One quad-core vs. one 8-core (two quad-cores)

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Our design firm is looking to upgrade our Macs so I'm doing a bit of research. Right off the bat though, I'm confused about the number of processor cores available, namely the Mac Pro with a 2.8 quad-core vs. two 2.4 quad-cores (8-core).

Our shop still uses CS3 now and will be upgrading to CS5 along with the new machinesp; in general our daily programs are Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Flash, and Dreamweaver. No real video work.

Some quick research seems to indicate that Mac OS and most of the programs we'd be running day by day don't use that many cores, so the 8-core solution might be overkill? Would the 2.8 quad-core make the most sense for us?

Thanks!
 
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MacBook Pro 15" 2014, 2.2GHz i7, 16GB RAM, 250GB SSD, OSX 10.9.5 - iPhone 5s 16gb
I think the 8 core may just be overkill, perfect for a lot of heavy video work, but for your needs the quad core should be absolutely fine.

HTH,
- Simon
 
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Not a problem :)

- Simon
 

robduckyworth


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for photoshop/ alot of image editing, the CPU probably isn't what you should be worrying about. Usually its more beneficial to have more RAM available, due to all the large files you are using.
 
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Fair enough. Our various machines currently average 4 GB (running 10.4 and CS3) installed– I say average because the exact amount might vary from machine to machine. I'm looking into running the new machines with 8 GB, but I'm curious at what point "enough is enough" and more RAM just becomes superfluous.
 
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Either way RAM is cheaper and easy to install after purchasing the machine rather than getting it from Apple

- Simon
 

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