Apple is planning to release its first entry-level iBook laptops with Intel processors next January at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, highly reliable sources have confirmed to Think Secret.
It is not known exactly what processors or price points the new models will debut at, but it is thought Apple will expand the iBook line with one additional model and will lower prices—in some cases possibly $200 or more—to entice current Windows users and prove to the market it will be more competitive with the likes of Dell, Gateway, HP and Sony.
Apple will almost certainly tap Intel's forthcoming Yonah processor for the iBooks, a successor to the company's Pentium M. It is unknown whether Apple will go with a dual-core version of the processor, slated for release in January, or a single-core version, which Intel announced in August would be delivered shortly after the dual-core version. The dual-core Yonah chip could very likely deliver performance greater than Apple's current G4-based PowerBooks.
"It makes a lot of sense to first introduce Intel chips into Apple consumer notebooks," commented analyst Joe Wilcox of Jupiter Research. "I see the potential risks as being less and the potential benefits being much greater."
News source: Think Secret
