Unibody MacBook
Apple Inc. first introduced the aluminium unibody model of the MacBook in the October of 2008 at the Cupertino press conference aptly entitled “The spotlight turns to Notebooks”. It featured a new Nvidia chipset which brought a 1066 MHz system bus, use of DDR3 system memory, and integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400 M graphics up to five times the originally used Intel Chipset in earlier MacBooks. Furthermore, this model had an 13.3 LED backlit glossy widescreen LCD display (1280 x 800 pixel resolution), a new Mini-Display Port, a multi-touch glass trackpad that also functioned as a mouse pad, and the removal of toxic mercury along with the FireWire Port which meant it did not support the Target Disk Mode (Used for transferring data or for system repairs without booting the system).
The Unibody MacBook was designed on the unibody MacBook Pro, which itself was designed on the MacBook Air. This model was slimmer than the original polycarbonate models of the MacBook, and it used a unibody aluminium case with tapered edges. The Keyboard of the high-end model was featured with a backlight.
Further model specifications include a 2.0 GHz/2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, two 1 GB memory slots (expandable to 4 GB) and a 160 or 250 GB 5400-rpm Hard Drive (Optional 320 GB HDD; 128/256 GB SSD) in addition to the previously mentioned attractive features. The model weighs 4.5lb (2.0 kg) and its dimensions are
0.95 x 12.78 x 8.94 inches (24.1 x 325 x 227 mm).
An updated version of the unibody MacBook was branded as the 13-inch MacBook Pro in 2009, and FireWire was restored via the FireWire 800 port. The aluminium-cased unibody MacBook received rave reviews and was much appreciated by experts and consumers alike. Gizmodo claimed that it was “Our favorite MacBook to date” although they also claimed the display quality to be inferior to other previous Apple MacBooks.
Charlie Sorrel of the Wired News had a similar point of view and illustrated this by citing its poor contrast and lack of vertical angle with respect to the MacBook Pro. The later re-introduction of the FireWire port however eliminated the inconvenience faced by some users by its earlier withdrawal.
In 2009 Apple introduced a newer version of the unibody MacBook using a new polycarbonate casing. In addition to the exclusive features of the aluminium unibody MacBook, this version also featured a built in seven-hour battery. Similar to its aluminium predecessor it lacks a FireWire Port and has a combined audio in/out port. The model is designed very similarly to the aluminium unibody MacBook, the exceptions being rounder edges and the bottom rubberized non-slip finish. It also has a glossy palm rest which is fingerprint-friendly. The remaining features such as display (13.3 LED backlit glossy widescreen LCD), the front side bus (1066 MHz), memory (two 1 GB slots, expandable to 4 GB), graphics (Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400 M with 256 MB shared with main memory) and hard drive (250 GB-rpm) are approximately similar, including the weight (4.7lb / 2.1kg) and dimensions (1.09 x 13.00 x 9.12 in / 27.4 x 330.3 x 231.7 mm) , to its aluminium-cased predecessor. It uses a 2.26 Intel Core 2 Duo Processor. Not many internal features were tampered with in the newer line of the Unibody MacBook.
All in all, the Unibody MacBook is considered to be one of Apple’s greatest works and is a great hit amongst tech-enthusiasts.
- Aditya Malhotra
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