Can you tell the difference?

[goodguy]

Ok, a quick thought here...

I began a few years ago shooting a D5100 with a 16 mp sensor, and then upgraded to a D5200 using a 24 mp sensor. I noticed a big difference right away when it came to my ability to crop a picture.

If I looked at shots from the 16mp sensor straight off the camera vrs shots using the 24mp sensor they looked very similar. However if I zoomed in, or went to crop the photo, suddenly the differences became pretty evident.

So even if one isn't doing large prints, etc - if you crop photos often (and for folks like me we often do) then the larger MP count really can make a significant difference in the final results.

Exactly my feeling and I share your experience.
I used to own the D7000, when I upgraded to the D7100 the resolution advantage was obvious when I cropped the pictures.
This happened again when I had the D5100 and moved to the D3300, the more resolution was a nice bonus every time I cropped my picture (which I do quite often).