In addition, MacBook Pros, which have had Intel's latest mobile platform since June, are available with a faster 2.6-GHz CPU for an additional $250. In addition, Apple's top-of-the-line notebook is available with a 250-Gbyte hard drive. Apple still offers MacBook Pros with the less-expensive 2.2- and 2.4-GHz chips.

Santa Rosa, Intel's next-generation implementation of its Centrino wireless notebook platform, includes a Core 2 Duo processor and incorporates the 802.11n spec, which has a data throughput over a Wi-Fi network of up to 74 Mbps. The previous 802.11g spec had a throughput of 19 Mbps.

In addition, Santa Rosa has 4 Mbytes of shared L2 cache and raises the speed of the front-side bus in the MacBook to 800 MHz from 667 MHz. Both features contribute to the boost in processing speed.

The starting price for the new MacBooks is $1,099, which includes a 2.0-GHz Core 2 Duo processor and an 80-Gbyte hard drive. For $400 more, the MacBook comes with a 2.2-GHz processor and 160 Gbytes of storage. All MacBooks come standard with 13-inch displays and 1 Gbyte of memory.

The move to Santa Rosa also gives the MacBooks a video upgrade to Intel's GMA X3100 graphics processor, built into the chipset. Previous MacBooks had Intel's slower GMA 950 processor. In addition, Santa Rosa has what Intel calls a Turbo Memory feature that boosts hard-drive performance with a flash-based cache.