There was talk of Macs being part of this week's Apple announcement, but that always seemed a long shot to me given Apple's habit of iPod-specific rollouts at this time of year.
Still, we are due for new MacBooks. John Gruber, one of the more cluey Mac observers, says his sources give October 14 as the day to watch. If those sources know anything about the specs, either they're not letting on, or Gruber is keeping shtum for now.
There are two main possibilities. One is a speed bump, perhaps moving the high-end model to a 2.6 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU - even though that would give the MacBook CPU parity with the top of the MacBook Pro range. There's also a fairly hefty price premium involved, as Intel only lists the higher clock speed in combination with a bigger level 2 cache.
The other possibility is a completely renewed MacBook family, possibly picking up the aluminium styling of the iMac and MacBook Pro - just as the existing MacBook takes design cues from the previous white iMac.
Either way, I'd expect to see any new MacBooks come with an arsenic-free, LED-backlit display as fitted to the MacBook Air. After all, the company has pledged to eliminate arsenic from flat-panel displays by the end of this year.
What else might change? Please read on.
New Macs ahead: October 14?
It's about time Apple unveiled some new or revised Macs, and the latest tip is that it will happen on October 14.
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Stephen Withers
Stephen Withers is one of Australia¹s most experienced IT journalists, having begun his career in the days of 8-bit 'microcomputers'. He covers the gamut from gadgets to enterprise systems. In previous lives he has been an academic, a systems programmer, an IT support manager, and an online services manager. Stephen holds an honours degree in Management Sciences, a PhD in Industrial and Business Studies, and is a senior member of the Australian Computer Society.
