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Older Macbook Pro 2.4 vs. New Feb Macbook Pro 2.4

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bestthereis27

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 15, 2007
83
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Hello everyone.

I am having trouble deciding which one to get. The older Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz (middle model) is on amazon after rebate for about $16xx. While the new released base Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz is about $18xx from Mac Connection.

The specs of the machines are very similar. Harddrive size is not a big deal because no matter what model i get i will be upgrading it to 320GB. Both can run 4GB of ram.

The only main difference that i can tell are the new ones run cooler because the new chips are smaller, plus no multi finger gestures, and the keyboard layout is a little different. Is that it?

Does the price difference justify the new features? Has anyone used both and can offer feedback.
Thanks.
 
New Penryn version uses less power, therefore more efficient thus cooler!
Plus you actually get a full five hours of juice from a single charge and that's with wifi enabled.
But on benchmarks alone, the older one looked slightly better! So i guess, it really depends on what you want...

Keyboard wise.. Who uses the numeric pad?
 
UltraNEO* said:
New Penryn version uses less power, therefore more efficient thus cooler!
Plus you actually get a full five hours of juice from a single charge and that's with wifi enabled.
But on benchmarks alone, the older one looked slightly better! So i guess, it really depends on what you want...

Keyboard wise.. Who uses the numeric pad?
Click to expand...

Which benchmarks are you referring to? The only benchmark I have seen where the Merom 2.4 has an edge over the Penryn at the same clock speed is Geekbench. According to the tests Macworld ran, the 2.4 Penryn performance was comparable to a 2.6 Merom. And as far as just the cpu goes, the T8300 (2.4 Penryn) has a higher score in Passmark than the T7700 (2.4 Merom) and the T7800 (2.6 Merom). I am just interested if you have access to other benchmarks which show the Merom outperforming the Penryn at the same clock speed, since Geekbench is the only one I know of.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

http://www.macworld.com/article/132330/2008/03/macbookpro_bench.html
 
Really, its up to you. It is $200 more for a computer with up to an extra 30 minutes of battery life and about 5-10% faster processor.

If you aren't going to be doing anything extremely processor intensive, and you don't need maximum portability, then you can save yourself $200. If either of these things apply to you, then either one could be worth $200 to you.

Multitouch gestures are nice... they add to the cool factor... but they aren't something I would necessarily pay extra for, especially since I usually use an external mouse.
 
I've had both and I'd probably go for the penryn because of battery life and less heat. That's worth a lot when you're using it as a laptop. I find that I easily get 4-5 hours on my penryn and never notice heat anymore. With my SR I always felt that it was getting too hot and the battery life was at least 30-45 minutes less on average. Is it worth a few hundred bucks? Only you can decide.
 
I was debating this same thing yesterday and today. I decided that the processing power was pretty much a wash -- i.e. not enough difference to worry about.

That brought the difference down to battery life and heat. I don't use a laptop on my lap. I usually have a pillow tray or table, so heat isn't a factor. That leaves battery life -- I figure for a couple hundred more, I could get a backup battery and swap them when needed.

I've decided on the older, Santa Rosa 2.4 MBP.

Like others said, it really depends on how you use it.
 
i would go with the penryn.....

or curve ball here....wait til this summer for the rumored/possible new MBPs:D

but if you need it get it!
 
I could probably wait...but i am obsessed and can't really stand it anymore...

AHHHH I'll probably wait it out a little longer. Hope its worth it.
 
you get more graphics memory too. something i thought was worth it.
and multi touch. i love that. dont use it much, but its awesome for forward/back in safari.
 
kgeier82 said:
you get more graphics memory too. something i thought was worth it.
Click to expand...

Uh no you don't.

They have the same VRAM. I would get the Merom because it's considered the high end MBP. If you get the Peryn, you would be paying more for multitouch, something I personally don't use.
 
Not sure if makes much difference, but the newer 2.4Ghz MBP only has 3Mb of onboard cache, wheras the older one has 4Mb...

The new 2.5 and 2.6Ghz MBP models both have 6Mb of cache, which actually makes quite a difference (more than the 0.1/0.2Ghz CPU speed increase)
 
alphaod said:
Uh no you don't.

They have the same VRAM. I would get the Merom because it's considered the high end MBP. If you get the Peryn, you would be paying more for multitouch, something I personally don't use.
Click to expand...

just saw that :)
 
The new one is run way cooler so you can run it in clamshell without worrying. Im sure the other is fine too, but your always better with the newest tech. I think it's great and I cant wait to replace my 23" with the 30" to go with that small beast.
 
oxfordguy said:
Not sure if makes much difference, but the newer 2.4Ghz MBP only has 3Mb of onboard cache, wheras the older one has 4Mb...

The new 2.5 and 2.6Ghz MBP models both have 6Mb of cache, which actually makes quite a difference (more than the 0.1/0.2Ghz CPU speed increase)
Click to expand...

I have yet to see a CPU-related benchmark in which the 2.4 Merom outperforms the 2.4 Penryn. The newer machine does just fine with 3 MB of L2.

If you want a performance boost that's more substantial than any difference between any of these CPUs, jump to a 7200 rpm hard disk.

alphaod said:
I would get the Merom because it's considered the high end MBP.
Click to expand...

And this gets you...? In every real-world test so far the low-end Penryn MBP has outperformed the high-end Merom MBP. The only advantage the old machine has on the spec sheet is the extra 1 MB of L2 cache. That has proven immaterial in the real world.

Don't buy your machine because you feel like you got the "high end." That gets you nothing. Buy it because it performs well.
 
Am i correct to assume the new Macbook Pros will have the Macbook Air/ Macbook type keyboard? Not sure if i like that style. May convince me to get one of the models out now.
 
bestthereis27 said:
Am i correct to assume the new Macbook Pros will have the Macbook Air/ Macbook type keyboard? Not sure if i like that style. May convince me to get one of the models out now.
Click to expand...
No they don't.

And the older 2.4 is faster than the newer 2.4 because the old one was high end and the new one is baseline.
 
If you can afford the new Penryn one, get it. If you can't, the Merom 2.4 isn't a bad fallback option either. It's still quite up there in the "middle-high" end.
 
cmm26red said:
Which benchmarks are you referring to? The only benchmark I have seen where the Merom 2.4 has an edge over the Penryn at the same clock speed is Geekbench. According to the tests Macworld ran, the 2.4 Penryn performance was comparable to a 2.6 Merom. And as far as just the cpu goes, the T8300 (2.4 Penryn) has a higher score in Passmark than the T7700 (2.4 Merom) and the T7800 (2.6 Merom). I am just interested if you have access to other benchmarks which show the Merom outperforming the Penryn at the same clock speed, since Geekbench is the only one I know of.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

http://www.macworld.com/article/132330/2008/03/macbookpro_bench.html
Click to expand...

nick9191 said:
No they don't.

And the older 2.4 is faster than the newer 2.4 because the old one was high end and the new one is baseline.
Click to expand...

Aside from Geekbench, what information are you basing this on? The logic you use in saying the older is faster is erroneous; please back it up with more correct information if it exists.
 
nick9191 said:
No they don't.

And the older 2.4 is faster than the newer 2.4 because the old one was high end and the new one is baseline.
Click to expand...

That's some fuzzy logic right there.

I have a Powerbook Duo 280c bought for some $3800 in '94. It was the high-end of the line. Perhaps I should unearth it from the attic and put away my baseline Penryn Macbook Pro?
 
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