October 23 Apple event rumors: MacBooks, iMacs, Mac minis

Apple today invited select members of the media to a special event on Tuesday, October 23 at 10 a.m. PT at the California Theatre in San Jose, California (above). The invitation (received by CNET) features the top of a white Apple logo over top of a sand art background with a short caption that reads only "We've got a little more to show you." 

It's pretty obvious that Apple will launch a new 7.85-inch "iPad mini" at the event (9to5Mac is reporting 24 new iPad SKUs alone) but the real question is: what else could Apple announce at the event?

A raft of rumors suggest that Apple could announce several other pieces of new hardware at the event, including:

• 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display -- Codenamed "D1" it inherits the thinner and lighter enclosure of the 15-inch Retina MBP that was released in June 2012.
• Ivy Bridge Mac mini -- Including Ivy Bridge, USB 3.0 in two standard configurations and a third model with OS X Server.
• Updated 10-inch iPad -- A "slight tweak" with Apple's new Lightning connector and 4G/LTE in the UK.
• Refreshed iMacs -- Code names "D7" and "D8" could be updated 21-inch and 27-inch iMac models.

Apple isn't likely to announce five new hardware products on October 23 -- the tweaked full-sized iPad and iMacs are the outliers -- but two or three out of five isn't outside the realm of possibility and the 13-inch Retina MBP seems the most likely. 

It's unclear is if the new iPad mini will be Wi-Fi only or if it will include LTE connectivity like its big brother. Also up for debate is the price. My money is on $249 for the starting configuration.

What's on your Q4 Apple shopping list?