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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

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White MacBook Gets Minor Update: Faster CPU and RAM, More Battery

white_macbook

Apple’s entry-level white MacBook received a hardware update on Wednesday, possibly foreshadowing revisions to the aluminum unibody MacBooks.

For the same $999 base price, the WhiteBook now gets:

* CPU bump from 2.0 GHz to 2.13 GHz.
* Hard drive from 120 GB to 160 GB.
* RAM boost from 667 MHz to 800 MHz.
*Battery life upped from 4.5 hours of “wireless productivity” to 5 hours. And now rated Energy Star EPEAT Gold, up from EPEAT Silver.

Thanks to the updates, the WhiteBook now has a faster processor than the entry-level aluminum MacBook, and a bigger build-to-order hard drive (500GB). And it still has a FireWire port. Updates to the unibody soon?

Apple is rumored to be offering similar upgrades to the aluminum MacBooks at WWDC, and rebranding the machines as MacBook Pros to further distinguish them from the white plastic MacBook.

White MacBook tech specs.

White MacBook at Apple’s online store.

About the author

Leander Kahney

Leander Kahney is senior editor of Cult of Mac, editor of two books about technology culture, Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, and has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Observer in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

Email the author | Read more posts by Leander Kahney.

5 comments

    How did they achieve that increase in battery life? Better battery? Improved software? Or is it just to match the marketing of other vendors?

    Cheers,
    Ashley.

    It’s likely a combination of better components and a better battery. There’s a lot of speculation that the new chip is Intel’s P7450, which offers better performance at lower power than the previous chip — the P7350.

    It’s likely a combination of better components and a better battery. There’s a lot of speculation that the new chip is Intel’s P7450, which offers better performance at lower power than the previous chip — the P7350.
    BTW I love your blog!

    Jesus ….
    I bought my polycarbonate MacBook in June & they’ve updated it *twice* in less than a year.
    Boy — color *me* “sucker” ….

    [...] White MacBook Gets Minor Update: Faster CPU and RAM, More Battery [...]

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