Teardown: Inside The New Plastic MacBook
iFixit’s teardown of the new white polycarbonate MacBook reveals nice, tight construction, but also some scrimping.
Apple has added a faster processor, a bright LED display, a big new built-in battery that adds two hours of extra life (Apple claims) and an improved Bluetooth antenna that promises to improve reception. The MacBook also has a space-age heat sink to cool the faster chip.
But Apple giveth, and Apple taketh away. Gone is the FirWire port and IR sensor, making it the only shipping Mac portable with no remote control.
Gone also are the two fake screws on the left side of the old MacBook that Steve Jobs insisted on to make the machine look symmetrical.
Announced today, the new MacBook costs $999, the same as the machine it replaces.
Hit the jump for more teardown action.
The new battery is 60 watt-hours, the same as the more expensive 13’ MacBook Pro. Apple claims two hours of extra run time. It’s easily serviceable with a little bit of disassembly with some specialized tools.
Here’s the Macbook’s CPU and Nvidia graphics processor, which like the battery, are the same as those in the basic 13’ MacBook Pro.
The space-age heat sink.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: 
