At a Glance
Expert's Rating
Pros
- 802.11n wireless enabled
- Integrated iSight camera
- Sturdy but elegant design
- Built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth
- Larger hard drive
- Great glossy screen
- Good battery life
- Larger L2 cache, 1GB RAM, and slightly faster CPU result in performance boost
Cons
- No expansion card slot
- Mediocre graphics performance limits appeal for gaming
- No SuperDrive
Our Verdict
The May 2007 update to the MacBook line introduced the most substantial changes to the low-end model. Beside the faster processor (2GHz, instead of 1.83GHz), this model now has the same amount of shared L2 cache (4MB) as the other MacBook configurations. It also now ships with 1GB of memory, up from 512GB, and sports a bigger hard drive than its predecessor. Other configurations remain unchanged, though this round of updates features built-in 802.11n wireless networking support out of the box.
With more cache and system memory as well as a larger hard drive, the $1,099 MacBook is noticeably snappier than its predecessor, and not significantly slower than its higher-priced siblings (which boast SuperDrives and higher-capacity hard drives).