The third "gen" of the Clamshells had half the L2 cache, but are you saying they're faster due to the combination of higher CPU clock rate and faster (PC100 vs PC66) RAM? I saw that, but I don't have much experience comparing and calculating 2 different systems, so I thought that maybe the more cache would actually let the CPU do more work without waiting.
But if there's a noticeable difference, then darn! I've always wanted a Clamshell, and a Tangerine one, but I also want the fastest one I can get lol. I guess I'll have to get all of them j/k
Yes a larger cache is better, but because of the CPU clock speed being faster, the cache running faster and the RAM being faster, it's noticeable.
Honestly though, they are both fun, good machines. Allow the the performance difference is noticeable, I would pick the one that feels more fun when it comes to the clamshells even if it was slightly slower. That's just my opinion though. ( I tend to get a bit of an emotional attachment to certain computers, thus the reason my indigo sees daily use)