Until now, all notebooks were designed the same way. By assembling multiple pieces to create a single enclosure. But once you include all the necessary parts, you add size, weight, complexity, and more opportunities for failure. Solving a problem like this required more than an incremental change. It required a breakthrough. To create the new MacBook, the design and engineering teams devised a way to replace many parts with just one. That one part is called the unibody — a seamless enclosure carved from a single piece of aluminum.
Of course, building only one part creates its own set of challenges. When you have multiple parts that are fastened together, tolerances don’t need to be perfect. You have wiggle room, both literally and figuratively. But when one part is responsible for many functions, it’s critical to manufacture that part with absolute precision, down to the micron. Every time. Millions of times over. There was only one way to achieve this level of precision: mill the unibody from a solid block of aluminum using computer numerical control, or CNC, machines — the kind used by the aerospace industry to build mission-critical spacecraft components.
When you pick up a new MacBook, you immediately notice the difference. The entire enclosure is thinner and lighter. It looks polished and refined. And it feels strong and durable — perfect for life inside (and outside) your briefcase or backpack.
The thickness of a notebook depends on the technology inside. LCD displays typically use cold cathode fluorescent lamps, or CCFLs, to create light and project a picture onto a screen. But that poses two problems. First, these lamps require more space, so the display can be only so thin. Second, just like the fluorescent lights in your home or office, the ones inside a CCFL display take time to warm up before they reach full brightness. That’s a lose-lose situation. And it’s why Apple engineers chose LED backlight technology for the new MacBook.
An LED backlight creates the same amount of brightness in less space. So you can make the structure that houses an LED display much thinner. And unlike fluorescent lamps, an LED backlight reaches maximum brightness instantly.
Look at the MacBook display and you’ll see another big difference. Glass. That edge-to-edge, uninterrupted glass display does more than look good. It also adds structure to the LED display beneath it. And there’s no metal frame (another extraneous part) to distract you from what’s onscreen.
The new MacBook trackpad has no button because it is the button. That means there’s more room to track, more room to click — left, right, center, and everywhere in between — and one less part. Apple designers and engineers spent countless hours considering things like sensitivity (how much pressure triggers a click?), audio feedback (what does the click sound like?), and friction over the smooth glass surface (what does it feel like?).
And that’s just the hardware. Apple software engineers had a large part to play in the development of the trackpad, too. They incorporated Multi-Touch gestures, including swipe, pinch, rotate, and the new four-finger swipe. The result is the largest, smartest, most ergonomic MacBook trackpad ever. It’s one of many details considered and reconsidered during the design process.
There’s a story behind each part. Take the thumbscoop, for example. It’s the indentation that allows you to open the display. If the scoop is too deep, you put too much pressure on the display to open it. If it’s too shallow, you struggle to open the display. It may seem incidental, but if the thumbscoop is well designed, it makes the difference between a bad experience and a good one. The challenge of the thumbscoop was to create a crisply machined scoop that was still comfortable to use. The designers at Apple worked on hundreds of versions of the thumbscoop — even examining them under an electron microscope — to get it right.
Then there’s the sleep indicator light. An indicator is functional only when it’s indicating something. Look to the right of the thumbscoop. You see nothing. Until you close the display and your MacBook goes to sleep. Then an LED glow appears from inside the enclosure. How? During the CNC process, a machine first thins out the aluminum. Then a laser drill creates small perforations for the LED light to shine through. These holes are so tiny that the aluminum appears seamless when the light is off.
The marriage of electronics and mechanical design makes the new MacBook as advanced on the inside as it is on the outside. The internal architecture has been reengineered from the silicon up. There’s a new logic board. A new chipset. And a new integrated graphics processor — a feat of engineering in itself.
Many notebook computers sacrifice graphics performance in order to save battery life. The new MacBook offers the best of both worlds. The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor provides up to five times the performance of the previous-generation MacBook without draining your battery. So you can experience high-performance graphics ideal for playing 3D games or watching video.
Because Apple designs both the hardware and the software for the new MacBook, it’s easier to improve things like energy efficiency. Software tells the hard drive to spin down when it’s not in use. It tells the display and battery indicator lights to dim in low-light conditions. And it helps decide whether the CPU or the graphics processor would be best suited to the task at hand. That’s the kind of smart, integrated design that sets MacBook apart from other notebooks.
