i7 dual core vs. i5 quad core comparison

Dear Community,

I seek advice on performance comparison or experience between the Intel quad-core i5 and the Intel dual-core i7 for scientific applications.

I need to upgrade a scientific software (STATA/MP) that performs numerical simulations that allows for multi-core processors and need to determine the number of cores I want the license to be operating on. Generally speaking, more cores are faster with this application but I am concerned that the quad-core i5 might be slower than my dual-core i7. Since a license for more cores is generally more expensive, I don't want to pay extra for performance that would be marginal or statistically insignificant.

My MacBookPro6,2 is currently equipped with an Intel dual-Core i7 2,8GHz while my iMac14,1 at home is equipped with the Intel quad-Core i5 2,7GHz. Both systems have 8Gb of installed memory (the iMac can expand to 16Gb while the MacBookPro is max'ed out).

Your advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Marc