[OS X TeX] multi cores

[Josep Maria Font]

El 11/12/2009, a les 20:56, Peter Dyballa va escriure:

> Am 11.12.2009 um 18:25 schrieb George Gratzer:
>
>> Curious. Of the 8 cores on my core i7, typesetting only uses 4.
>
> Because TeXs not parallel.

According to Apple's Tech Specs page, for the 27" iMac there are,  
besides the Core 2 Duo processors, the following two processor  
configurations:

• 2.66GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache;  
Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.2GHz
• 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache;  
Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.46GHz; Hyper-Threading for up  
to eight virtual cores

So it seems both processors have 4 real cores, and only when the  
software is specially desgined they simulate 8 cores (and TeXShop  
doesn't; or is it TeX itself ?). I'm not sure I am interpreting things  
right, though.

Do you think there is no point (or no obvious advantage) in buying the  
i7 version ? I am trying to make up my mind beween the i5 and the i7  
versions.

Thanks for any hint.


JMaF