Looking to buy a new 21.5" iMac

[harpo043]

I'm looking to buy an iMac since my macbook pro is starting to crap out (it's 4 years old) and can no longer use Final Cut Pro without the pinwheel popping up every 15 seconds or so. I'm looking to get a 21.5", but don't really know the difference between the i5 and i7 quad cores. I was looking at an i7 2.8GHz core, but was thinking about upgrading it to a 3.6GHz. Is that a good idea or would I just be wasting my money and a 2.8 would be fine for video editing?

I work with Final Cut Pro, Compressor, After Effects, and sometimes Photoshop.

 

[Hellhammer]

There is no 3.6GHz CPU option in 2011 iMacs. 2010 model had an option for 3.6GHz i5 but that is a dual core part, i.e. much slower than a quad core.

Sounds like the i7 is worth it for you because you run CPU intensive apps which can take advantage of the extra threads. Are you sure you don't want a 27" though?

 

[DoFoT9]

There is no 3.6GHz CPU option in 2011 iMacs. 2010 model had an option for 3.6GHz i5 but that is a dual core part, i.e. much slower than a quad core.

Sounds like the i7 is worth it for you because you run CPU intensive apps which can take advantage of the extra threads. Are you sure you don't want a 27" though?

final cut isn't exactly the best program at using multithreads. i am fairly certain compressor is still single core'd mostly...so higher GHz is preferred for this option. but for future proofing, the more the better!

i would personally probably go more RAM over the i7/i5. though RAM is cheap. so maybe go the i7

 

[Hellhammer]

final cut isn't exactly the best program at using multithreads. i am fairly certain compressor is still single core'd mostly...so higher GHz is preferred for this option. but for future proofing, the more the better!

i would personally probably go more RAM over the i7/i5. though RAM is cheap. so maybe go the i7

Compressor is multithreaded, but the rest of FCS isn't. OTOH, FCPX is multithreaded so if OP moves to that at some point, the extra threads will definitely be a welcome addition. Plus AE is truly multithreaded as well.

 

[DoFoT9]

Compressor is multithreaded, but the rest of FCS isn't. OTOH, FCPX is multithreaded so if OP moves to that at some point, the extra threads will definitely be a welcome addition. Plus AE is truly multithreaded as well.

hmm no i am fairly certain that compressor is multi-core'd, but not multithreaded. so there are still limitations if that is true.

that being said, i am only referring to FCS3's compressor, i have not used Compressor X yet....

 

[Hellhammer]

hmm no i am fairly certain that compressor is multi-core'd, but not multithreaded. so there are still limitations if that is true.

that being said, i am only referring to FCS3's compressor, i have not used Compressor X yet....

Multicore = multithread

They are the one and the same. Cores execute threads. A dual core CPU without Hyper-Threading can execute up to two threads simultaneously. HT allows two threads to be executed per one CPU core, but the OS nor the app can tell the threads apart. For them, it appears as a CPU that can handle four threads, nothing else. Whether all of this cores are physical or not, does not matter (although "HT'd cores" don't provide the same performance as physical cores).

And Compressor can take advantage of n amount of cores with little tweaking: http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/compressor_multi_cores_stitzer.html