Return of the Mac
Would-be Mac shoppers cannot get their hands on MacBook Pros from Apple's online shop as the company has a 3-5 day wait, which would coincide perfectly with rumours that the new MacBook Pro line-up will be unveiled this Thursday.
According to Apple's website, it has adjusted all US orders of its professional laptops from the usual 24 hour window. This has previously happened before a product release announcement.
Apple commentators are already on high-alert after Apple Insider reported the company had warned dealers not to open sealed pallet shipments that will start arriving at their shops.
Apparently Apple has told some large European resellers to expect sealed product pallets to arrive this week and it is thought that Apple will exercise its right to pull reseller licenses from any store that opens the shipments.
The website reckons the arrival of secretive palettes shows how tricky it is for Apple to roll out new products to its supply chain ahead of a major reveal and in the past the firm has apparently coordinated shipments of its products to distribution points hours before an announcement to keep them secret.
The website reported that sources said Apple's biggest European distributors ran out of MacBook Pros last month and have not been able to place new orders to Apple for around a fortnight, while Apple has reportedly not shipped any units either.
There are also other signs that a MacBook Pro launch is afoot as Engadget reported that Best Buy's laptop discovery tool highlighted a placeholder for ‘new SKU' laptops from Apple. The price points of $1,199, $1,499, $1,799, and $2,199 also seem to align with the current models.
The website said there is an extra $2,499 place holder for a laptop called ‘New SKU I' which it reckons could be an upgrade to Apple's 17 inch Pro model.
Apple Insider has also previously reported that new MacBook Pros are in production and will ship in early March, while other reports speculated at a 1 March launch date.
As for the new notebooks, they are predicted to sport Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture as well as minor cosmetic changes to the design of the popular Pro model.
Cnet has reported that Apple might even include Intel's new Light Peak high-speed optical connector tech in the new Pro line-up.
It reported that a source said Apple will probably use another name for Light Peak but intel has apparently confirmed the technology will debut in the first half of this year.
Intel reportedly demonstrated Light Peak at a developer conference using an Apple machine and it is thought Light Peak is faster than USB 3.0, carrying data at 10 gigabits per second in both directions at the same time. It has been reported that Sony is also likely to be an early adopter of Light Peak.
