Quad core isn't worth it b/c most software can't even take advantage of it - I haven't seen any newer benchmarks but once quadcores were launched they got destroyed by dualcore. The hardware market has gotten ridiculous single core, 2x, 3x, 4x, dual 4x, etc... there is a point that unless you are doing video rendering or sound production there isn't any need for such power it is just overkill.