Apple notebook overhaul rumored for mid-October

Apple may be planning to hold its final media gathering of the year a little over a month from now to usher in much anticipated overhauls to its MacBook line of notebook computers, according to a new report.

In his write-up of Apple's music announcements this week, Daring Fireball's John Gruber said sources "familiar with Apple’s hardware plans" have informed him that the company's new line of Mac notebooks will arrive on Tuesday, October 14th.

While Gruber is not a traditional source of Apple rumors, his predictions do fall in line with a recent hardware roadmap published by AppleInsider, which suggested that redesigned MacBook and MacBook Pros would come weeks after the company's iPod announcements.

Beyond that, Apple also holds a refresh to its iMac line of all-in-one desktop computers that have been described to AppleInsider as more of a series of speed bumps than major design overhauls.

Apple has in recent years used smaller gatherings on its Cupertino-based campus — specifically the Apple Town Hall auditorium — to set a more intimate setting for its Mac-related announcements.