I have a 2.4Ghz 24" - Which new iMac would be better?

[omegaphil6]

I currently have a 24" Alum iMac 2.4 C2D with 4GB of RAM.

Looking at the new lineup and ignoring the i7 model. Which would offer the best speed increase out of the box compared to my 2.4?


the 3Ghz C2D 27" or the 2.66 core i5 27"?

I know the 2.6 is QUAD but in real world usage, does anything really jump using that machine? Or is it all marketing with little increase in speed?

On paper, 2.4 to 2.6 isnt justifiable to spend $1999, whereas 2.4 to 3.06 is for $1699 (on paper of course)

Let me know what you think?

 

[Hellhammer]

Could you please tell us your usage, it's impossible to say which is better without that.

 

[omegaphil6]

Adobe Creative Suite
iMovie & Final Cut Suite
Rapidweaver

Video Conversion (This is a big one)
Large downloads
ecommerce

General computer usage (email, web, blah blah blah)



This unit houses an extensive itunes library that it shared to an appleTV as well as other macbooks around the house.


All of this is a breeze on the 2.4 i have now, but if i were to pick a new machine, i want to know which would produce the greatest noticable boost.

 

[Hellhammer]

Adobe Creative Suite
iMovie & Final Cut Suite
Rapidweaver

Video Conversion (This is a big one)
Large downloads
ecommerce

General computer usage (email, web, blah blah blah)



This unit houses an extensive itunes library that it shared to an appleTV as well as other macbooks around the house.


All of this is a breeze on the 2.4 i have now, but if i were to pick a new machine, i want to know which would produce the greatest noticable boost.

Quad will be A LOT faster in video conversion so get the quad

 

[omegaphil6]

do apps need to written to take advantage of quad_core (like the old altivec days?)

 

[robotkiller]

I have a 2.66 C2D and noticed only a small difference in performance between that and the 3.06. I do alot of RAW editing and converting of large 25+ Mb files. I would go for the i5 at least.