Apple’s unibody white MacBook has been put out to pasture as of Wednesday. Apple discontinued the last of the MacBook line as it introduced new Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Air and Mac mini models.

The MacBook had been considered Apple’s entry level laptop and a great option for schools thanks to its US$999 price tag and white plastic body. Now, however, it appears that Apple plans to position the $999 11-inch MacBook Air as its base model laptop.

While the 11-inch MacBook Air offers less screen space than the 13-inch MacBook, it does offer a more powerful Intel Core i5 processor, and longer battery life. Whether or not that is enough to make potential MacBook owners happy, however, remains to be seen — although it’s likely that Apple won’t have any problems selling its new 11-inch MacBook Air.

Even though the white MacBook is dead as far as the public is concerned, it still lives on for educational institutions. Apple will continue to sell the laptop to schools for $899, which should make at least some educators happy since the little white computer has proven to be a great work horse machine for students.