  The thermodynamic behavior of QCD matter at high temperature is currently
studied by lattice QCD theory. The main features are the fast rise of the
energy density $\epsilon$ around the critical temperature $T_c$ and the large
trace anomaly of the energy momentum tensor $< \Theta_\mu^\mu >=\epsilon - 3 P$
which hints at a strongly interacting system. Such features can be accounted
for by employing a massive quasi-particle model with a temperature-dependent
bag constant. Recent lattice QCD calculations with physical quark masses by the
Wuppertal-Budapest group have shown a slower increase of $\epsilon$ and a
smaller $<\Theta_\mu^\mu>$ peak with respect to previous results from the
hotQCD collaboration. We investigate the implications of such differences from
the point of view of a quasi-particle model, also discussing light and strange
quark number susceptibilities. Furthermore, we predict the impact of these
discrepancies on the temperature-dependence of the transport properties of
matter, like the shear and bulk viscosities.
