Apple MacBook (late 2009 model)

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Review

The white polycarbonate MacBook has a place in many Mac lovers’ hearts and Apple is clearly keen to keep its distinctive design as a way to distinguish this entry-level laptop from its MacBook Pro range. So, while all-aluminium cases are now the order of the day for all other Apple computers, this new late’ 2009’ MacBook is still made from plastic.

That’s not to say that Apple hasn’t recognised that the old design was starting to look a little out of date and this new MacBook has been retooled to make it a look a little more modern. The dimensions are more or less the same as before, but the case is now much more rounded and, according to Apple, ‘unibody’.

The difference, of course, is that the MacBook case is moulded from a single piece of polycarbonate rather than hewn from an aluminium blocks, but the result is still a pleasingly seamless — and solid — enclosure.

The case is more rounded than the MacBook Pros’, but it’s still rather fetching and this MacBook is even a few hundred grammes lighter than the outgoing model. Shiny white plastic marks very easily though, and so Apple has sliced off the MacBook’s underside and screwed on a rubberised plastic plate that acts as one giant desktop foot.

The MacBook has always seemed a little under-specified compared to other laptops when it came to ports, and this model is no different. Apple has removed FireWire this time round and there’s still no SD Card slot — both standard issue on laptops that cost half as much.

The Mini DisplayPort socket also means that you’ll need to buy a £15 adapter to plug the MacBook into an external monitor and with just two USB ports, Apple evidently doesn’t think that this laptop will spend much time as part of a desktop set-up.

Fortunately, the MacBook’s excellent keyboard means that few people will want to plug something else in. It hasn’t changed from the previous model (at least as far as we can tell), but we’re not complaining — the keyboard is rock-solid, and the low-profile keys are large and well-spaced

Apple has updated the trackpad and the MacBook now has the same glass multi-touch model as the MacBook Pro. Using the large pad as a single mouse button takes a little getting used to, but you can still use the usual thumb and forefinger combination by clicking its bottom left corner. Although a two-finger tap acts as a right-click, you can also set the bottom right corner to fulfil the same function for a more traditional trackpad feel.

LED-backlights are now standard on the MacBook Pro and Apple has introduced the same display technology to the MacBook. Improved energy efficiency is the perhaps the biggest advantage this brings, but the whiter, brighter display is also a joy to behold. Apple hasn’t fitted the same glass, frameless display as on the MacBook Pro though, and the 13.3in screen has the same 1280 x 800 resolution as the old MacBook.

Processor speeds have remained more or less constant on the MacBook for the last couple of years and Apple seems to simply drop in the latest 2GHz (give or take) Intel Core 2 Duo chip with each refresh. This time around, the MacBook gets a 2.26GHz P7550 processor with a 3Mb cache and 1066MHz bus speed. 2GB of DDR3 RAM is now fitted as standard, as is an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics chipset.

This puts the MacBook specification level-pegging with the 13-inch MacBook Pro that costs £100 more — although that laptop has an aluminium case and the MacBook’s missing ports. The MacBook’s much larger 500Gb hard drive could be sufficient compensation for many users though, making it a cost-effective option.

Apple has long been criticised for using non-removable batteries in its iPod and iPhone models, but that hasn’t stopped it from doing the same thing with its MacBook Pro laptops. It cites bigger, longer-lasting batteries as being worth the sacrifice and we’re inclined to agree, although that obviously won’t help anyone who likes to carry an emergency spare.

Nonetheless, the MacBook now gets the same fixed battery treatment, but the capacity hasn’t increased dramatically — it packs just an extra 5Wh over its predecessor’s 55Wh battery. Regardless, improved energy efficiencies across the board mean that the MacBook is still good for up to seven hours’ use away from the mains — or at least that’s Apple’s reckoning.

In our tests under Windows XP, BatteryEater Pro ran for one and three quarter hours in Classic Mode and three and a half hours in Reader Test mode — we'll take both times with a large pinch of salt though, since we suspect that the Windows XP drivers aren't best optimised for energy efficiency. For comparison, we looped a QuickTime HD movie trailer under Mac OS and this played for just over three and a half hours, which suggests a typical battery life when running productivity apps with Wi-Fi on of around five hours.

Footnote: Apple has announced that it won’t have a Windows 7 update for Boot Camp ready until the end of the year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t install Microsoft’s new operating system on the MacBook until then. We installed successfully the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium on the MacBook and downloaded the appropriate NVIDIA 64-bit graphics drivers separately. There was still a small problem in that the trackpad worked erratically and Wi-Fi wouldn’t work at all, but the Boot Camp 64-bit Windows Vista drivers can be easily hacked to fix both problems.

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