Apple launches MacBook: 13-in, Core Duo, black and white cases

As expected, Apple has launched its new consumer laptops, under the MacBook brand. The new models all share one case design, a 5.2-pound box available in black or white, with a 13.3-inch, 1280x800 display and full-size keyboard. All are based on Intel's Core Duo processor, at speeds from 1.83 GHz to 2.0 GHz. Apple claims a six-hour battery life for the new models, though we imagine that's reduced substantially if you spend that time watching DVDs. Like other recent models from Apple, the MacBook also includes an integrated iSight webcam, a remote control, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi and Bluetooth. The new models are available immediately from Apple's online store at prices from $1,099 to $1,499. If you want black, you'll have to pay more: the $1,499 model is the only one one in the color scheme; other than the case color and an 80GB drive, its specs are identical to a $1,299 white model (the 80GB drive is available as a $50 upgrade for the white version, making the price for the black case $150). And, yes, you can now bid farewell to the iBook name. Now, what on Earth is Apple going to announce at Thursday's press event?

Click through for more pics.

[SL @ May 16th 2006 8:44AM]

AWESOME! Was totally in the market for one too!

[retsel @ May 16th 2006 8:45AM]

so... a black laptop... OMG... and the rice point is a bit high...

[CRH's Dad @ May 16th 2006 8:47AM]

Black! Sweeet!

[gib786 @ May 16th 2006 8:47AM]

$200 more just for black?? now that just aint right

[JonesH @ May 16th 2006 8:49AM]

Yeah, man, the rice point ;)

But these look awesome! Still gonna get a Pro though, but the black one looks sleek.

[zoara @ May 16th 2006 8:50AM]

Latchless opening!

[Adam @ May 16th 2006 8:50AM]

Any word on if this will work with BootCamp ?

[blahblah @ May 16th 2006 8:51AM]

So, no Tablet eh? Hey Apple: I really hope you'll be releasing a tablet by September, when I go back to school, or I'll have to go with a Wintel solution.

The good news is that most Wintel tablets have specs very close to the old Apple x86 Dev Kit, so I'll be able to run a patched copy of OS X anyway. It'd be interesting to see if Inkwell could be made to run on a system like that, considering that many of them embed a standard Wacom digitizer in the screen.

The choice is yours Apple: you can either have people like me as customers, or lose us. I'd rather buy a tablet from you, but will go elsewhere if I have to.

[Retard @ May 16th 2006 8:57AM]

I'm calling BS on this. The jpeg compression around the text makes it look really amateur, apple would never do that. Even a child knows gif or png are better for text.

[John @ May 16th 2006 8:59AM]

The Black MacBook is $200 more because it comes standard with a 80GB HD not the 60GB HD of the whites... SO really you're only paying $50 extra for Black ;)

[Somebody @ May 16th 2006 9:01AM]

I just peed in my pants...

I wanna one!!!

[jimmy @ May 16th 2006 9:02AM]

@#9

It's legit.

http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html

[atomicone @ May 16th 2006 9:02AM]

Ha Ha, before you call bs on something go have a look at the apple site...
Yah, apple would never do that...

[Conrad Quilty-Harper @ May 16th 2006 9:04AM]

Integrated Graphics!! NOOOOO!!

[Callandor @ May 16th 2006 9:05AM]

#9 @ Retard, living up to your name eh?

Check the apple website.....if you can find it on your own...

On a more serious note, The black macbook looks AMAZING, but whats going on with its pricing... thats a bit steep... how much more can black pigment cost!

Callandor

[Matt @ May 16th 2006 9:05AM]

Quote Retard: "I'm calling BS on this." Wow, you are a retard, it's only posted on the Apple website dumbass.

[quahogian @ May 16th 2006 9:06AM]

#9, you calling BS on apple's site? What, somebody hacked into apple to play or apple is playin themselves then...I don't think so.

black one looks nice though, $150 more expensive for color is so politically incorrect :) I'll prolly get black one standard and then add everything esle myself to the max

[Jamie @ May 16th 2006 9:06AM]

The iBook is still available for the Education market, although one wonders for how much longer. The black is cool, but if it's the same flimsy white plastic keyboard of the iBook, i'll get a MBPro. I have a PB G4 12" 867Mhz (turns 3 years old this week, my my how he's grown...) and I can't give up the keyboard for the iBook style.

[Timmay @ May 16th 2006 9:07AM]

holy crap! I wish they had a $1099 black one though!!! fuckers...

Timmay

[John @ May 16th 2006 9:08AM]

200 bucks for 20 gigs of storage space.

Enjoy, suckers.

[Joe Smith @ May 16th 2006 9:08AM]

I'm so confused I don't know whether or not to call Jimmy, atomicone, and Matt retards... Retard's link is to the Apple website.

[narrativium @ May 16th 2006 9:09AM]

Man, you people sure have a hard time recognizing irony. . .

[bbxboy @ May 16th 2006 9:10AM]

Bah, the black looks sh*tty (in pics anyways) - looks like Apple did away with the glossy shell to appease the whiny masses (and class-action lawsuits) by going with your standard micro-texture. The specs also say the screens are glossy, great for flash, terrible for glare. Looks like Apple's stepping away from their established design cues to appeal to the unwashed masses.

[Dan M. @ May 16th 2006 9:11AM]

The extra 200 bucks is for the extra 20 gigs of HD space. Wow. Thats 10 bucks per gig!!! Talk about pricey!

