By Jeffrey Tsang, a freelance writer

APPLE has updated its MacBook and it now sports a white polycarbonate unibody with rounded edges for a more updated look.

The unibody tag means that the entire casing is made from a single block, making it more robust.

This 13-inch MacBook's exterior also gets a soft white rubberised bottom surface for better table-top grip.

Between the material and better heat management and distribution, the MacBook is now a lot more "thigh-friendly".

Another improvement: the wrist rest around the trackpad used to stain easily. The new MacBook's stain-resistant glossy polycarbonate puts an end to that problem. The letdown, however, is discomfort: the edges are sharp and the surface feels sticky.

There is another plus-and-minus issue: the unibody shell promises to be far stronger than before. Then again, the battery is now sealed inside and not replaceable by the user.

Good thing then that Apple has fitted the MacBook with its much-touted seven-hour battery.

Thanks to advanced battery chemistry and charging technology, the lithium-polymer battery can be revived up to 1,000 times.

That is good for about five years of typical use and lasts nearly three times as long as typical notebook batteries.

At the end of my test, the fully charged battery lasted 6h 35mins while constantly running a looped video. This time could certainly be improved as I had disabled all the energy-saving settings like display sleep, hard disk sleep, computer sleep and display dimming.

The seven-hour battery is a significant improvement for Apple. My year-old first-generation Aluminium Unibody MacBook could last only three hours on a full charge.

Under the hood, the new MacBook is virtually identical to the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Both come with 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and start with 2GB of RAM. The MacBook's hard drive is 250GB but, interestingly, the entry-level MacBook Pro comes with only 160GB.

The MacBook is a good deal given the prices: the Pro costs $1,988 ($2,073 if you upgrade the hard disk to 250GB) whereas the MacBook costs $1,588, making it $485 cheaper for the same specs.

Of course, the MacBook lacks Firewire, an infrared port for Apple Remote and its RAM can be expanded up to only 4GB - half that for the MacBook Pro.

Final say

The MacBook offers MacBook Pro performance at a significant discount - a must-buy for me.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.