Computer advice 3.2GHz vs 4GHz

[bluebmx]

The time is coming for a new computer soon. Right now B&H has a refurb iMac for a pretty good deal as far as I can tell. It has a 3.2GHz Intel Core i5 Quad-Core and the new ones can go up to 4.0. I don't know about computers like that. When it comes to processing HD (and 4k in the future) footage, how huge of a difference will it make? Worth a good bit more of money in the long run?

[Brooklynrider]

are they both i5 or is the 4.0 an i7?

[bluebmx]

are they both i5 or is the 4.0 an i7?

indeed the 4.0 is an i7. And i don't really know what that means either hahaha

[Brooklynrider]

0.8Ghz is a noticeable difference and going from i5 to i7 is also quite noticeable so I'd say shell out for the 4.0. I haven't payed attention to computer technology in the past couple years so I can't give you any more information than that.

[bluebmx]

0.8Ghz is a noticeable difference and going from i5 to i7 is also quite noticeable so I'd say shell out for the 4.0. I haven't payed attention to computer technology in the past couple years so I can't give you any more information than that.

thanks!

[mrjimyjohn]

The difference between i5s and i7s is "hyperthreading".

i5 - 4 physical cores, 4 logical
i7 - 4 physical cores, 8 logical

Both are quad core processors but each of the physical cores in an i7 is sharing 2 "threads" or tasks, so the result is 8 logical cores.

If you're going to be editing 4K video you are certainly going to want the i7, if you're just playing it back you could probably get by with an i5. You will definitely notice differences though so if you can afford to grab the newer one I'd recommend it.