I've done the step climb and the recommended , which were very close to the same, and as soon as I got to the new altitude, the box said i should decend back down.
So, after nine years , I climb when I have have a 2000' buffer between max and desired cruise altitude. I have also had the box tell me that recommended was the same as max. Not going there.........
And, this is on a 744 with the NG software. I will confidently stick to the older performance std's rather than the new data until they get it sorted out. With upwards of 60 known anomolies with the new software, me thinks they DON"T have it quite figured out yet.