APC Magazine is speculating that Apple could make use of a brand new processor in Intel's lineup in the 17-inch MacBook Pro.
The Core 2 Extreme Q9000 microprocessor features four cores running 2.0GHz with 6MB of Level 2 cache, but most importantly the processor is priced at $348 in lots of 1000.
The processor seems perfectly suited to the 17-inch MacBook Pro which is currently priced at $2799.
Back in October Apple updated the 15-inch MacBook Pro with a new sleek enclosure but gave the 17-inch only a minor speed bump. Reports that followed indicated that a 17-inch model would follow within a few months.