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To give more detail -- all else the same, the only difference you'll see is in stuff that's CPU bound like video encoding, super large spreadsheet calcs, numerical simulations, other engineering/CAD stuff, etc. Let's say something (processing a video clip to a different format) takes 30 minutes of 100% CPU on a 2.4GHz system. All else the same, a 2.66GHZ CPU system would do the same job in 27 minutes. The faster CPU saves you 3 minutes. If you do this all day long, maybe it's worth it to upgrade; if you do it once a month, probably not.

For most stuff we do; web, email, word processing, etc. the CPU is nearly idle that vast majority of time. Sure it may spike to 100% for ten seconds here, five seconds there. You'd never notice a 10% CPU speed increase in those instances.

So... it depends on your usage, but generally speaking if you're not hammering the CPU to 100% all day every day then a 10% CPU speed increase within the same family is unlikely to make a discernible difference. Spend your money instead on a faster hard disk or better yet a good SSD and you'll see much better performance for your money.
 
something

Something i REALLY whacked with apples pricing on this puppy. I mean, the 2.66 is 300$ more than the 2.4, and all one gets is the processor bump and 70!! GB more HD space.

For 75$ one can get a nice 500GB drive running at 7200 rpm, and BEAT the 2.66 for most tasks. Was there some wierd priced drop on ONE of these models that I missed? Apple usually makes SOME sense in their pricing. I could imagine MAYBE if the 2.4 only had the older LCD, but it doesn't it has the nice new one.
 
For 75$ one can get a nice 500GB drive running at 7200 rpm, and BEAT the 2.66 for most tasks.

I'll go you one better. $1000 for a 2.4 MBP13 at Microcenter brick & mortar. Add $450 for a 240GB OCZ Vertex 2 SSD at Newegg. $50 less than the 2.6 MBP13 and how do you figure the performance comparison would be for everyday tasks? :D
 
Something i REALLY whacked with apples pricing on this puppy. I mean, the 2.66 is 300$ more than the 2.4, and all one gets is the processor bump and 70!! GB more HD space.

For 75$ one can get a nice 500GB drive running at 7200 rpm, and BEAT the 2.66 for most tasks. Was there some wierd priced drop on ONE of these models that I missed? Apple usually makes SOME sense in their pricing. I could imagine MAYBE if the 2.4 only had the older LCD, but it doesn't it has the nice new one.

it's the same with the 2.4 i5 - the i5 is 400 BUCKS CHEAPER than the 2.66 i7! And the i7 is only about 10-15% faster.

It's my understanding that the BASE models are the best value. 2.4 13inch c2d, and the 15inch 2.4 i5
 
I'll go you one better. $1000 for a 2.4 MBP13 at Microcenter brick & mortar. Add $450 for a 240GB OCZ Vertex 2 SSD at Newegg. $50 less than the 2.6 MBP13 and how do you figure the performance comparison would be for everyday tasks? :D

The Microcenter deal rocks....and some Best Buys will price match, as well.
 
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