2.16 Core Duo vs 2.2 Core 2 Duo

Hi Steve,

the speed gain of the 2.2 compared to the 2.16 is neglectable.
You won't recognize it.

The speed gain from the better graphics chip is to be seen, since the Quartz Extreme engine relies heavily on the power of the graphics chip. See here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/quartzextreme/

Regards

Stefan

The difference between 2.16 GHz and 2.2 GHz is of course too small to notice, but the 2.2 GHz MBP also comes with the new Santa Rosa chipset with a faster front side bus, and reviews and benchmarks have indicated that the difference, while not dramatic, is significant.

The 2.2 MBP also has a new and reportedly better video card. I don't know enough about the extent to which more RAM compensates for the otherwise inferior nature of the older card.

More important, I think, is the fact that the 15" SR MBPs come with the LED backlit screen. My spouse has the older MBP and my screen is brighter and has more even lighting. The LED also weighs less, uses less battery, needs no time to warm up to full brightness and is said to last longer without dimming over the years.

To me, the LED screen is the big reason to get the new MBP. (They're even starting to show up on Apple's refurb page; I saw one yesterday for $1699).

Having just recently upgraded from an MBP 2.16GHz C2D 2GB/120GB/128MB VRAM (previous model) to a MBP 2.2GHz C2D 2GB/120GB/128MB VRAM I can tell you that under this configuration the difference between then is this… 30-60 minutes battery run time. That's it!

So why did I upgrade? Well, three reason…

1) 4GB over 3GB (which was the main reason)
2) 30-60 minutes extra battery run time
3) I got an offer I couldn't refuse for my MBP 2.16GHz