Abstract This paper examines the sensitivity of the circulation of an idealized primitive equation two-level model on the form and strength of the heating, aiming to understand the qualitatively different sensitivity of the isentropic slope on differential heating reported by previous idealized studies when different model formulations are used. It is argued that this contrasting behavior might arise from differences in the internal determination of the heating. To test this contention, the two-level model is forced using two different heating formulations: a standard Newtonian cooling formulation and a highly simplified formulation in which the net lower-to-upper troposphere heat transport is prescribed by construction. The results are interpreted using quasigeostrophic turbulent closures, which have previously been shown to have predictive power for the model. It is found that the strength of the circulation, as measured by eddy length and velocity scales and by the strength of the energy cycle, scales with the vertical heating (the lower-to-upper troposphere heat transport), with a weak dependence. By contrast, the isentropic slope is only sensitive to the structure of the heating, as measured by the ratio between meridional versus vertical heating, and not to the actual strength of the heating. In general the heating is internally determined, and this ratio may either increase or decrease as the circulation strengthens. It is shown that the sign of the sensitivity depends on the steepness of the relation between vertical heating and stratification for the particular heating formulation used. The quasigeostrophic limit (fixed stratification) and the prescribed heating model constrain the possible range of behaviors and provide bounds of sensitivity for the model. These results may help explain the different sensitivity of the isentropic slope on differential heating for dry and moist models and for quasigeostrophic and primitive equation models.