[UltimaLaw]

So I am thinking of upgrading to a new Macbook Pro, actually a refurbished one and I need some advice. What is the difference between Merom and Penryn? Are all of the refurbs using the Santa Rosa chips? Should I be weary of buying something refurbished from Apple? Is the newer graphics card that much better even though it has the same amount of RAM? Is it worth the extra $300 going from 2.2 to 2.4 Ghz?

Any advice would be great, thanks!

This is the one I am thinking about, what can you tell me about it: The Apple Store (U.S.) - Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

[mduell]

Not much. Yes. No. Not much. No.

The 2.2Ghz/120GB/128MB VRAM ($1449) and 2.4Ghz/160GB/256MB VRAM ($1649) refurbs are both great deals IMO.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by UltimaLaw 

So I am thinking of upgrading to a new Macbook Pro, actually a refurbished one

Good idea.

What is the difference between Merom and Penryn?

65 nm vs. 45 nm process, L2 cache, SSE instruction set, Intel Dynamic Acceleration, deep power down. And I'm sure I forgot some. In everyday use most of that doesn't have a very big impact though.

Are all of the refurbs using the Santa Rosa chips?

On the 15" MBP the only Penryn refurbs right now are the 2.5 GHz models. All other 15" refurbs have Merom C2Ds on Crestline chipsets. Santa Rosa is a Centrino code name. Macs aren't Centrino. So technically there is no such thing as a Santa Rosa Mac.

Should I be weary of buying something refurbished from Apple?

No. They are usually in excellent condition and come with the same warranty any new Mac comes with in case something were wrong. And as a bonus you sometimes actually get better spec'ed machines than advertised when you go refurbished. In the past I have received refurbished Macs with more RAM, larger disks, and more VRAM than advertised.

Is the newer graphics card that much better even though it has the same amount of RAM?

The GPU is the same (although IIRC the clockings have been changed). The amount of VRAM was changed from 128/256 to 256/512. Actual benchmarks show there is hardly any performance difference at all though.

Is it worth the extra $300 going from 2.2 to 2.4 Ghz?

If your work is CPU limited it might. If it's just regular use (web, mail, Office) chances are you won't notice it at all.

[UltimaLaw]

Will the laptop above have the LED screen?

[UltimaLaw]

So is the above laptop a Penryn? I found multiple articles stating that it was and the older ones are Merom....

[imitchellg5]

Penryn. And it has an LED screen.

[Simon]

The 2.2, 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6 GHz MBPs all come with LED-backlit screens. You have to go back to the very first Merom MBP (the Calistoga models with 2.16/2.33 GHz) to find CCFL backlights.

The MBP you linked to is above runs at 2.4 GHz and comes with a 160 GB drive. The current 2.4 GHz MBP comes with a 200 GB drive, the last 2.4 GHz model came with a 160 GB. So the one you're looking at comes with Merom.

[UltimaLaw]

Originally Posted by Simon 

The 2.2, 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6 GHz MBPs all come with LED-backlit screens. You have to go back to the very first Merom MBP (the Calistoga models with 2.16/2.33 GHz) to find CCFL backlights.

The MBP you linked to is above runs at 2.4 GHz and comes with a 160 GB drive. The current 2.4 GHz MBP comes with a 200 GB drive, the last 2.4 GHz model came with a 160 GB. So the one you're looking at comes with Merom.

Dangit, should I cancel and order the below one for $50 more dollars? I want to get something that is top of the line I guess....

The Apple Store (U.S.) - Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

[Simon]

Yeah, now that one's a Penryn.

It's a tradeoff. Although they both are 2.4 GHz MBPs, the Merom comes with 4MB L2 while the Penryn comes with 3MB. On the other hand the extra $50 for the Penryn model also buys you a larger disk. Only you can decide which is more important for your kind of use.

[UltimaLaw]

So is that the only difference between the two? The disk size and cache or is there something else?

[Simon]

That, multitouch, and possibly a slight difference in the GPU clockings IIRC.

You can find performance comparisons of the two MBPs here. Keep in mind 2.4 GHz used to be the high-end 15" config and now it's the low-end.

[UltimaLaw]

Both have the LED screens correct, and the touch thing (where you can resize using your fingers)?

[Simon]

Originally Posted by UltimaLaw 

Both have the LED screens correct, and the touch thing (where you can resize using your fingers)?

Both have LED-backlit screens. Multitouch is only available on the Penryn model.