Hardware Configurations

I need to upgrade from my 2.2 DCD MBP, but I'm kind of cheap.

ITS A GIVEN need to max out the RAM to probably 8-12 gigs, and having at least a 500 gig 7200 HD is necessary. And there are such software things as modifying the prefs, keeping the program current, and removing the caches to keep the speed up.

BUT.... I have not been able to determine whether in Aperture 3

1. ....A3 actually uses the four cores in a quad core, or

2. ....A3 does better with the multi-threading.

3. ....A3 is more processor intensive than core intensive---meaning a 3.06 ghz i3(dual core) vs a 2.5 ghz i5(quad core) is about the same . I'm quite aware of the bench marks that put it substantially faster but none of the bench marks I've seen use APERTURE 3

4. ....is how specifically impactive using a ATI Radeon HD 4670 vs a AMD Radeon HD 6750M is to speed(in a 21.5 screen)

I shoot almost entirely in Canon RAW, and I have a bunch of plugins that do such things a portraiture, HDR, and Panamoramic combinations using RAW originals.

If using A3, an 8 gig 2.5 ghz i5 with 500 gb 7200 drive is substantally faster(not incrementally) than a 3.06 dual core i3, also with 8 gig Ram, and the same 500 gig 7200 drive, Then I'll spring for it.

Hate to answer my own question

Part four of my question was whetehr the two video cards would make a difference.

My continued research on the net has yielded a pice of info. Apparently Lightroom is CPU dependent, and Aperture is GPU dependent. So if you have an old Mac with an old video card you'll do better with Lightroom.

Aperture's bottle neck, at least to a point is getting the processing that the cpu has done on the screen. So apparently the CPU processing may be ahead of the representational changes. A faster video card and faster Quad 4 cpu should make Aperture much faster than a 4 year old video card on a 3 year old MBP.

The other three items, I'm still interested in knowing, even if the video card controversay has already caused me to decide on an imac 2.5 ghz i5 quad core over an imac 3.06 ghz i3 c2d.