MacBook battery gets 42 percent boost
Apple refreshed its popular MacBook consumer notebook today. Never fans of cutting prices, the update to the company's low-end notebook follows the same m.o. as Apple's other speed-bumps -- more horsepower for the same price.
The new model costs $999 and includes:
- 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (up from 2.26GHz)
- 2GB DDR3 memory
- 250GB hard drive
- 8x double-layer SuperDrive
- NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics (up from NVIDIA GeForce 9400M)
- Built-in 10-hour battery
- Polycarbonate unibody enclosure
ZDNet's own Rachel King notes that the faster GPU is one of the main differences:
The graphics behind that glossy 13.3-inch screen will start looking better too with the integration of the new NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor, making the graphics performance up to 1.8x faster than the previous generation.
What stuck out for me was the new MacBook's better battery performance. Gone is the 60 wH, 7 hour battery found in the previous (Fall 2009) MacBook. The new 63.5 wH battery has about 5.8 percent more capacity, but manages an impressive 42.8 percent more run time if Apple's estimates turn out to be true.
To eek out the extra capacity, the new MacBook's battery is sealed like the rest of Apple's mobile products, including the MacBook Pro, iPhone, iPod and iPad. I suspect that this is tradeoff that most users would gladly accept.
Which you you prefer: more run time or a removable battery?
[Update: The previous Fall 2009 MacBook also had a sealed battery and the post was updated accordingly.]