[poppy @ May 16th 2006 9:12AM]

lets look at it this way, heck of a lot cheaper for apple to make it black than say colorware to do it!!! My only complaint is the integrated graphics. But oh well.... off to order!

[Scorp 56 @ May 16th 2006 9:12AM]

The black version has a 80 GB hard drive while the white ones have 60 GB hard drives.

Magnetic lid latch, MagSafe power adaptor, glossy screen, Front Row, built-in camera ...

I'm going to have to check this puppy out at my local Apple Store

[Harrison @ May 16th 2006 9:13AM]

The black is cool, but if it's the same flimsy white plastic keyboard of the iBook, i'll get a MBPro.

it's got a new keyboard. check out the "design" page. it looks like the PB one with more rounded keys.

[Simon Jordan @ May 16th 2006 9:15AM]

Anyone notice the changes to mbpro? glossy screen and matte screen?

[Sasha S. @ May 16th 2006 9:17AM]

ORDERED ONE!

Delivery time 2-3 days :-D

[Wanax @ May 16th 2006 9:18AM]

Black? What a rip off. Apple is just copying HP laptop colors now. Can't they just be original?

/end sarcasm

[puh_fifer @ May 16th 2006 9:18AM]

I saw the video is 64MB shared, but what GPU is it? I couldn't find it anywhere. And $200 for 20GB and black paint is a rip off.

[Nick @ May 16th 2006 9:19AM]

For all intents and purposes, this thing comes with no RAM. Apple has been skimpy on the RAM before, but this is a new low. 2X256?!? Who does that?

I know everyone buys extra RAM for their new computer anyway, but seriously they're not even trying...

[Jerm @ May 16th 2006 9:20AM]

maybe its been mentioned before, but has anyone noticed that they have dropped the 1.83ghz, $1999 Pro and bumped it to 2ghz for the same price?

[Retard @ May 16th 2006 9:20AM]

Gold * to Joe Smith and narrativium ;)

[umijin @ May 16th 2006 9:22AM]

WTF - 5.2 pounds??! What are they thinking?!

This is a pound heavier than the G4 12" PowerBook. I thought the whole idea behind switching to Intel was to conserve size and power.

This is a major disappointment, and won't sell so well here in Japan where people predominantly use public transportation and actually have to CARRY their laptops.

[thrillho @ May 16th 2006 9:22AM]

guys, #9 was being sarcastic, if you click his name its a link to the apple page confirming it.

[pableu @ May 16th 2006 9:23AM]

Glossy Screen? 2.36kg?
Darn, seems as if I'll have to get a Thinkpad X60s after all.

[Ireland @ May 16th 2006 9:23AM]

Thank God himself, they didn't go with glossy black!!! They had the sense to go with matt black, very very sweet indeed ;)

[Dan M. @ May 16th 2006 9:24AM]

They've also added the glossy monitor as free options on the 15" and 17" MBPs.

[Tom @ May 16th 2006 9:25AM]

Check out the processors!!!! Cool, I did not expect 1.83 & 2.0 Ghz Core Duo. YES!!

[jared @ May 16th 2006 9:26AM]

superb audio machine and they know it. gigabit ethernet, up to 2GB of memory (even if it is shared with the video chipset), and desktop extension on external displays up to 1920x1200.

if only there were such things as USB EVDOngles.

[Ryan @ May 16th 2006 9:29AM]

YAH! It has the sweet charger thingy!

[Ireland @ May 16th 2006 9:31AM]

As usual the Irish (and Europeans) get ripped-off!!
Prices starting at:
America = $1,099
Ireland = ?1,199

More units for the Irish again, and they're euros ?1,199 = $1537.84

I give up! Rip-Off Ireland.

[McPhearsom @ May 16th 2006 9:31AM]

If you check you're not paying extra JUST for black, there's an extra 20GB in the black MacBook's HD, not really worth the additional cost though.

The MacBook Pro is still the one to have but then for just over $1000 the MacBook is pretty good considering it has all the features of the MB Pro, just less powerful and smaller. I think Apple should have priced it at $1000 exactly though since that's an easier figure students can convince their parents to cough up.

It still has that single trackpad button though, why? MacOS has supported multi-button mice for years and years yet Apple limits its functionality with the single buttons. Sure you can use the keyboard shortcuts for just about everything but you really shouldn't NEED to.

[Michael @ May 16th 2006 9:31AM]

Very, Very nice. Apple really did a good job on this one. The processers, new keyboard, all the features. I think alot of people are going to get these instead of the MacBook Pro if they dont need high end graphics.

[Special_K @ May 16th 2006 9:32AM]

The black one reminds me of the old powerbooks, the ones that they had befor the titanium ones...

[Hank Cazorp @ May 16th 2006 9:36AM]

5.2 pounds is too heavy and 512MB (the base memory on all (!) models) is too light - especially with shared graphics. Hell, I could buy two PS3s for the price of a BlacBook and still have enough left over for a Wii.

[AL @ May 16th 2006 9:36AM]

Just placed an order for a black one :)

[AJ @ May 16th 2006 9:36AM]

Hopefully this means they will be announcing the touchscreen video iPod on Thursday night. I highly doubt that will happen but I would be very happy if it did.

[Misty @ May 16th 2006 9:39AM]

Where is the 12-13 inch macbook pro? Apple's gonna make me cry.