Placing the new MacBook and the side by side, there are many small physical differences. Because of its unibody construction (in this case, a piece of polycarbonate instead of aluminum), the new MacBook has no grayish surface grafted atop the frame. The result is a consistent white color, and a smoother surface without the sharp edges of the earlier generation. It also means a lot fewer screws--the older MacBook had two screws on each side, plus four on the back to the sides of the display hinge. This model does away with all of those screws.

A big difference is that the new MacBook now has a glass Multi-Touch trackpad with gesture support. The trackpad is larger than the combined pad-and-button area on the old model. The smooth glass feels nicer than the older trackpad, but it does take getting used to if you've been using the previous design.

The new MacBook also has a round iSight hole (as opposed to a rounded square) with only a status light to its right. (The microphone has moved to the upper left corner of the keyboard area.) The power button is smaller, and the keyboard keys feel more solid and are a bit quieter than before.

The 13.3-inch display offers the same 1280-by-800-pixel resolution as before, but the new MacBook uses LED backlighting on its display (just like the 13-inch MacBook Pro). The difference is a notably brighter output, although when viewed next to each other, the new MacBook shows a significant yellow color shift when changing your horizontal viewing angle (the previous model simply got more washed out).