always upgrade memory later on but you can't upgrade CPU. Having a dedicated GPU will also be a big bonus.

 

[bozz2006]

Quad. You can always upgrade memory later on but you can't upgrade CPU. Having a dedicated GPU will also be a big bonus.

Chalk up another very solid vote for the quad.

 

[NintendoFan]

Quad. You can always upgrade memory later on but you can't upgrade CPU. Having a dedicated GPU will also be a big bonus.

Bingo. This.

 

[Meetster]

quad no other answer possible

 

[hehe299792458]

Quad all the way

 

[ViciousShadow21]

+1 for quad

 

[teepeetim]

Wow, there really isn't any other option is there.

Thanks for your responses.

If I may I'd like to expand this slightly.

It's render times that are the main reason for the change.

If something currently takes 1hr on my macbook is there a rule of thumb or way of working out how fast a quadcore MBP would take to do it. I know it will all be dependent on what I'm doing but I want to make sure that my investment will make a significant difference in render times.

Thansk again

Tim

 

[artomes]

I think this thread may help answer your question about rendering times.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1111126/

 

[Jazwire]

Quad no question.

 

[AbyssImpact]

Quad. You can always upgrade memory later on but you can't upgrade CPU. Having a dedicated GPU will also be a big bonus.

Why not? Just buy a new computer and sell the old one. Technology is always changing, no need to get the latest and greatest.

 

[NZed]

Why not? Just buy a new computer and sell the old one. Technology is always changing, no need to get the latest and greatest.

+1

QUAD all the way

 

[iMackPro]

yeah dude theres really no reason to NOT get the quad, unless you want a 6,8, or 12 core instead =)

 

[cambookpro]

Quad no question.