Hi everyone, I've made a covert!
the missus is jack of her dodgy Ubuntu crapbox locking up every time she reboots it,
(and this time it's not just that the keyboard is unplugged)
she tried my iBook, and is getting used to the one click trackpad, ...

we want to get a MacBook from the refurb store, not yet settled on who gets it (= we both want it)
we're not into video work or fast games, just email, Pages, Keynote, iTunes, web wandering, iPhoto playing,

so some Q's for people who know -
1] is there any meaningful difference between the 2.16 & 2.2 models with 4MB L2 cache and the 2.4 with the 3MB ?
2] will the 667 MHz bus in the 2.16 be noticeably slower than the 800 MHz in the 2.2 and 2.4?
3] is the Intel GMA 950 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM in the 2.16 & 2.2 significantly less able that the Intel GMA X3100 with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM in the 2.4 ?

then there's the worry over white or black, maybe we'll get one of those coloured clipon outer covers

and by the time I tap this out the desired one will be gone from the refurb list !

I would purchase the fastest machine your money can buy. More L2 cache is beneficial.
I would opt for the X3100 over the 950 as well.
Personally I would get white over black as well. The black looks crap once you touch it.

Download Mactracker from Mactracker It lists all the various Macbooks as well as their benchmark scores. You will be able to use this to compare the relative speeds of various models.

thanks leon,
did you mean mactracker.dreamhosters.com not just mactracker.com?
you advice makes sense, just the bigger L2 cache goes with the slightly slower processor
4MB with the 2.2,
and the 3MB with the 2.4

The GMA X3100 is up to twice as fast as the GMA 950.

I agree. While both will show the marks and scratches. I found the black one to show ever finger print and smudge. While on the other hand the dirt stains over time can be visible on the white.

I can't believe I would ever say this, but I still sway towards the white. Thus this is the model I will be getting hopefully by this time next week

Yeah, sorry for the wrong link. Fixed it up now.

I think the biggest advantage the later macbooks have is that the hardware supports 4GB of RAM, even though you can install that amount of RAM in the older ones it can only use up to 3.3gb because of the 945 chipset.

the refurbed 2.4 MacBook with 2Gb RAM & 160GB HDD arrived today, started up fine from the box,
only hassle was remembering the password for our NetComm wireless modem/router

now there's lots of updates to do to catchup - 560MB for the 10.5.4 Combo updater! will happen tonight

it seems to do things quicker than the iBook, but haven't set it up side by side to work on seti searching, (maybe could even get the iMac working on that too?)!

has anyone any tips on how to keep a nearly new MacBook running sweetly so she who must be obeyed has as hassle-free experience as possible?

I find the best way to keep things running smoothly is to not install unnecessary crap. My laptop HDD borked it 2 weeks ago. Since then I have only installed what I need as I go along. I had 100GB of stuff on my old HDD, this time around I have cut that down to 15GB of stuff that I actually need. I find my Macbook so much more responsive and reliable this time around.

My previous computer was an old Athlon64 3000+, moving to a dual core machine made a huge difference, even as the CPU's were loaded up the computer would still be very responsive and I could continue doing whatever else I wanted to.

Oh yes, and Ubuntu doesn't suck. I like it very much

+1 for Ubuntu - very good and Fast OS