Damnit... when are you going to explain us what's going there with that "strange" trackpad and when are you going to send me an email with your pictures of the product ;-)

See you guys at the MacWorld Expo :-D

Apparantly someone can't spell.

Gosh, I cant wait to see this thing. I am wanting a new tablet/notebook for med school and this seems perfect. Just spill the beans already about the trackpad (or lack there of)!

You better spill what you know now- Only 5 weeks till we find out for sure- you don't want to risk anyone breaking it before you do you?

You guys got such a scoop on iPhone- it wasn't just a one-off was it? ;-)

Does anybody else remember apple saying that they were going to replace all the LCD display in their laptops with LED display by the end of 2007?

OK, so if this subtly painted picture is no trackpad, probably touchscreen, this form factor, etc, etc,

Unfortunately some things aren't making 100% sense.

1. Wouldn't they reporting them as 13.3 Inch touch screens being ordered (My uneducated view is that they are different to the screen in my current laptop).

2. 13.3" is rather large for a device with no keyboard (And frankly, you can get these already [http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook]  and are, IMO, too large for this type of device.

3. If it does have a keyboard, why no touchpad? A mixture of keys and touchpad works well, mixing typing and touching the screen, sounds messy.

4. All current apple touch screen products use a glass screen, too heavy for a 13.3 inch device. The alternate, a "glossy" fingerprint magnet touchscreen?

So from this...

We either have, 13.3" regular laptop, and a smaller touch device.. or we have iphone screens as the touchpad on all new laptops.

Who knows, lets just hope Penryn and SSD's make it into the new Macbook Pro (And its actually ready in Jan), cause the Mac Pro isnt a good sign so far.

Joel:  I'm not sure what 9to5 is trying to hint at here with the *wink*wink* trackpad comment, but I'm pretty sure that they're not suggesting a touchscreen.

What they're for sure not hinting is that the keyboard is getting axed.  From what I've pieced together so far this is going to be an ultra-thin 13" macbook pro and the whole trackpad mystery is still a trackpad but one that's been enabled with multi-touch support.  I would imagine that it won't even be a secondary display but simply be something that looks almost identical to the current MBP trackpad, just with support for multi-touch built-in.  But, who knows, 9to5 seems to be hinting at something a little crazier here.

So, from what I've read so far we're likely looking at:

• 13" LCD display (with thinner bezel than either the current MacBook or MacBook Pro)

• MacBook Pro aesthetics but significantly slimmed and the MacBook style keyboard.

• SSD

• no optical drive

• multi-touch trackpad (? this one I'm uncertain about)

• and who knows what processor this thing'll have.  The SSD and lack of optical drive will help battery life but the thing'll be damn small, so they might go for a lower power consumption processor... who knows.

What does everyone else think?

I am betting on a touch....maybe if what 9to5 is saying is right

well if not a touch screen then perhapes apple has done away with the track pad and made the whole aluminum case a touch

I WANT DUAL SCREEN!!!

Perhaps they're hinting that it'll have a touch pad. In other words, essentially replace the track pad with an iTouch display.

Of course, that'd cost a few dollars more.

I'd be surprised if it had only SSD for mass storage. Those are *NOT* cheap and I think Apple would like to actually sell a few of these. Also, most manufacturers are building SSD in 9.5 millimeter form factors identical to the 2.5" hard drives. So there's no space savings from using an SSD.

That having been said, some companies are starting to ship/sample 64 GB 1.8" hard drive form factor SSDs. Although it's not clear whether it's equivalent in height to a single platter drive (5 mm) or a dual platter drive (8 mm). Obviously the latter doesn't save much space vertically.

The current MacBook Pro is about 26 millimeters. How much thinner does it have to get to be "thin"?

