Rumor Roundup: What to Expect at Macworld Expo 2009

17-inch MacBook Pro

APC speculates Apple will refresh the 17-inch MacBook Pro at Macworld Expo with a unibody chassis and a low-cost, quad-core mobile processor. The evidence? Intel quietly added a new quad-core chip to its price list: the Core 2 Extreme Q9000 ($350), which partners four 2-GHz cores. Also, it's mysterious that Apple in October upgraded all the new MacBooks except the 17-inch MacBook Pro, and January would be a good time to announce one.

These are reasonable inferences, and AppleInsider claims it "independently confirmed" an upgrade for a 17-inch MacBook Pro would be announced. AppleInsider's report doesn't further the theory of a quad-core processor, but instead claims the notebook will include a fixed internal battery and an Nvidia chipset.

Probability: 75 percent

Thus far, it appears the "big deal" product at Macworld will be the souped-up Mac Mini. That's not awfully exciting to us, but we look forward to an aluminum treatment for the little guy.

A question to all the crazy Mac fanatics: Are you going to be camping out for the keynote this year, even though Phil Schiller's emceeing rather than Jobs?