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The White, Polycarbonate MacBook Is Due for an Upgrade
Just when you were getting used to your MacBook, Apple is getting ready to give it an upgrade. After handling the cool metallic surface of the MacBook Pro, typing on a backlit keyboard, and enjoying the glassy screen of my MacBook Pro, reverting to the plastic white veneer of the old 13-inch MacBook seems so old school. 
Apple thinks so, too. That’s why, according to reports, Apple is preparing to give the runt of the family a makeover that would make it an even more formidable contender in the laptop competition, which is still hot. Here is how Apple plans on doing that.
First of all, and most importantly, the MacBook will get a price cut. The market is now flooded with inexpensive netbooks. Many consumers are in no position (let alone the mood) to throw several hundred dollars more toward a computer just because it has a luminescent apple on the screen. Steve Jobs is famous for his quip, “”We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk.” So ‘price cut’ is not going to get you as low as $500, especially with the kind of upgrade Apple has in mind. On the flip side, it’s not going to go for the envelope-pushing pricetag of $1300, which is where aluminum MacBooks come in. Between $500 and $999 is as specific as we can get at this point.
From a body perspective, the MacBook should get a sleeker feel. Apple’s appeal comes in large part from their clutter-cutting design. While it may have once been cool to have plugs, buttons, and useless slots violating the sides of laptops, that day is no longer. The MacBook redesign will amplify Apple’s trademark simplicity with less girth, less weight, and the unibody look.
Internally, MacBook should get a new heart, too. The Core 2 Duo chip is the only likely candidate for this change. Having this better faster chip as the standard internal architecture for the MacBook would place it in the speed ranks of its pricier cousins, but would still keep it out of their price range.
Right now, MacBook is Apple’s cash cow. Due to its position on the lower-end of the price totem pole, most students (one of Apple’s biggest market sectors) would be more likely to make this lower-end MacBook their first choice. By juicing up the performance and slimming down the design, Apple will not only keep the MacBook as a front-runner, but may also be able to winch open the market sector to include a larger portion of the business community. By enhancing the selection with MacBook upgrade options, the redesigned MacBook can only be a winner.
