Penryn vs. Merom

Anandtech just released an interesting article where they compared two notebooks strictly identical except by their CPU, one is powered by a Core 2 Duo Merom 2.6GHz, while the other one features a Core 2 Duo Penryn 2.6GHz.
Most likely the best news, the Penryn-based model gains 16% battery lifetime. If CPU-driven performance only increases marginally by 1 to 9%, applications encoded to benefit from SSE4 instruction set can be speed up by up to 31 to 40%.
Anandtech also tested the Dynamic Acceleration function available in Penryn CPU. As a reminder, it allows core to be overclocked by 200MHz for mono threaded applications. However, if the 2.6GHz Penryn is indeed overclocked to 2.8GHz, it is only for a short time frame, as this feature is inactivated as soon as the core temperature reaches defined limits. So, such function might be useful for users with their notebook directly powered or for notebook having an advanced cooling system allowing the Dynamic Acceleration to be active for a longer time period even though it will affect battery lifetime.
For additional details: Anandtech article