Apple Prepares 5 MacBook Pros for Feb. 24 Launch - Sources

New MacBook Pros are on their way to warehouses to meet a scheduled February 24 launch, according to a high-profile blog focused on Apple rumors.

MacRumors reports that MacBook Pro stock has been diminishing all over the world, with two Italian sites listing new MacBook Pro part numbers (MC720, MC721, MC723, MC724, and MC725) that are said to represent the new systems.

According to the report, the new MacBooks “are said to be making their way to Italian resellers towards the end of the month with a released date of Thursday or Friday.”

The blog was then able to independently confirm with one of its sources that “this information is accurate and that the expected release date is next Thursday, February 24th.”

Although MacRumors appears confident that the information is fairly accurate, the blog expresses its doubt that Apple will launch the new hardware on a Thursday.

Apple is believed to introduce a major revision of its MacBook Pro line, with five new notebooks expected to emerge.

These laptops, presumably equipped with Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors, are also to benefit from Light-Peak technology (also developed by Intel) according to the latest rumors.

A proprietary optical cable interface designed by Intel to connect devices in a peripheral bus, Light Peak has a high bandwidth at 10 Gbit/s, with the potential to scale to 100 Gbit/s by 2020.

9to5mac points out that Light Peak’s amazing speed and support from Intel seems to be the reason why Apple decided to not include USB 3.0 support in its systems.

Steve Jobs himself reportedly told a fan “We don’t see USB 3 taking off at this time. No support from Intel, for example.”

Intel has also confirmed that their new Sandy Bridge architecture do not support USB 3.0, further fueling beliefs that MacBook Pros are now getting both Sandy Bridge and Light Peak from Intel.