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I am planning to buy a new 27" iMac, deciding between i5 and i7 quad core. I am an average user but I buy top of line processors for a specific model, I usually use to do some photoshop and some video editing and no gaming.The i5 and i7 quad processor are better investment. So if you are having any experience with this model please inform me. I know i5 does not have hyperthreading and besides minor speed bump.
I am not an technician expert but if you can afford the i7 I would suggest you to go for this. If the OS are applications in future take advantage of hyper threading then i7 will have this advantage. I am also having same doubt but I have decide to get i7 in the next month.If I am not making mistake the i7 in the mac is already old and running at relatively slow clock speed as compare to other computers. But as you said you did video editing or encoding then i7 will be much faster for this thing.Core i5 is based on four CPU intensive application feature in graphic and I think this would be worth paying 10 percent more for the i7 so that you will get 13% to 35% more CPU crunching power.
Apple is offering core i7 for small price and I will say you to get it. I am having intel core i7 and can run Modern Warfare 2 perfectly in full resolution having high graphics setting on a windows XP service pack 2 partition on my system. I do not know why some one would need a quadcore for regular use when he is not going to do massive video or audio editing, gaming. I mean because Modern Warfare runs smooth on my dual core machine. In long run you will get some extra milage out of it.
The iMac core i5 is powered by 2.66Ghz quad core intel core i5 with a dedicated 256k level 2 cache and an 8 MB shared level 3 cache. By default it is configured with 4GB RAM, 1TB 7200rpm hard drive and ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512 MB of dedicated DDR3 memory.It has a built in iSight video camera and built in stereo speakers. Connectivity includes four USB 2.0 port and a firewire 800 port and Gigabit ethernet as well as mini displayport. This model also supports input from external displayport with adapters. Ths display is enhanced with LED back-lightning and each has four RAM slots supports up to 16GB RAM. All late 2009 models have SD card slot.
I am agree with you on the pricing, I have some search on the chip cost and not only Apple is making this upgrade benefit but other companies are doing same. I do not understand why people are so exited about Hyperthreading on this chip only with 8MB cache. If I know how this all works then i7 will be bottlenecked due to RAM in this setup. And I don't think an average user need a 2.66 Quad core processor. If you will see Core 2 due is still blazing fast as it is handling everything fine for me and this is the fastest processor ever I had.
If you compare the core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad then it is true. But as i-series offers value in term of lower power consumption on legacy core 2 Duo. Yes as it is fast enough but I do not like it a sit takes 69Watts more in idle than a machine with double cores. I wrote about the heat and powerconsumption soon there will be 35nm i5 and i7 which will take the awesome watts of cores to another level. Mobile i5 or i7 notebooks are already starting to appear. But if you are ready to invest extra 180 then go for i7. I have i5 and do lot of audio processing and mastering. I am running 8 gigs, Hyperthrading when utilized more it is going to be awesome.