When Apple introduced its new unibody laptops back in October, it also left a white polycarbonate model from its previous MacBook line available for purchase at the lower end of its price spectrum. However there is now a little less difference between the two as Apple has quietly bumped the specs on the older model to nearly match the speedier components of its aluminum cousins while keeping its $999 price tag.


The upgraded white MacBook now comes standard with 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM and the same Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics processor found on the more expensive models. It also boasts a new Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at 2.0GHz with a 1,066MHz front-side bus and a 120GB hard drive. Of course there are some key differences between the old white model and the low-end $1299 unibody MacBook, but basically the extra $300 will get you a nicer-looking aluminum laptop, a slight bump in hard drive space, faster DDR3 RAM, the proprietary mini DisplayPort and no FireWire.