So… When Will the New Macs Come Out?

This year, Apple didn’t exactly live up to all of the expectations of its community. Almost everyone was positive we would see the LONG overdue refresh of the Mac desktop line, whether it be the Mac mini, iMac, OR BOTH! The specs on the current machines are anything but impressive now, and the prices Apple wants no longer comes CLOSE to the industry standard. A refresh is desperately needed, and many people like myself are holding off until the new ones come out. Gotta have the best, right?

Macworld is far from over, but it’s almost completely unlikely Apple will pull a “one thing moment…” at the finale to unveil another product. With leaked specs and config files floating around everywhere, there has to be a new desktop Mac coming out sometime this year right?

A prediction. I’ll bet that Apple will hold a keynote this summer to announce the launch of its back to school program. Along with the discounts and free iPod, Apple will most likely push its new Mac desktops for people going back to college. Apple is expected to launch OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) some time during the first half of 2009, so a side-by-side release would be perfect.

Apple is very unpredictable with its products, and while a surprise launch definitely gets the word out quickly, there has to be a dry spell of desktop purchases in the Mac World. People who are familiar with Apple don’t want to get screwed by getting a new Mac, only to have that model replaced in a month.

Maybe Apple is waiting for Microsoft to make a move (either with the Windows 7 beta or final release) and is going to try to divert everyone’s attention to Macs instead. Wouldn’t be the first time…