It’s tempting to dismiss the new White MacBook as the runt of the Apple litter. Its white plastic casing certainly looks rather cheap and cheerful compared to the gleaming aluminium of the more expensive MacBook Pro range – in fact, Apple didn’t even dignify the arrival of this latest model with a press release.

That’s partly because this new model is what’s known in the computer industry as a speed-bump, which means it doesn’t boast any major new features, but updates a few components to provide slightly better performance. Apart from the underpowered Mac Mini, It remains the cheapest way to get hold of a new Mac.

Like the previous incarnation of the White MacBook, the new one is a relatively compact model with a 13in screen. The Intel Core 2 Duo processor used here gets a small speed increase of around five per cent, and, although it still has 2GB of memory, it now uses a faster type of memory that should boost performance a touch.

Overall we found it to be about 10 per cent faster than its predecessor, which is hardly outstanding, but the White MacBook is more than adequate for most day-to-day computing tasks, as well as more demanding work such as video-editing and playing games.

Other features include 160GB hard disk (increased from 120GB), DVD burner, built-in webcam, 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1. There are two USB ports and a Firewire port for connecting accessories such as a printer or digital camera. Battery life was respectable – about three hours when playing video off the hard disk, and closer to four hours for less-demanding tasks such as running Microsoft Office or browsing the web.

It’s a little more expensive than a comparable laptop PC that runs Microsoft Windows, but Apple adds extra value for money by also including its impressive iLife suite. This provides useful software for video-editing, music recording, digital photography and even designing your own website.

So, at just under £750, the White MacBook is a good option for Mac fans that don’t want to pay extra for the gleaming good looks of the aluminium MacBook Pro.