Top-to-bottom integration also makes MacBook greener than other notebooks. Complete control over how the new MacBook is designed, how it’s manufactured, and how it’s packaged gives Apple an environmental edge. Take the MacBook display, for instance. Conventional CCFL displays use mercury to create a backlight and arsenic to prevent irregularities in the glass. The LED-backlit display on the new MacBook, on the other hand, is both mercury- and arsenic-free. LED backlight technology also conserves energy: This display requires 30 percent less power than a CCFL display.
Mercury and arsenic aren’t the only toxins absent from the new MacBook. Many computer manufacturers have only pledged to eliminate polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from their enclosures and circuit boards. Apple is removing not only PVC and BFRs, but all forms of bromine and chlorine throughout the entire MacBook.
Just how green is the new MacBook? It’s ENERGY STAR compliant, which means it meets the government standard for energy efficiency. It’s also earned EPEAT Gold status, the highest standard for environmental performance in the electronics industry. And every new MacBook is shipped in packaging that’s 41 percent smaller than any previous generation. That translates to fewer trees used for boxes and less fuel used to transport more MacBooks on fewer planes. And at the end of its long, productive life, you can recycle almost all of your MacBook.
Only Apple could make a notebook like this. Hardware and software. Design and engineering. Production and manufacturing. They’re all part of a single process at Apple. When you start using your new MacBook, you’ll discover what that means. The light and sturdy unibody protects the components inside. The LED-backlit display — along with the graphics processor that helps power it — gives you faster games and a brilliant canvas for your photos, movies, and more. The glass Multi-Touch trackpad feels as good as it functions. From the smallest detail to the biggest engineering breakthrough, the new MacBook truly is the next generation of notebooks.
From the stunning aluminum unibody to the powerful graphics architecture, the new MacBook makes progress a beautiful thing.
Square one: a solid block of aluminum.
Instead of assembling a notebook from many minor parts, the new MacBook was reinvented from just one: the new, solid-aluminum unibody enclosure. It gets full credit for making MacBook thinner, lighter, and even more stunning. But it’s not all beauty. Because of the unibody, this MacBook is also durable. It was designed to take on your world. So slip it into your backpack or briefcase and pull it out wherever you go — it’s impressive in any setting. Learn more about design
Even the keyboard is advanced.
The MacBook keyboard is solid, responsive, and comfortable. Just put your fingers on the crisp keys and you’ll feel pure typing bliss. An illuminated keyboard, a popular feature of MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, now comes standard on the 2.4GHz MacBook model. So when you’re in low-light settings such as airports or lecture halls, you can always see what you’re typing. It’s a luminous feature for anyone on the go.
Hey, where’s the button?
The amazing new trackpad doubles as a button — just press down anywhere and consider it clicked. No separate button means there’s 39 percent more room for your fingers to move on the silky glass surface. Now that Multi-Touch gestures have come to MacBook, all the function is in your fingers. Use two fingers to scroll up and down a page. Pinch to zoom in and out. Swipe with three fingers to flip through your photo libraries. Rotate to adjust an image with your fingertips. Using the new four-finger swipe gesture, swipe up or down to access Exposé modes and left or right to switch between open applications. If you’re coming from a right-click world, you can right-click with two fingers or configure a right-click area on the trackpad. The more you use the Multi-Touch trackpad, the more you’ll wonder what you ever did without it.
Simply stunning.
The beautifully seamless, remarkably thin design isn’t the only gleaming quality of the LED-backlit display. Open your MacBook and you’re instantly greeted by glorious full screen brightness. The aluminum enclosure is perfectly integrated with a glass overlay that stretches to the edge of the notebook, providing a completely unobstructed picture. Anything you view, including the glossy widescreen display itself, is a spectacular experience. The LED-backlit display is more power efficient. And it’s mercury- and arsenic-free, so it’s greener than ever. Learn more about MacBook and the environment
Cooler creatures. Richer worlds.
The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M brings up to five times faster, discrete-level graphics performance to MacBook.1 That means high-end, high-speed 3D game-playing power. Graphics-intensive features in iPhoto and iMovie are smooth and responsive. Movies and video offer rich colors and fine details. NVIDIA performance even makes a difference as you flip through your music library with Cover Flow or use the Dashboard.
Take it all along.
