Mac Book - Original Polycarbonate Model

Original Polycarbonate Model

The original MacBook, available in black or white cases, was released on May 16, 2006, and used the Intel Core Duo processor and 945GM chipset, with Intel's GMA 950 integrated graphics on a 667 MHz front side bus. Later revisions of the MacBook moved to the Core 2 Duo processor and the GM965 chipset, with Intel's GMA X3100 integrated graphics on an 800 MHz system bus. Sale of the black polycarbonate MacBook ceased in October 2008 after the introduction of the aluminum MacBook.

While thinner than the iBook G4 that it replaced, the MacBook is wider than the 12-inch model due to its widescreen display. In addition, the MacBook was one of the first (the first being the MacBook Pro) to adopt Apple's MagSafe power connector and it replaced the iBook's mini-VGA display port with a mini-DVI display port. The iBook's discrete graphics chip was initially replaced by an integrated Intel GMA solution, though the latest revisions of the MacBook were upgraded with the more powerful Nvidia GeForce 9400M and later the 320M.

While the MacBook Pro largely followed the industrial design standard set by the PowerBook G4, the MacBook was Apple's first notebook to use features now standard in its notebooks: the glossy display, the sunken keyboard design, and the non-mechanical magnetic latch. With the late 2007 revision, the keyboard received several changes to closely mirror the one that shipped with the iMac, by adding the same keyboard short-cut to control multimedia, and removing the embedded numeric keypad and the Apple logo from the command keys.

A more expensive black model was offered until the introduction of the unibody aluminum MacBook. The polycarbonate MacBook was the only Macintosh notebook to be offered in more than one color since the iBook G3 (Clamshell).