Magento Product Attribute Get Value

Question

How to get specific product attribute value if i know product ID without loading whole product?

Answer 1

It seems impossible to get value without loading product model. If you take a look at file app/code/core/Mage/Eav/Model/Entity/Attribute/Frontend/Abstract.php you'll see the method

public function getValue(Varien_Object $object)
{
    $value = $object->getData($this->getAttribute()->getAttributeCode());
    if (in_array($this->getConfigField('input'), array('select','boolean'))) {
        $valueOption = $this->getOption($value);
        if (!$valueOption) {
            $opt = new Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Attribute_Source_Boolean();
            if ($options = $opt->getAllOptions()) {
                foreach ($options as $option) {
                    if ($option['value'] == $value) {
                        $valueOption = $option['label'];
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        $value = $valueOption;
    }
    elseif ($this->getConfigField('input')=='multiselect') {
        $value = $this->getOption($value);
        if (is_array($value)) {
            $value = implode(', ', $value);
        }
    }
    return $value;
}

As you can see this method requires loaded object to get data from it (3rd line).