Another notable change to Apple's newest laptop is the redesigned keyboard. I'm less wowed by this update. The new keyboard features flat, chicklet-like keys that sit above a recessed base. While its a marked improvement over the old slightly springy iBook-keyboard, the keys feel a bit slippery in use.

Maybe it's because I'm not a touch typist, or because I think the keyboard on the MacBook Pro (and its predecessor, the PowerBook G4) is among the best laptop keyboards out there. But this one feels more plasticky than the one on the Pro models. And it doesn't light up.

Benjamin stressed that the keyboard, like other design changes incorporated in the new MacBook, are as much about form as function. "It's mostly a new design change. It [the keyboard] comes up from the inside, so you lose that sponginess that was there before."

He pointed to other changes: The latch is magnetic, meaning there's no button to push to raise the screen -- just a small indentation that you lift up on. The feet on the bottom are installed from the inside, meaning no more lost nubbies. (The iBook feet were small pencil eraser-sized rubber nubs that could be knocked out.) The small light that glows when the MacBook is asleep has been moved to the right front of the laptop. And the new MacBook is 20 percent thinner than the model it replaces, but it's a bit heavier -- up from 4.9 pounds for the 12-in. iBook to 5.2 lb. for the MacBook.

Then there's the decision to offer a top-end model in black. Who but Apple could offer its laptop in basic black -- and charge users $200 for the privilege?