What can i expect?

Hello there im new to the site but not new to the editing industry.
I have been a lead editor and technical director for a production company for the past 4 years. While working at the office i use a 27''IMac i7 Quadcore at 3.2GHz. At home i run a Hackintosh Dual boot PC running a i7 Quadcore at 4.2. Im looking to purchase a Macbook Pro, not to picky on size or year. But i'm looking for insight on how will the i5 processor run on FCPX. I focus alot in large shoots normally 1-3 Hours of 5-6 Camera Multi-Cams. The i7's have never given me any bit of an issue as they are very powerful. But i've never gotten to try it out with the smaller processor. So i ask this, How does the i5 Processors perform with FCPX and at what GB of ram 4-8gb? Thanks in advance.

Not looking to get an i7 Laptop because of cost, but if needed i might have to go that route. Thanks. -Damien.

One of my machines at home is a hackintosh dual-booting Mavericks and Windows 8.1, and it uses an i5 quad-core overclocked to 4.2 GHz and an AMD 6870 video card. It runs FCPX pretty well actually, and it's just as stable as any Mac Pro I've used.

Your main consideration for FCPX is actually the video card and the memory. You should have at least 16GB RAM, and 32 is much better, especially for longer programs with multicam. I have a rMBP that's has the max 16GB, and a lot of times I wish it had 32. I REALLY HOPE the next refresh of the rMBP can go to 32GB, but I don't know if Apple would do that. Personally, 4-8 GB would be hell for FCPX, and you really want a discrete graphics card.

My understanding is that i5s are just chips that didn't pass the tests to become i7s so they cripple them. FCPX does a good job of squeezing every bit of power a computer has so the more you can afford, the easier it will be.

Personally, I am a big fan of buying refurbished laptops direct from apple. Same warranty, just comes in a less fancy box. The savings will allow you to get better specs.

If you are getting a retina, make sure and spring for the maxed out RAM as you can't change it later.