Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Mac Musings

The May 2009 MacBook Value Equation

Dan Knight - 2009.06.11 - Tip Jar

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter. Also follow our blogs: LEMblog and Low End Mac Services.

Popularity: LEMLEMLEM

Short link: http://bit.ly/8ifVa

Apple overhauled its entire notebook line this week, with the exception of the MacBook White, which was just updated in May. From the MacBook side of things, the biggest change is that the 13" Unibody MacBook has gained FireWire and an SD Card slot while adding "Pro" to its name.

The May 2009 MacBook White is the third model to bear the MacBook White designation, and at 2.13 GHz it's the fastest yet. It is the only Apple notebook with a FireWire 400 port - all of the MacBook Pro models use FireWire 800. It's also Apple's only notebook with a built-in Mini DVI port - all the other Mac notebooks use Mini DisplayPort exclusively.

In addition to a faster CPU, the May 2009 MacBook White has a faster memory bus (1066 MHz vs. 800 MHz) and a larger hard drive. As with the previous model, maximum RAM is 6 GB (all of the June 2009 MacBook Pro models support up to 8 GB of RAM).

The MacBook White is Apple's only consumer notebook. It's 13.3" glossy display has 1280 x 800 resolution, and its size makes it a good candidate to replace iBooks, both 12" and 14". At US$999 retail, it remains the least expensive Intel-based Mac notebook. Benchmarks find the 2.13 GHz MacBook White is 6.5% faster than the 2.0 GHz model - exactly what you'd expect.

We updated our MacBook price tracker this morning. Here are the best deals on new MacBook White models:

  • 2.0 GHz, $889 shipped
  • 2.13 GHz, $925 shipped, after rebate ($990 without rebate)

There are no refurbished MacBook Whites available at present. If you don't mind the hassles of waiting for a mail-in rebate, the 2.13 GHz is the better value: 6.5% more processing power, 40 GB more hard drive space, and a 4% higher price.

The Used Market

Used MacBooks are quite a bit less expensive and generally sell with a 90 day reseller warranty. Here are some current deals:

  • 2.0 GHz Core Duo, black, $599
  • 2.0 GHz Core 2, white, $695 shipped
  • 2.16 GHz Core 2, black, $765 shipped

While the new MacBooks represent a good value and do have slightly more efficient CPUs and architecture than these older models. Hard drives are easily upgraded, and unless you need more than 3 GB of RAM or nVidia graphics, these could be all you need. And on the used market, the premium for black is minimal.

Bang for the buck, the 2.0 GHz BlackBook for $599 is a steal. LEM

Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986, sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Mac Musings

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2010 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Low End Mac's Amazon.com store

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.