Yup, it’s finally here, the new consumer MacBook-branded Apple notebooks. And what a pleasant surprise to see that it’s available in sleek black. The great responses from the black iPods must’ve been the reason for introducing a black notebook.

The 13.3-inch notebook features a 1280×800 display, an Intel Core Duo processor (1.83GHz or 2.0GHz), 6-hours of estimated battery life and a new design for the keyboard’s keys. The new key design would probably need some getting use to, but it sure looks good.

Other feature includes the usual iSight webcam, Front Row remote control, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth and iLife ‘06.

Currently, only three versions of the MacBook are available. Both the $1,099 and the $1,299 versions are white, and they both sport a 60GB hard drive with the only difference being the former has a 1.83GHz processor while the latter gets a 2.0GHz. For those yearning to get the black model, it’ll cost $1,499 and it comes with a larger 80GB hard drive.

It’s interesting to note that to upgrade the $1,299 white model to an 80GB hard drive, it’ll take $50. Which leaves us at $150 as the additional cost for owning a black MacBook.

Now that Mac can run Windows, you’ve got a good reason to replace your crummy old D*ll.

Other reads:
Hands on with the Apple Macbook
MacBook @ Apple Store