2009 iMac or i5 laptop for editing speed.

[HappySnappy1977]

Just a quick one really. I've got an option on an iMac core 2 duo 2009 21.5" model. The chaps emigrating so needs it gone and is offering it cheap. It has 4gb ram and a 256 mb graphics card.

My question is - would this be better / faster for editing with Photoshop cc and Lightroom 5 than my current 2.4 ghz i5 PC laptop with 8gb ram but an intel integrated graphics card? (Rated at 4.4 if that means anything at all!)

Sorry to be a pain....

 

[ancient_mariner]

Probably not faster. I understand lightroom etc do not use hardware acceleration, and having 8Gb and a faster CPU is likely to be a bigger benefit than 4Gb + faster graphics card. The one other different - OSX vs windows - might make a difference, but maybe not much.

 

[HappySnappy1977]

These are my thoughts too. I'm thinking it may be a step too far back to see a difference. May have to wait for a cheapie i5 then

 

[Chappers]

I have a 2009 MacBook pro , same spec as the iMac you are considering. In it's day it was OK but being limited to 4Gb of RAM is a bit of a problem . My i5 iMac is much faster probably around the same sort of speed as your machine (it's 2.66GHz ) It's the 4 cores that make the difference. The machine MBP will run Photoshop and Lightroom but it is slow. I think you are better off staying as you are at the moment.

 

[arad85]

It depends which i5 and which core 2 duo it is - it will range from "about the same" to the i5 being quite a bit faster - depending on which one it is. i5 mobile processors are typically (all?) dual core BTW. Personally, I'd pass unless you have a real "need" to run OSX....