Does The White Macbook Have A Future? – The ‘Book Mystique
Apple’s former sole price leader laptop, the white polycarbonate MacBook, has been flying under the radar for some time now. It had its last modest refresh, in which it got a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor and Nvidia’s GeForce 320M integrated graphics processor unit, back in May, 2010. It’s also shared the $999 entry- level price slot with the 11.6 inch MacBook Air since last October, and while Apple doesn’t release model-by- model sales volume breakdowns, it’s a pretty safe assumption that the littlest MacBook Air has been outselling the MacBook handily.
However, the MacBook is still available, and apparently selling to somebody, which I find mildly surprising. With the release of the second-generation MacBook Airs last fall, the lower end of Apple’s notebook price range became unprecedentedly crowded. Three different machines with 13-inch displays (although the 13 inch MacBook air has significantly greater screen resolution than the other two), plus the 11-inch Air, elbowing for customers in the $999 to $1,299 price category. Two of the four would be on my short list for best Apple laptop ever, and are my favorites among currently available Mac computers, but the 13 inch MacBook has never really grabbed me.
Despite being given the “unibody,” nomenclature by Apple, it’s just not the same in white plastic. Doubtless smart marketing, but it’s more than a bit of a stretch, since the removable bottom panel is a sheet aluminum stamping coated with a rubberized coating, fastened in place by eight Philips #00 screws. “Monocoque” would be more terminologically accurate than “unibody,” and while I’ve recommended this model to friends in the hunt for their first Mac laptop, it’s always been with the bootnote that for just $200 more they could have real aluminum unibody construction, twice the RAM, FireWire, and an SD Card slot, and since the latest refresh, also Core i5 power in the much better value 13 inch MacBook Pro. Add a $100 (Apple price) upgrade to a more reasonable 4 GB of RAM, and the difference shrinks to $100. Match the 13″ Pro’s standard 320 GB HDD, and you’re down to just $50 difference between white plastic and a real aluminum unibody.
And since last October, I’ve also been counseling those adamant about keeping the upfront cost below $1000 to carefully consider the 11.6 inch MacBook Air.
Of course there are some good reasons why some users might still decide to go with the white MacBook. The 13 inch screen has its advantages, even though there’s not much difference in terms of resolution. Not everyone is enchanted with the idea of being without an on-board optical drive. The MacBook has upgradable RAM. And in some instances perhaps of the most practical importance, the MacBook’s 250 GB hard drive has nearly 4 times the data storage capacity of the 64 GB SSD in the baby MacBook Air. However, as noted, all of those benefits and more are to be found on the $1,199 13″ MacBook Pro, which to my way of thinking renders the white MacBook somewhat redundant, lending plausibility to rumors last week that Apple may be fixing to discontinue the plastic MacBook line.
It’s also been rumored that Apple may drop the price of the base 11.6″ MacBook Air to $899 with the forthcoming refresh, which would make the white MacBook an even tougher sell. Maybe there could be a future for the white MacBook if its price dropped to $799 and it stuck with Core 2 Duo power, but I’m skeptical as to that being the way Apple would want to go, although it’s a strategy that’s paid off well for Apple with keeping the iPhone 3Gs in production alongside the iPhone 4. Nevertheless, I’m more of a mind that the white MacBook is set for termination, with the 11.6″ Air taking exclusive charge of Apple’s entry-level laptop slot.
There seems little logic in Apple selling three different 13″ laptops, and with the 13″ MacBook Pro being a strong seller (IMHO the most attractive Pro package as well as the best value), and the 13″ MacBook Air obviously sticking around, so if one of these machines is on the bubble, it has to be the 13″ white MacBook, and the imminent OS X 10.7 Lion release could be the cue for Apple to pull the plug.
Anyway, we should know one way or the other within a couple of weeks or so. If Apple decides to discontinue it, I suppose the white MacBook will be missed by some, but I won’t be one of them, what with continued availability of the 13″ MacBook Pro and freshened MacBook Airs.