AppleInsider Staff
The images, which were passed on to MacRumors by an eagle-eyed viewer, largely match descriptions of new MacBook and MacBook Pro designs recently detailed by AppleInsider in a report on notebook makeovers due out from the Cupertino-based company a little later this year.
Specifically, the renderings show a 13-inch multi-touch MacBook clad completely in aluminum with the exception of the keyboard, which is black to match that of the one that recently began shipping on the MacBook Air.
Meanwhile, a new MacBook Pro depicted in the images appears to share the same kind of display bezel as Apple's current iMacs, completely with black trim that frames the notebook's LCD display.
Earlier this month, AppleInsider reported that the existing MacBook and MacBook Pro would be the last of their breed, as both product families were destined for major design changes upon their next refresh.
It was reported that the 13-inch MacBooks would undergo the most significant metamorphosis, shedding their plastic enclosures for ones constructed from more eco-friendly materials such as aircraft-grade aluminum and stainless steel.
Meanwhile, the 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro were also reported to see aesthetic revisions, which like their upcoming MacBook counterparts were described by those familiar with the products as borrowing several design cues from the August 2007 aluminum iMacs and all-new MacBook Air.
Next-gen Apple MacBook & MacBook Pro renderings published by MacRumors.
Some of these design cues were believed to include instances of matte black on portions of the casings, oversized multi-touch trackpads, and the adoption of the MacBook Air's keyboard by the MacBook — all of which are depicted in the recently revealed renderings.
Boosting confidence in these design changes are reports out of Taiwan this week that Apple has placed a substantial order for new aluminum 13-inch MacBook casings with one of the larger Taiwanese case makers.
Another image included on the .Mac website and forwarded to MacRumors appears to be a teaser for iTunes 8 and includes the date of June 10th, around the same time Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is due to present his opening keynote at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Update: MacRumors has posted an update to its story which casts doubt on the legitimacy of the mock ups.
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Chip Loder
Marko Zivkovic
Wesley Hilliard
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
58 Comments
design does not look awesome; may be it is due to the photo quality ...
13" Alu MacBook should be good; hope some form new thinking in Combo drive...
We will see blu-ray also this june?
The scale on the 13" MacBook makes no sense unless the screen is larger than 13" or the keyboard has mysteriously shrunk.
Mockups ftw.
13" Alu MacBook should be good; hope some form new thinking in Combo drive...
We will see blu-ray also this june?
No on the BD and no on the MB refresh in June, if you were implying that.
The scale on the 13" MacBook makes no sense unless the screen is larger than 13" or the keyboard has mysteriously shrunk.
Those are clearly 15" and 17" mockups.
Well I think it's shmecksy.
Regardless of whether these are fake or not (I vote fake), they're not exactly imaginative. Ok, so the MacBook revision would bring an Air keyboard and aluminum enclosure? And if the MacBook Pros get only-glossy screens I know more than a few people who will complain (as an owner of both, I prefer the choice). As for hardware, we already know that the next rev will be incremental, and the big news will be Nehalem in 2009.
As for iTunes 8 on June 10th, um, it doesn't exactly take insider information to see this coming. Jobs always presents major revs to iTunes (keynote date, check) and major revs come about once a year (iLife 08 and iTunes *7*, ahem). Now with Leopard out with Core Animation and all kinds of under-the-hood goodness, isn't it time iTunes finally becomes the database it's always meant to be (instead of the bogus xml index file!)
The bigger news would be if they flipped the '8' on it's side and revved it to iTunes ∞.