1994 Without so much as a press release, Apple gave the unibody white MacBook its first refresh since being introduced last October, and it's a substantial one.

It wasn't a big surprise after a Vietnamese tech Website spilled the beans last weekend complete with an unboxing video, but what's with the stealth upgrades, Apple?

Anyway, under the hood, the MacBooks gets essentially the same configuration as was introduced with the base model 13" MacBook Pro last month - a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor teamed with an Nvidia GeForce 320M integrated graphics chipset - a substantial upgrade from the 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo and GeForce 9400M chipset of the previous model, especially the graphics processor, which Apple claims provides a performance boost of up to 80 percent over the previous generation chipset.

The other big news is the battery upgrade. The original unibody white MacBook's built-in battery performance was more than respectable, but up 10 hours on a single charge is spectacular — providing the staying power you need for long flights, all-day workshops, marathon study sessions, and even power outage. The new energy-efficient NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics processor improves battery life by using less power for everyday tasks like writing email and surfing the web, and Apple says thanks to its advanced battery chemistry and adaptive charging technology, the MacBook battery can be recharged up to 1000 times — five years of typical use, nearly three times the lifespan of typical notebook batteries.

More good news — the Revision B MacBooks now support both video and audio out via that Mini DisplayPort, a boon for users who connect laptops to a TV via HDMI, and brings the Macbook up to spec. with current generation of MacBook Pros and iMacs. There's also a new MacBook Air style MagSafe power adapter connector that points the adapter cord backward to hug the case rather than sticking out at a 90° angle from the computer body, and the SuperDrive optical drive is now double-layer.

Aside from those changes, the new MacBook appears is be pretty much identical in spec. to the October, 2009 original release model - the 250GB 5400 RPM hard drive and 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM (upgradable to 4 GB) are carried over from the previous model. Ans alas, no FireWire port and no SD Card slot.

The price of entry to the MacBook club remains $999.

For more information, visit:
http://www.apple.com/macbook/

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