i7 3.1GHz : Real world uses?

[virginblue4]

Could someone gives me some specific programs / tasks that would make use of the 3.1GHz i7 in the 21.5" 2012 iMac.

Also, what kinds of activity definitely would not make any use at all of it?

 

[leman]

Could someone gives me some specific programs / tasks that would make use of the 3.1GHz i7 in the 21.5" 2012 iMac.

Heavy use of video encoding, scientific computation, batch image processing, rendering.

Also, what kinds of activity definitely would not make any use at all of it?

Text processing and other office applications, surfing the web, watching videos, gaming (at least to the extent of gaming 21" is capable of, anyway).

 

[virginblue4]

Heavy use of video encoding, scientific computation, batch image processing, rendering.



Text processing and other office applications, surfing the web, watching videos, gaming (at least to the extent of gaming 21" is capable of, anyway).

Thank you, so light to medium photo and video editing won't make any use of it?

 

[kaellar]

Yep, i5 will suit your needs well.

 

[leman]

Thank you, so light to medium photo and video editing won't make any use of it?

Technically, any kind of processing that requires intensive parallel computation will make use (as vague as this term is) of the faster CPU, but if you only do such things occasionally and not professionally, e.g. editing personal pictures/videos than the i5 will be more than enough to satisfy your needs.

I guess that your question is 'does my usage justify an increased cost of the i7 CPU'? Im most cases, the answer is 'no, not really'.