Top stories

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 [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Teardown: Inside The New Plastic MacBook

macbook_teardown_battery

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.

macbook_teardown_overview

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.

macbook_teardown_chips

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.

macbook_teardown_heat_sink

The space-age heat sink.

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.

2 comments

    I know it’s totally OT, but from my RSS reader looks like you’re feed is totally f***ed up. It doesn’t show up the new posts

    This makes the MacBook line as convoluted as Windows Vista. The White MB costs 200 bucks less than the 13″ MBP, has the same processor and video, and comes with a bigger HDD. Even with the Firewire. SD card (feh), and remote (double-feh!), this makes the 13″ MBP the ENTRY LEVEL system. But it costs more?

    I think they’ll have to do a revamp of MBP processors, bumping the 13″ to 2.53 and 2.66GHz. Could keeping the MacBook at $999 end up being a de facto price cut for the MBP?

Add your comment

Name(Required)

Mail (required, but not published)

Website

Comment

Buy Inside Steve's Brain Buy from Amazon.com Buy from Barnes & Noble