Apple quietly updates $999 MacBook, again -- goes back to school with free iPod touch

Shh, don't tell the press but Apple just bumped the specs on its entry-level white MacBook again. The bump measures in at just 0.13GHz on the processor, 133MHz more oomph from the DDR2 SDRAM, and an extra 40GB of disk space. Still more is more better especially when it's free $999. Apple also took the wraps off its back-to-school deal which nabs a decent discount on Macs (up to $200 off MacBook Pro) and tosses in a 8GB iPod touch (after $229 on-line rebate) to sweeten the deal.

Update: Looks like the battery might have been given a nudge to a rated 5-hours, up from 4.5.

[Thanks, Jasper K., Daniel, and Anshu P.]

Read -- MacBook white
Read -- back to school

[einhanderkiller Posted May 27th 2009 10:56AM]

Back-to-school?

But school hasn't even ended yet.

[Target0362 Posted May 27th 2009 1:08PM]

For some, some it already has.

I've been out of school since June 2008 and i'm lovin it.

(yes I graduated)

[(Unverified) Posted May 27th 2009 11:06AM]

What a lame update to be honest. Wow, Apple made the processor faster, as well as the ram and updated the HDD space! Apple, your spoiling us! -blushes- But in all honesty, if they updated it like that then dropped the price down to $800-ish, I may buy one. But no, they over price it.

[fmaxwell Posted May 27th 2009 11:30AM]

I bought mine from MicroCenter for $999 and got a $200 rebate (I signed the rebate check last night), bringing my grand total to $799. They still have a rebate, but it's rolled back to $150 last time I checked. Still a good deal.

Granted, I got it prior to the infinitesimally small upgrade mentioned here, but I replaced the hard drive and RAM within a couple of days of getting it (320GB 7200rpm and 4GB RAM), so I didn't miss out on much.

[(Unverified) Posted May 27th 2009 11:38AM]

Thanks for this. My brother bought a new iMac on Saturday for school. He starts college in the fall. I called the store and asked the deal about the free ipod since this promotion started after he bought it. They said bring in the receipt and they will give him the free ipod.

Thanks Engadget!

[Warren Posted May 27th 2009 12:12PM]

maybe they want to get rid of excess inventory on the white plastic shells? Lots of parents getting kids computers for back to school will see the white macbook as the value especially when the processor is faster than the lowest unibody macbook and HD specs are equal and ram is equal [to a non-computer person]. Most mothers see 2G ram on both and call it even - not looking at ddr2/ddr3.

Apple will probably sell a ton of these things.....again.

[Liquidmark Posted May 27th 2009 5:53PM]

Come on Apple....

2 more gigs of ram.

Your competitors are giving ram away because 4 gigs sounds better than 2.

[Inect Posted May 27th 2009 7:26PM]

Ya as i see it 4gb of ddr2 is still > 2 gb of ddr3

[Liquidmark Posted May 27th 2009 9:42PM]

I'd take 2 gigs of faster 1066 ddr3 over 4 gigs of slower 667 ddr2 sticks any day of the week

MORE BANDWIDTH that can be EXPANDED is better than being slow, yet already expanded. Much better.

[(Unverified) Posted May 27th 2009 2:07PM]

The upgrade is exclusive to the white macbook to make the older stock more desirable for purchase. Rebates on iPods equate to same thing.

Why would Apple want people to buy more of certain things than others?

The answer is simply to make way for new/refreshed stock. This is the way they've always done it.

[davidbeiler Posted May 27th 2009 1:46PM]

Not really an "upgrade" its a whole new laptop considering its all by itself on the right if you go to the apple store. A whole new laptop if you ask me

[(Unverified) Posted May 27th 2009 8:02PM]

Clue number seven

Well if apple gets a page then so does it's rival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgzbhEc6VVo

Tell me who PC is then

go to his blog

(google his name)

good evening

[(Unverified) Posted May 27th 2009 9:08PM]

Dont use this comment, use the one below

[(Unverified) Posted May 27th 2009 8:21PM]

Clue number seven

Well if apple gets a page then so does it's rival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgzbhEc6VVo

Tell me who PC is then

go to his blog

Find the post from March 27, 2009

(google his name)

good evening

[YoYoYo Posted May 27th 2009 10:16PM]

With the offer good till September, what are the odds that buying later in the cycle will get OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, or at least be close enough for the free upgrade?

[(Unverified) Posted May 27th 2009 10:53PM]

So why does this deserve 100+ comments?

[(Unverified) Posted May 28th 2009 1:21AM]

Will probably be getting this as a graduation gift, and I'm gonna need a mac anyway for college. 950 isint bad, but the 1100 dollar refurb unibody is also a sweet deal. The free ipod is going straight to craigslist.

[Weasechops Posted May 28th 2009 9:24AM]

Hmm changed in the UK...shame about the price increase! Up from £719 to £749 !!! WTF!!
Rip off Britain etc etc etc :(

[(Unverified) Posted May 28th 2009 3:21PM]

sure you always say the same similar specs same price but what about video!
this has an nvidia 9400m
where are the "half priced notebooks" with a good video card

PS: i'd be using linux on it so i don't care about software

[(Unverified) Posted May 31st 2009 11:24AM]

@Thomas What distro is the best for a macbook? Ubuntu or any other distro? Also they added a 500 gb hdd, the highest on any apple laptop yet and you can get it for $1200-ish