New MacBook Pro 13" Processor Question

They both will hyperthread. It probably is not worth it from a performance standpoint to purchase the faster CPU. The times that there would be a difference will be few and far between unless you are in a vocational situation using CPU intensive applications.

For $200 I would rather get a couple of HDDs for backups.

But if the bank account is overflowing, why not? 😁

Ciao.

The useful and free Mactracker database has Geekbench scores that allow comparing processors. This is what they show for the 13-inch 2015 model:

Not a lot of difference--less that 4 percent between the 3.1 and the 2.9.

You can get MacTracker at http://www.mactracker.ca/ . It is also on teh App Store but I've had a few issues witht he Apps Store version aht I don;t get when I get it from teh developer's site that I linked.