If you’ve recently purchased a new low-end MacBook, I don’t advise reading this, as it may upset you slightly. I used to be a big Mac fanatic (and have slowly been drifting back that direction) so I remember when the G5s came out and everyone raised a big stink about the lack of an L3 cache. While the newer chips still outperformed their predecessors, the absence of the L3 cache still gave the G4s an edge under certain circumstances. If you haven’t caught on, I’m trying to tell you that last year’s entry MacBook actually outperforms the ones currently on the market.

History has a way of repeating itself, and just as in the case of the G4 vs G5 debate, the cache comes into question. The newer Penryn processor features less cache than their Merom predecessors, which causes the entry-level MacBook to actually run slightly slower. We’re not talking anything significant, in fact you probably wouldn’t notice much of a difference, if any between them. However, it is a little disappointing to know that you’re better off with the previous model. If you’re looking at getting a higher-end MacBook, don’t worry. The faster clock speeds of the other models makes up for the fact that it has less cache.

Source: PrimateLabs