  The thermodynamic behavior of the two-flavor($N_f=$2) three-color ($N_c=3$)
Polyakov-loop-extended Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model at the finite chemical
potential is investigated. New lattice gluon data for gluon thermodynamics are
used defining the effective potential within polynomial and logarithmic forms
of its approximation. We study the effects of using different sets of data and
different forms of the potential on thermodynamic properties of hot and dense
matter. It is found that the PNJL thermodynamics depends stronger on the form
of the effective potential than on the used lattice data set. Particular
attention is paid to the phase diagram in the $(T,\mu)$ plane.
