i use an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz, it was about $1100 when i first bought it.
I do an enormous amount of video editing. I probably edit and encode in one week more than everyone on this board does in a yr. And the only program out there that can keep up with it is Cleaner XL. Now thankfully this program can use all four cores.
a comparison would be, i have two identical pentium d 3.2ghz boxes. my quad core can process about twice as fast as both of those boxes combined.
That's pretty staggering... whats more amazing is whilst it is encoding i still have fah open. i can still edit and i can browse the web or split other movies and ftp all at the same time and it is like having nothing open.
Thats why quad core... imagine, with quad core you truly can enhance the web... so it is not only about business or media usage. Just one machine with raptor drives or even just basic sata drives could be a homes, media center, server, nas, whatever.