Rumours about the next Apple surface

New Apple gadgets out this week but what are the rumours suggesting?

With MacWorld only a couple of days away, the rumour mill is spinning up and just about catching fire as every sort of idea and hope makes its way into the dreams of geeks everywhere.

This MacWorld, this is what a good majority of the blogosphere are either hoping for or just downright expect…

A big iPod Touch
The Mac TabletPC idea has been one of those “we really, really, really hope Apple are listening” sort of things from the lips of every starry-eyed fanboy since the idea was conceived. A Mac tablet laptop? Seriously, if Axiotron could show us the idea world well with the Modbook, why couldn’t Apple make our dreams come true?

One of rumours shaping up for this year comes in the form of a large iPod Touch to launch late this year possibly with an announcement this week.

Designed similarly to the iPod Touch, the model would be equipped with either a 7- or a 9-inch screen and would be compatibly with all of the applications that currently circulate on Apple’s AppStore.

Think of it as a big version of your iPhone without that “phone” part.

Prototypes have apparently been “seen and handled” according to the people at TechCrunch so this could be a go-er.

A little iPhone
The idea of a smaller iPhone isn’t a new one and the concept has been kicked around several times before what I’m about to say. Some people have suggested it would be in the shape & design of the iPod Nano with a bunch of keys while most of the rumours have circulated around the prospect of a tiny iPod Touch-styled iPhone (much like the current one).

This year – and in the next two days mostly – that rumour gets its wings as case manufacturers let loose on the idea that an iPhone Nano is coming.

You might remember that last year, shortly before the announcement & release of the new fourth-generation iPod Nano, case manufacturers started confirming the elongated design of the new iPod Nano with pictures of the cases they were making.

Well it’s happening again and now the iPhone Nano might be on the cards.

The all-new 17 inch Macbook Pro
Late last year when Apple went and changed the look of the Macbook and Macbook Pro computers, one model was left virtually unmodified. The 17 inch Macbook Pro was to stay with its original design and specifications for the most part, a shift in screen resolution being one of the only things Apple would do for their aluminium heavy weight laptop.

This looks set to change with reports today that Apple look set to introduce a 17 inch Unibody laptop with a battery you won’t be able to remove.

The Unibody laptop is a device Apple are known for with the Macbook and Macbook Pro models released last year being among the first of their kind: laptop bodies designed out of one piece of aluminium instead of inter-connecting pieces. This Unibody technology is expected to make its appearance on the 17 inch Macbook Pro but the unwelcome surprise here is the possibility of a non-removable battery.

While it’s rumoured that the new internal battery will be made for extended life, try telling that to people who work in the field and yearn for a battery change. If this is true, Apple’s idea of “extended life” better be more than 4 hours for this to be useful.

It’s also possible that the new 17 inch might be equipped with Intel’s new Quad Core chips designed for laptops

Sources: Mac Rumors, TechCrunch, CNet