capsule review

13-inch MacBook/2GHz (November 2007)

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At a Glance

  • Generic Company Place Holder Apple MacBook Notebook

If you bought a Mac laptop recently, this latest MacBook upgrade will cause no reason for despair. However, if you've been awaiting the most optimal time to refresh an iBook or even an older PowerBook G4, this might be it. You'll get plenty of value for the dollar with a nice improvement in performance, without having to hassle with an OS upgrade.

At a Glance

  • There's not much to distinguish this low-end MacBook from the 2GHz model released in May 2007. However, a new chipset architecture increases the amount of RAM capacity to 4GB and boosts the frontside bus speed to 800MHz. More significantly, the integrated graphics system has been upgraded to an Intel GMA X3100 with 144MB of shared memory; that translates to improved performance in graphics-dependent applications over the earlier MacBooks.

    Pros

    • Faster system bus
    • Excellent battery life
    • Santa Rosa architecture
    • Can handle 4GB of RAM
    • Built-in 802.11n AirPort Extreme
    • Updated graphics chip

    Cons

    • Integrated graphics performance limits gaming use
    • No SuperDrive
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