Apple recently unveiled new models of its Macbook models

Apple recently unveiled new models of its Macbook models, as well as its high-end Macbook Pro line, in an attempt to further boost the sales of the laptop lines.

Both models now come with the new Penryn processing chips by Intel, which were only recently released. The portable computers were also reconfigured to feature faster processors.

The Macbook now comes with the options of a 2.1 GHz or 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processors for the white models, and the 2.4 GHz for the black models, according to CNet News. The $1,299 and $1,499 models are now with a standard 2GB of RAM - double that of the previous 1GB. An additional 1GB would have cost the user an additional $150.

The $1,299 models also come with a 160GB hard drive, from the previous 120GB, while the $1,499 black model comes with 250GB, from 160GB.

The $1,099 models come with 1GB of memory, and a 120GB memory, up from 80GB.

For the Macbook Pro models, Apple has included the formerly Macbook Air-exclusive MultiTouch trackpad technology, which allows users more flexibility in manipulation by means of pinching, swiping, and rotating displays with the use of fingertips.

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Apple`s second major update to Mac OS X Leopard

Apple released its second major update to Mac OS X Leopard, the operating system it shipped in October. Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update, as Apple calls it, is one of the largest operating-system patches I've ever seen. The "combined update" download, which applies every fix issued so far to an unpatched copy of Leopard, weighs in at 343 megabytes, but even on a Mac with the 10.5.1 update applied, 10.5.2 was a 341-meg download.

(A conspiracy theorist could note that the mammoth size of these files forces dial-up users to drive to the nearest Apple Store to use the shop's broadband connection to grab their own copy--and maybe they'll wind up buying a new iPod while they're around.)

A note at Apple's tech-support site inventories the fixes 10.5.2 brings. Most are the usual security, stability and performance improvements, but Apple also fixed two of the bigger sources of complaints about Leopard's interface--the partially-transparent menu bar and the Dock "Stacks" that offer quick access to the contents of your Applications, Documents and Downloads folders.

You can now return the menu bar to a solid shade of light gray, and you can tweak the Stacks icons (via a right-click menu) to change their appearance, vary their order in which they display their contents, or make them act like standard folders. Those may not sound like major changes, but Mac interface-design connoisseurs had objected vociferously ("Transparent Menu Bar, Die Die Die!") to Leopard's earlier implementations of these ideas.

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