Apple October 2008 Notebook Event Rumor Roundup

020813 macbookpro 225

Apple will be holding a special media event on Tuesday, October 14th at 10AM Pacific in Cupertino, California.

Apple has made it clear that the event will focus on notebook computers. In addition, a leaked Apple support document confirms that "late 2008" MacBooks and MacBook Pros will be amongst the products announced. While there's been no definite word about MacBook Air updates, it seems reasonable to expect that MacBook Airs could also be updated to latest Intel processors.

The October 14th date was first reported by DaringFireball's John Gruber.

MacBooks and MacBook Pros

Apple last updated both the MacBooks and MacBook Pros in February of this year. The MacBook update was a bit of a surprise as the product line had just been refreshed 5 months prior. Rumors suggested that this represented an interim update to keep the MacBook in line with the current Intel processors and that more substantial updates would come later in the year.

AppleInsider first reported in April that the new notebooks would see "major design changes" to bring it closer to the MacBook Air and iMac designs.

Case Leaks

There have been a surprising number of case photo leaks from Taiwanese and Chinese sites over the past few months. The first leak from Apple.pro in July claimed to show a tapered MacBook Pro bottom and top. Though we were initially skeptical of the leak, AppleInsider has confirmed that it is legitimate. Apple.pro later posted photos of the top and bottom of the MacBook cases as well as a a video, though the authenticity of these images are still in doubt.

043659 161822 400

The most convincing leak came just days ago from MacX.cn. Case images of both MacBook and MacBook Pro were detailed from many different angles and are believed to be real. The images suggest that the MacBook will not include a Firewire port.

Brick, Glass, Two Tone

9to5Mac seems to be standing alone with these rumors, which have not been corroborated by any other sources. After weeks of speculation about the "brick" codename, 9to5Mac believes that this refers to the manufacturing process for the new notebooks. Other claims have included the use of a glass trackpad and the use of both plastic and aluminum to produce a two-tone appearance in the MacBook.

While 9to5Mac has had accuracy with iPod rumors in the past, they were somewhat misguided in their Rainbow iPod rumor.

NVIDIA

Perhaps one of the most welcome changes to the Apple MacBook will be the rumored inclusion of NVIDIA chipsets and GPUs. The NVIDIA chipsets are said to provide a smaller footprint and significantly better graphics performance when compared to Intel's offerings.

Other Possibilities

- $800 Apple Laptop?
- Networked HDTV from Apple
- Blu Ray support from Kevin Rose, though we heard that Rose described his source as a "bad" one during the taping, so didn't offer much confidence in the possiblity
- One image later posted to the MacX.cn photo set depicts what the MacBook Pro would look like with a trackpad and keyboard in place. This is a confirmed Photoshop mockup and does not represent the actual product.
- While there have been reports of Best Buy part lists showing the same price points, we've been told that Best Buy has no knowledge of upcoming Apple products and insert these placeholders based on circulating rumors.
- PCPer.com: MacBook Air shown but not available until January 2009

Apparently, a new MacBook Air will be announced and shown at the event but it won't be available until January 2009. The MacBook and MacBook Pro will be available almost immediately.

Coverage

We'll be providing SMS/Twitter coverage for the event at http://twitter.com/macrumors. To follow MacRumors news stories on Twitter, follow http://twitter.com/macrumorsrss.

We will provide links to live text and photo coverage of the event as it approaches. There is no live video stream available, but Apple will likely post a video online after the event. If you prefer to watch the video without prior knowledge of the announcements you can sign up for Spoiler Free coverage.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Related Forum: MacBook

Popular Stories

iphone air thickness

Apple Said to Cut iPhone Air Production Amid Underwhelming Sales

Friday October 17, 2025 8:29 am PDT by
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec). The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps. More features and changes will follow in future ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones Coming Soon

Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The update will likely be released by the end of next week. Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
iPhone Siri Glow

Some Apple Employees Have 'Concerns' About iOS 26.4's Revamped Siri

Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings. iOS 26.4 will...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

New iPad Pro Has Six Key Upgrades Beyond M5 Chip

Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more. With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

New 14-Inch MacBook Pro Has Two Key Upgrades Beyond the M5 Chip

Thursday October 16, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with an M5 chip, and there are two key storage-related upgrades beyond that chip bump. First, Apple says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD performance than the equivalent previous-generation model, so read and write speeds should get a significant boost. Apple says it is using "the latest storage technology," ...
m4 macbook air blue

M5 MacBook Air Coming Spring 2026 With M5 Mac Studio and Mac Mini in Development

Thursday October 16, 2025 3:57 pm PDT by
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year. Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

M5 Chip Achieves Impressive Feat in 14-Inch MacBook Pro Speed Test

Friday October 17, 2025 7:10 am PDT by
The first alleged benchmark result for the M5 chip in the new 14-inch MacBook Pro has surfaced, allowing for some performance comparisons. Based on a single unconfirmed result uploaded to the Geekbench 6 database today, the M5 chip has pulled off an impressive feat. Specifically, the chip achieved a score of 4,263 for single-core CPU performance, which is the highest single-core score that...