New iPods Due Soon. What About New Macs?

I’m in the market for a new Mac, particularly a new Mac notebook. Soon. My pockets are warm.

Apple has announced a special event for September 9, which usually means an introduction of the new line of iPods. What about the new line of Mac notebooks?

Most of the technopundit community expects new iPods and Apple won’t disappoint. Look for larger screens, perhaps a bigger iPod nano, lower prices for the iPod touch, and maybe a surprise or two.

Apple usually introduces new iPods in late summer to get ramped up for the holiday shopping season, just months away.

There has also been speculation that Apple will introduce a new generation of MacBooks, perhaps with an aluminum enclosure not unsimilar to the very popular MacBook Air.

Think smaller, lighter, sturdier, and perhaps at lower price points?

What? Apple would lower prices? In their recent financial conference call, Apple executives indicated that the upcoming quarters would see a product transition and diminished gross margins.

Think lower prices. But for what products? The iPod is already competitively priced, though the iPod touch is not—often as expensive as an iPhone, though with more memory and less functionality.

The sleeper surprise would be a change in Apple’s fast selling notebook line. What would Apple do differently in new models? Yes, smaller, lighter, faster makes sense, so that’s a safe bet.

Would Apple be daring and provide the MacBooks with a media chip—a chip which encodes and decodes H.264 video files ten times faster than the current line of Macs?  It’s a possibility but I’m not holding my breath.

Would Apple be daring and launch an iPad? Think iPhone or iPod touch, though with a larger screen (wireless, iChat AV, built in video camera).

Again, fingers are cross but breath is not being held.

Apple gets more publicity from these special events than any other high tech company. Why would Apple waste an event and announce two products, new iPods and new MacBooks, when two special events would garner even more publicity?

Maturity has set in at Apple. The company is highly discipline, with a newfound grip on growing markets, revenue, and profits, so I don’t expect too much at any public gathering to announce new products.

This special event is headlined as “Let’s Rock” adding credence to an iPod only announcement.

What does your Mac spider sense tell you about the timing of this announcement? Are you ready to buy new iPods? Will you wait a few months to purchase a new MacBook just to make sure Apple doesn’t have a new one ready to go?