Apple makes October 14th MacBook event official

The event

Invites sent to members of the media Thursday included an image of an aluminum Mac notebook with the tagline: "The spotlight turns to notebooks."

The event is set to take place at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, October 14th at the Apple Town Hall on the company's Cupertino, Calif.-based campus.

Apple has used the Town Hall venue in recent years as a more intimate setting for its Mac-related product announcements that are timed for release outside larger forums such as the January Macworld Expo and spring Worldwide Developers Conference.

Last July, the company used the Town Hall to introduce aluminum iMacs and showcase new versions of iWork and iLife. In February of 2006, a similar event was held to take the wraps off the now defunct iPod Hi-Fi and Core Duo Mac mini.

This year, the Mac maker is expected to showcase new families of matching, aluminum-clad MacBooks and MacBook Pros that may be priced more aggressively than its existing models.

Potential pricing

A report published Thursday by the Inquisitr claims that some Apple retail stores have been provided with pricing sheets for new MacBook and MacBook Pro models, with prices ranging from $800 to $3100.

The author cited a source who says that the shops "usually" receive these pricing lists 10 days before products hit the market — a claim that is not necessarily true. Should the price points prove accurate, however, they would imply that Apple is prepared to slash the price of its entry-level MacBook by more than 27 percent.

The current MacBook line is priced between $1099 and $1499, while the MacBook Pro family ranges in cost from $1999 to $2799.

The notebooks

On Thursday, people familiar with the upcoming notebooks confirmed to AppleInsider that an image (below) joins one from July (also below) in serving as an authentic capture of a portion of the next-generation 15-inch MacBook Pro.

A new family of 13-inch MacBooks are expected to adopt a very similar design. AppleInsider has been following the story on Apple's next-generation notebook plans since April, outlining its expectations in a series of reports, each of which are listed below.

Previous reports on next-gen MacBooks

MacBook, MacBook Pro to get new aluminum designs (April)

Next-gen MacBook Pro casing design revealed, new battery cover (July)

New notebooks will include something other than Intel's Montevina chipset (July)

New MacBooks to follow iPods by several weeks; iMac bumps by mid-November (August)

New MacBooks tracking for mid-October timeframe (September)

First test batches of new MacBooks ship out of China (September)

Next-gen MacBook, MacBook Pro spotted in matching outfits (September)

New photo may reveal more of Apple's next-gen MacBook Pro (October)

Sources: latest MacBook Pro photo is the real deal (Today)