Just to clarify, Apple sent an invitation to select members of the media inviting them to a special event on October 19th, the invitation is black and features an image of a large camera lens. On it is the following text, "Please join us for a special press conference on the eve of PhotoPlus Expo 2005 as we unveil Apple's latest pro innovations."
PowerBook Upgrades
It has been long rumoured that PowerBooks would receive an upgraded, many due to the extended amount of time they've been without a decent boost.
In the last few days 17" and 15" PowerBook ship times have increased to 2 to 5 business days. Rumours are sparse but as the event is being touted as a Pro event then its expected for the PowerBooks to receive some kind of upgrade for the Christmas season.
Some things that have been rumoured and even some sites have confirmed is that the PowerBooks will receive HD resolution screens, DDR 2 RAM, larger hard drives and a new processor.
The new chipset that would be a likely candidate is the 7448 which could reach speeds of around 1.8GHz.
The possibility of a built in iSight cannot be ruled out.
Earlier this week Mac Rumors reported that two new price points had appeared, these are $1999 and $2999.
PowerMac Updates
Although the PowerMac line has received more upgrades than its mobile brother the PowerBook it is still under performing compared to some workstation systems at the same price point that are in the market right now. For this reason it is speculated that the PowerMacs will receive a new chip from IBM known as the PPC 970MP.
The use of the PPC 970MP will of course mean a move to Dual Cores for the PowerMac line and some have even dreamt of Dual Dual Core PowerMacs (basically four cores!). Some things that are just given if a PowerMac upgrade happens, PCI-e (x16), DDR2 and hard drives up to or beyond 500GB (possibly SATA II).
This of course will be a major upgrade for the PowerMac if it happens.
Pro Photography App
Back towards the start of the year it was rumoured that Apple were preparing an application described as iPhoto on steroids, although World of Apple cannot confirm this rumour we are in no position to dismiss it as Apple currently has a Pro Music and Pro film applications so it is quite possible.
The application is rumoured to sport more Photography orientated features rather than Photoshop killer features such as;
Apple Digital Camera
Apple have attempted this before, we see no reason why this could not happen again, apart from the fact that it failed the first time and we have no facts to back this up.
Conclusion
This is where we go out on a limb and possibly embarrass ourselves by prediction things that are totally out of the picture, here goes.
The PowerBooks are likely candidates for an upgrade as Apple wants to hike some sales for Christmas, the severity of this upgrade is difficult to judge but we can't help but feel Apple are holding something good for us.
The PowerMacs are guaranteed for some kind of speed boost and some hardware tweaks.
Pro Photo application, we wish this would happen and a lot of things point towards it happening, lets hope if Apple does deliver that it delivers well.
All in all whatever happens tomorrow Apple will impress and create a media frenzy once more, unfortunately World of Apple will not be covering the event.