With a hard drive up to 320GB,2 you can load MacBook with movies, photos, and documents and take everything with you. You also have the option to upgrade to a 128GB solid-state drive, which has no moving parts, for enhanced durability. With the ultrafast 8x SuperDrive, burn everything you watch, listen to, or create onto DVDs and make room for even more.
Ports with possibilities.
MacBook is iPod, iPhone, digital camera, and external hard drive ready. You’ll find two USB 2.0 ports to connect a wide variety of peripherals. You’ll also see a Mini DisplayPort — a perfect fit for the new Apple LED Cinema Display. The MagSafe power port gives you a trip-proof connection to safeguard your system and valuable data. And you can use the Kensington lock slot to protect your MacBook, battery, and hard drive.
What a quantum leap looks like.
With a first-of-its-kind integrated graphics processor that delivers up to five times the performance in half the size, the new MacBook changes the game — and just about everything else you do on a notebook.
More performance. Less space.
Many notebooks skimp on graphics performance in favor of a smaller design. But the new MacBook uses a graphics processor that economizes space in a whole new way. A traditional computer logic board contains multiple components: the CPU, two chips that control communication throughout the computer, and the graphics processor. The logic board in the new MacBook contains only two components: The CPU and a graphics processor with all of the core logic built into a single chip. That graphics processor is the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, and it helps MacBook reach new levels of gaming performance — without sacrificing battery life.
Play faster.
Games get up to a 5x performance boost in the new MacBook.1 Power your way through the 3D environments of Quake, Call of Duty, and Spore. Enjoy faster, smoother, more responsive gameplay. And marvel at how great those game graphics look: They’re crisper, they’re more finely detailed, and they make the most of the brilliant LED-backlit display.
Create faster.
The new MacBook is perfect for iLife applications, too. Whether you’re flipping through vacation photos in iPhoto, editing a family flick in iMovie, or building your own blog in iWeb, the new MacBook helps you create and enjoy photos, movies, and websites with ease.
Work faster.
The new MacBook makes quick work of iWork applications.2 Big Keynote presentation? Great graphics performance means that your transitions (especially that really snazzy one) play smoothly, slides build without delays, and finely detailed graphics render perfectly.
Do everything else faster.
At the heart of every MacBook is Mac OS X Leopard. At the heart of Leopard is Core Animation: the technology that powers visually stunning user interfaces and application animations. It’s what makes iChat effects, Cover Flow, Time Machine, and hundreds of other graphical elements in Mac OS X possible. The improved graphics performance of the new MacBook makes everything you do in Mac OS X smooth and responsive.
Mini DisplayPort.
The new MacBook has a small port that makes a big difference. The Mini DisplayPort is a brand-new, industry-standard port. It delivers a pure digital connection to external displays — even large 30-inch displays — quickly and without a glitch. No more multiple-pin connectors with unwieldy screws; the ultracompact Mini DisplayPort gives you plug-and-play performance with the new Apple LED Cinema Display. And it supports VGA, DVI, and dual-link DVI connections, too.
Get the (really) big picture.
With a MacBook, you can work or play anywhere. But there are times when great graphics performance positively begs for more pixels. Introducing the Apple LED Cinema Display: the first display designed specifically for the new MacBook.
The new 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Display transforms your MacBook into a desktop computer in seconds. Plug in three simple connectors — Mini DisplayPort, USB, and MagSafe — and suddenly you have more room to work and play, plenty of space for peripherals, and an automatic charge for your MacBook. You don’t even need to take the power adapter out of your bag. And instantly, everything you see is bigger, brighter, and even more brilliant. Learn more
Greenest Macbook ever!
The new 13-inch MacBook embodies Apple’s continuing environmental commitment. It is designed with the following features to reduce its environmental impact:
- Arsenic-free glass
- Brominated flame retardant-free
- Mercury-free
- PVC-free
- 41% smaller packaging
- Highly recyclable aluminum and glass enclosures
Fewer parts.
Greener parts.
The new MacBook is built with significantly fewer parts. And the parts that remain are significantly greener. Take the unibody, the foundation of the notebook itself. It’s a single piece of solid, recyclable aluminum that replaces dozens of extraneous pieces once destined for landfill.
Small volume speaks volumes.
Made from recycled material, the new MacBook packaging is 41 percent smaller than the previous generation. And that’s huge. It means less paper used for smaller boxes. It also means Apple can use fewer planes to transport the same number of products.
