There are three MacBooks to choose from, although you can customize them in variety of ways. The base model, in white only, goes for $1,099 and offers a 1.83-GHz Core 2 Duo chip; 512MB of RAM; a 60GB hard drive; a combo drive that burns and plays CDs and plays DVDs; a built-in iSight webcam; and the usual retinue of features such as 802.11g wireless networking, Bluetooth, Apple's two-finger scrolling trackpad and its Sudden Motion Sensor technology.

But if I were buying, I'd go for the next model up: It's $200 more, but it has a 2.0-GHz Core 2 Duo chip (with twice the Level 2 cache); twice the RAM; 33 percent more storage space, with an 80GB hard drive and a dual-layer SuperDrive that burns and plays both CDs and DVDs. You can add on from there if you want Apple to boost the RAM to 2GB (add $175) or bump up the hard drive for more storage (add $150 to $350 depending on how much more you want). It also comes in white only.

If you want the extra cool factor of the flat black model, you'll have to pay. Cool costs. Sure, you get a 120GB hard drive, 50 percent more than in the midrange model, but otherwise the hardware is exactly the same. There is one other difference: Unlike the white models, the black version seems to show fingerprints more, though they cleans up easily. (Who knew fingertips could be so greasy?)

All three models come with what has to be among the brightest and sharpest LCD screens Apple uses in a laptop. The 1280- by 800-pixel resolution is perfectly appropriate for the 13.3-in. widescreen LCD, and the glossy finish has grown on me a lot since Apple first unveiled it last spring. If you don't like glossy screens, you're out of luck when it comes to the MacBook; Apple only offers a matte finish on its LCD screens on the MacBook Pro line. Fortunately, the sheen isn't as reflective as on some of the screens used on Windows-based laptops, and the resulting vibrancy of colors is worth it. (My next laptop, a 17-in. MacBook Pro on its way now, has a glossy screen. Full report on that one next week.)

Something else I've warmed up to -- or maybe just grown accustomed to -- is the keyboard on the MacBook. It's the same keyboard that was introduced in the first MacBook, and when I tried it out in May, I found it a little hard to use. The keys are flat and the small gap between them threw off my typing a little. I haven't noticed that with the MacBook this time around. And the fact that this keyboard doesn't lift out like the one in the old iBook adds to the overall solid feel of the MacBook. It's not heavy at 5.2 lb. but it feels hefty -- in a good way -- when being carried.