Is This the New, Even Thinner MacBook Air?

Juicy images show up in time for Apple's event this coming Wednesday.

Last Wednesday Apple announced an event for October 20 and really kicked off the rumors about a new MacBook Air. Though there was definitely talk of a revamped MacBook Air prior to the deployment of those invites, and the invitations clearly indicate an OS X event, the chatter has grown significantly louder in the last five days.

But, if rumors aren't enough to make a believer out of you, we've got some pictures of what purports to be the new MacBook Air. Engadget received these images from an anonymous tipster and it's generated quite a bit of excitement. With what looks like four separate batteries, we can only assume that if this is the real deal, the battery life is going to be a major selling point and Apple will push it every chance they get. As Engadget points out there are USB plugs on the left and right sides, Mini DisplayPort and an SD card reader on the left, and a power plug on the right.

There isn't a lot to be gleaned from this one picture; however, the large display suggests that previous reports of an 11.6-inch screen (as opposed to the current 13.3-inch model) were inaccurate. That said, there are some rumors that Apple won't be replacing the 13.3-inch model but adding the 11.6-inch version to fill out the Air line. The laptop also appears to be running on the same Core 2 Duo SL9400 CPU as the current generation MacBook Air. Rumors suggest the updated version will pack Intel's Core i-series and those could still come to fruition. Engadget's source said the laptop pictured dates back to April so a more up to date prototype could contain some Core i-series goodness.

Cult of Mac has also been talking to a chatty little birdie and reports that aside from coming in two 13- and 11-inch flavors, the device will boast the same unibody design as the MacBook Pros. Whether this means it will be rebranded as a Pro remains to be seen, but the even slimmer casing is rumored to pack enough battery power to run the laptop for 8-10 hours on a single charge and up to 4GB or RAM. Pricing is where Cult of Mac seems to lose confidence in their source. The supposedly "well-placed" source says we can expect prices of $1000 and $1,100 for the 11- and 13-inch models respectively. However, this seems very cheap and would put the laptops in direct competition with Apple's basic white MacBook laptop.

I guess we only have a couple of days to wait before we find out the truth!

_{Source: Engadget, Cult of Mac}

*Top images via Engadget; last image is a Cult of Mac mockup.