Another week another Apple announcement

Macworld is reporting that Apple's media event on Wednesday, October 19, 2005 will be to unveil "Apple’s latest pro innovations" but what does that mean? It could mean that Apple will round out their hardware offerings and announce upgraded PowerMacs and PowerBooks (the conventional wisdom) but the locale is suspicious. 

Apple's press conference this week is being held on the eve of the PhotoPlus Expo in New York, not in Cupertino or San Jose. So why the extra travel expenses? PhotoPlus Expo bills itself as "the largest and the most comprehensive expo in the photographic and imaging industries." Hmmm...

Another line of thinking is that Apple is planning to announce something photo/imaging-related, perhaps software. iPhoto, Final Cut and iMovie updates could be announced but it seems unlikely given the fact that PowerBook and PowerMacs are in desperate need of upgrades. And then there's Photo Booth.

Pro hardware is much more likely and I'm pretty sure that Apple will announce dual or quad-core PowerMac G4 desktops that finally break the 3GHz barrier and PowerBooks powered by the new Freescale MPC7448 processor with 1MB level 2 backside cache. PowerBooks will likely receive 1.7 - 2.0GHz processors and pick up dual-layer Superdrives. Steve Jobs has proclaimed 2005 to be "the year of HD" so high-definition displays in the 15 and 17-inch PowerBooks is a distinct possibility. We'll find out in 48 hours...