Had a chance to play with a new MacBook (white) today. 2 GHz, 512 MB RAM. First impressions:

• It’s an iBook. Same milky white, glossy exterior.
• It’s thinner than either my old 12″ iBook or my current 12″ PowerBook (though only barely for the latter).
• It’s almost 2″ longer than my PowerBook. The PowerBook fits “inside” the MacBook.
• The weight difference is noticeable in direct comparison, but is not significant with the lid closed.
• Holding it by the edge, the weight is more noticeable (as when lifting to move around). More strain on my hand.
• Opening the MacBook is much nicer.
• The glossy screen, when turned off, is a mirror. When the screen is on, the gloss is not bad, under direct light (office, upward facing florescent, sunlight through drawn shades). It’s still there, however, just ghosted. It’s a little distracting, but not hugely so.
• Doing a CD import, the first song ripped at about 5.3x, the second song at 8.5x.
• Basic functionality feels fine.
• Metallic power cable snaps into place with a rather satisfying click-thunk. Very cool.
• Power cord has a neat “button” led showing orange for charging, green for charged, rather than the ring around cord.
• The screen brightness is amazing, like night and day between the MacBook and PowerBook. Not even close.
• They keyboard is… interesting. I like the sturdiness, but the spacing between keys is odd and and I feel I need to hit them harder and square on for them to register.

That’s it for now. Overall, looks like a very solid machine. I’ll probably pick one up before the end of the year. Probably pick up the black one though.