  A brief overview of the linear collider design is given, with emphasis on the
elements of particular importance for the performance. The modifications of the
RDR design suggested in the SB2009 proposal are presented, once again with
emphasis on those item that have most impact on the performance. In particular,
the effects on New Physics channels are studied, by two examples: the analysis
of the properties of $\stau$:s in the SUSY benchmark point SPS1a', and the
model-independent Higgs recoil mass analysis. It is shown that for both these
cases, the SB2009 design performs significantly worse than the RDR design: For
the \stau ~analysis, the uncertainties on both the mass and cross-section
determination increases by 20 \% (or 35 \% if the travelling focus concept is
not deployed). For the Higgs analysis, the corresponding increase in
uncertainty is found to be 70 \% both for cross-section and mass (or 100 \%
without travelling focus). For both channels, the deterioration is to a large
part due to the move of the positron source to the end of the linac.
