Anandtech offers a direct comparison between the existing Merom processors that currently power the MacBook Pro line, and the just-released Mobile Penryn processors. Apple is rumored to be working on MacBook Pro revisions as early as Macworld Expo next week that use these new Intel processors.
Anandtech was able to provide a direct comparison between the two processors:
Intel sent us two Dell Latitude D630 notebooks, identically configured, with one variable: the CPU. In one D630, we had a Core 2 Duo T7800, which is a Merom based chip running at 2.6GHz with an 800MHz FSB and a 4MB L2 cache. The other D630 came equipped with a new 45nm Core 2 Duo T9500, also running at 2.6GHz/800MHz but with a larger 6MB L2 cache.
With just the processor change alone, the new Penryn laptop offered 5-10% more battery life on their benchmarks. Meanwhile, the new processor saw 1 - 8% speed boosts on common tasks, and up to 40% improvements in applications that support the SSE4 instruction set.
Apple's MacBook Pro is currently available with Merom chips at 2.2GHz, 2.4GHz and 2.6GHz speeds. The last major revision of the MacBook Pro was in June of 2007.
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