Apple has quietly introduced updates to its popular white MacBook with the introduction of a new model, labeled MC240.

The update was announced quietly on the company’s online store, which now has the aforementioned laptop at the same $999.

This is the second time this year the company beefs up its legacy, White polycarbonate MacBook, this time shipping the system with faster RAM (2GB DDR2, now runs at 800MHz) and storage capacity (160GB HDD), as well as a faster processor (2.13GHz Core 2 Duo).

Apple also said the new laptop has up to 5 hours of battery life, a small increase over the previously advertised 4.5 hours. Otherwise all is the same, including the Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics with 256MB RAM, built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Gigabit Ethernet, two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 400 port, a Mini-DVI port, built-in iSight camera, and an 8x SuperDrive.

The system comes preloaded with Mac OS X Leopard, which includes iLife ’09 (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD).

In addition, Apple is offering a Back-to-School promotion which offers up to a $229 rebate good for a free 8GB iPod touch to qualifying education individuals who purchase the media player along with a qualifying Mac on the same receipt before September 8th. This new Mac MC240 is also included in the promotion.