what's best for DESIGNERS: Duo or i5?

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27" with 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo OR 2.66GHz Intel Core i5....
Not sure which iMac will be best for my specific needs:

  • Web and graphic designer
  • Will use computer for both business and everyday personal activities
  • Most used programs for work: Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop (a little Flash), Coda (web development), Firefox
  • Most used programs for personal: iPhoto, iTunes, Adium (chat client), Firefox

I’ve been reading up on the processors but haven’t been able to draw a solid conclusion. It’s clear that the i5/i7’s severely outperform the Duo when it comes to gaming... but considering the programs I’ll be running... is it worth it? Would it be more beneficial to spend the money bumping the 4GB of memory of the Duo to 8... or the 3.06GHz to 3.33? Or is the Duo, even with all the best upgrades, just not going to run the design programs as well?

Any technical reasoning you may have... as well any as personal experience... would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your time! :)
 
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Your Mac's Specs
27" 2.88 Quad-Core i7, 8 GB RAM, 2TB HD, 512 ATI Raedon
Go with the i7 for maximum satisfaction. The Quad-Core i5 would be fine though.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
27" iMac Quad Core i7 2.8 ghz 1TB HDD
The duo will work perfectly fine for what you are doing but buy the best machine you can afford. I have a feeling that if you go with the core 2 duo, you will be regretting it in a year or so. As vitaopus said, you would be much happier with an i7, especially after a couple of years.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
3.4 Ghz i7 MacBook Pro (2015), iPad Pro (2014), iPhone Xs Max. Apple TV 4K
Wait for the upgrade to the MacPro line in the next few months. They will likely get the i9 6 core chips. Photoshop and Illustrator will appreciate the extra cores, assuming you are running the latest versions.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
2011 MBP 15inch I7 2.3/250 Intel SSD/8 gigs RAM
agreed with the posts above. i as well am a programmer and bought the i7 just for future proofing myself for a little while. there are somethings i use that take advantage of 8 cores. also 4 gigs is more than enough but go for 8 if you can.
 

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