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Think Secret notes that several other 'rumour' websites have also suggested an imminent upgrade, adding that it is not clear whether the 17in model will be revamped at the same time. However if, as expected the next MacBook Pros are built around Intel's new Santa Rosa hardware platform then it would scarcely make sense to upgrade just one part of the product range.

American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu thinks that Jobs will announce new MacBook Pros during his Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote on 11 June.

'Our sources indicate that new MacBook Pros, which will be AAPL's first Macs to incorporate LED displays and Intel's new

Apple upgraded the MacBook range last month.

Wu also believes a subnotebook 'MacBook mini' is possible, but less likely.

'We believe there is a fair likelihood that Apple will introduce a new subnotebook named 'MacBook mini', which uses NAND flash as primary storage,' he wrote. Wu first mentioned this in March, predicting a release in the second half of 2007. He now believes that late 2007 or early 2008 is more likely.

'We are told that timing will be dependent on NAND vendors' willingness to accelerate price declines, making NAND economically attractive for Apple to use in lieu of HDD storage,' he wrote.

It is likely that the main focus of Jobs' WWDC will be OS X 10.5 Leopard, and of most interest, the as-yet-unknown 'top secret' feature or features. Wu offers no new thinking on this and only repeats his hope that the new version of the Mac operating system will include virtual machine technology that will let users run Windows alongside OS X without rebooting.

He notes that 'we believe this would serve as a major catalyst for Mac sales'.