I rented my i7 out for a week and upgraded my backup PC to a quadcore. No competition for the i7. I did a project with Canon H-264 mov. Sony EX3 and Uncompressed 1080 3d animation renderings. I got through the project, but not very fast. I got my i7 back last night and opened the final CS4 projects. The all kinked up and played back twice as smooth and the computer that created them. i7 is the way to go.