Hello. I'm looking at a new iMac for video editing with FCP.

I'm curious as to the advantage of a quad-core processor, when its speed is not as fast as a dual-core.

Can anyone help me out?

Thanks.

While it doesn't come out in real performance like this, a dual 3.33 equals 6.66 and a quad 2.8 equals 11.2. No matter what, this quad processor will give you better performance.

Which of course is further complicated by the fact that not all applications can lever the performance advantages of multiple processors but generally speaking, more processors = good.

perhaps not all apps, but specifically FCP?

I believe that FCP 6 is a single-core application, which means that if you are using FCP and have no plans to upgrade, go with the 3.33GHz dual-core. If you're using FCP 7, which I believe is multi-core, go with the quad-core.

FCP will recognize a quad-core chip and utilize all cores during renders. FCP can not recognize two multiple core processors, such as in 8-core MacPros, but Compressor can when the system is set up correctly.