The New Apple MacBook

What you need to know. Thinking of Buying a MacBook?

By David Flores, courtesy B&H Photo Video

Apple's White MacBook has been a boon of the education and entry-level computing market since Macs first adopted Intel processors. The latest offering from Cupertino reconsiders the "entry-level" nature of the MacBook by bringing its capabilities and feature set more closely in line with professional MacBook Pro models.

From a design standpoint, the new MacBook takes its cues from the unibody build of the Pro line. Unibody construction gives the laptop a more solid feel, and significantly improves all-around strength and durability. The new MacBook offers a superior, purposeful and tactile touch over the previous generation. Nothing bends, flexes, or gives.

The unibody lower case of the new MacBook

When you hold the machine, you get the feeling it could easily survive a four-year Art History degree and the inside of your well-traveled backpack, too. This is essentially the same type of build you get from a MacBook Pro, but with the body composed of polymer instead of aluminum. The bottom of the machine has a rubberized grip surface that keeps it from sliding off tables and desks. This also seems to keep heat from building up while using the computer on your lap.

The rubber bottom panel of the new MacBook

Processing power sees a significant bump from the previous model, with the Intel 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo CPU. The new chip features 3MB of L2 cache running at a perfect 1:1 ratio with the processor speed. Standard memory configuration includes 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM. This is expandable to support up to 4GB. These specs are the same as the current 13" MacBook Pro, and should yield comparable performance.