So, perhaps Apple would go with single platter 1.8" drive form factors and offer a hard drive on the bottom end and an SSD on the higher end? Both with an iTouch as a touch pad. Assumedly, the touch pad would be context sensitive and display things rather than just being a touch pad.

reinharden

Whatever be the product here, I want it at Macworld! From all I keep hearing, this doesn't sound like something that'll launch in January --- or is it normal for a company to start mass production a few weeks before rollout? Well I guess it does... somehow... but still!!! Oh gawd I can't take it anymore.

So we are essentially getting an Intel Metro Laptop with apple branding and *possibly* an iTouch trackpad and SSD. Sounds amazing. Do we think the 8 > 12 cm optical drive adapter patents are too late for a January product?

I guess the worry is, is 13.3 really "ultra-portable", I mean sure its thinner, lighter, more battery life, cooler, etc. but is this the product apple has been missing from its lineup? I mean 64Gb is pretty limiting for your everyday user, I mean my itunes libray is bigger than that, take away OS room, and recovery partition (*required* when there is no optical drive), and apps, this brings it down alot for photos, music, etc.  To be a replacement for the 12" Powerbook, this thing better have the high end video card as well, none of this onboard rubbish.

I personally would like to see (And Im being selfish here)
- 15" Macbook Pro, 64Gb SSD, 200Gb 7200rpm, Optical Drive
- 10" Ultra-portable, Swivel touch screen (Tablet style), 64Gb SSD, No Optical, Synch Docs, mail, contacts with mac (LAN version of .MAC)

Why don't you guys just tell us, or post the picture! You're protected under the first amendment to post the pictures... you'll win in court! You haven't been invited to any media events, so that's not the concern! The whole point of the site is that you can let us know what Apple's doing with whatever info you have. If you don't want to post the pics or the details, give it to another site... cus believe me... they'll take it! As for this business of hinting us on, you're acting like Apple themselves! What's the point of your site if you won't tell us! You have the sources! PLEASE POST IT!!!!

You guys are always so accurate.

I laughed at the new Nano, thinking Apple would never make something so ugly... I was wrong, on both accounts.

Now, I'm afraid to believe you. Why? I just bought a new Macbook. I don't want to believe you, but I'm afraid I have to. I know you guys have a real inside source.

I want a 15" MBP - with all the cool touch stuff and an SSD =(

do you guys know if apple may be replacing the current MBP clasps with the MB magnets to hold the top closed.

Also, what are the odds that the MBP may be offered in black anodized aluminum?

MacWorld?

Post a rumour involving Apple orders for 10-inch screens and then we'll talk. 13 inches is ultra-portable, my arse.

who ever said ultra-portable?  Where does this information come from?

Instant startup is the big news here. Who want's 10 inch screens? We want usable screen space (13 inch sounds good) and a machine that's ready to go all the time. And, no, we don't need optical drives in laptops; squash the machines down in weight/size/battery life, but keep the reasonable sized screen. Diddy screens are fine for people who deal in words only, but little use to the visually literate.

Lets just hope Apple starts offering this kind of choice in its new MBPs- Speed: 200GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)- RAID Performance: 320GB (2x160GB) 7200RPM- RAID Performance: 400GB (2x200GB) 7200RPM- RAID Performance: 128GB (2x64GB) Solid State Drive- Reliability: 64GB Solid State Drive and Speed:200GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

@ reinharden: what the hell is an iTouch? Its called the iPod Touch....or just the Touch. There is no such thing as an iTouch.

if it doesnt have a optical drive then you wont be able to use compact discs and watch dvds is that right ?

For me 13" is the sweet spot, assuming that the screen goes right to edges of laptop, and the thing is very thin, and extremely lightweight, and very tough!! Something like the Toshiba portege r500 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gKMchnIfWM).  This thing is GREAT.... but sadly not a mac so doesnt have any groundbreaking design and doesnt have the apple logo!! So, no good then. Roll on Macworld.... unless 9to5 are gunna say something concrete before then?!!?

Also - lets have more than 2 usb ports, card reader, and swivel touch screen.  If this could be offered at the sub- £1000 price mark in the UK, I'd sign up for one today!!