Apple quietly updates the $999 Macbook White

by Justin Horn on Jan 21st, 2009 @ 12:22 pm

Checking the Apple website you can see they have introduced the New Macbook White, which is a hardware bump to the $999 Macbook White 13″. It now includes 2GB DDR2, Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz 1066MHz / 3MB cache, and the new GeForce 9400M bringing it more in line with the base  aluminum model. (via TUAW)

This is an interesting move by Apple that provides a nice entry budget laptop (well budget by Apple’s standards ) with a significant savings of $300 over the 13″ aluminum Macbook. At first I had a feeling they would phase the plastic out and go all aluminum, but I guess Apple is really starting to venture into that sub $1000 area full force with this update.

Should be interesting to see how this affects sales in the future as people looking for a good laptop at a fair price (not those looking for $299 laptop) may consider the switch with these latest updates.

I just compared a Dell Inspiron 13 to the new Macbook White and the price was only $225 more for the Macbook. See the comparison details after the break.

I made the specs pretty close between the two, but the Macbook still has better hardware overall.  Here are a few of the adjustments I made to the base packages.  Dell upgraded to a 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS, Bluetooth, Wireless N, 56 Whr battery. Macbook upgraded to a 160GB hard drive.  Below are the detail specs of each unit to compare for yourself.

Dell Inspiron 13 – $824
Intel® Pentium™ Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1
Glossy, widescreen 13.3″ LCD (1280×800)
128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS
2GB Shared Dual Channel 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2 Dimms)
160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive)
Wireless N
Bluetooth 2.0 EDR

New Macbook White – $1049
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (1066MHz frontside bus and 3MB of shared L2 cache)
OS X v10.5 Leopard
Glossy 13.3-inch widescreen display w/ pixel-perfect 1280-by-800 resolution
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM – 2x1GB
160GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Wireless N
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

So as I said before the Macbook White is $225 more, but does come with some better hardware. I have highlighted the spec differences between the two units with an underline. The CPU and Video (probably 2 of the most important things) are much more powerful on the Macbook which could justify the price difference, but a lot of people at this point in time would probably pay $200 more just to get OS X vs Vista. Plus I believe the Macbook White looks a hell of a lot better than the Dell, although aesthetics aren’t a concern for some when purchasing computer hardware.

Only time will tell, but I have a feeling this move is a goo done for Apple in the long run.

Follow me on Twitter @justin_horn

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