AppleInsider has published a report on the new upcoming iBooks.

The new models are expected to make their appearance this spring, and they are expected to be build around a 13-inch widescreen display. This will be the first major design update for the iBook models in quite a number of years. The new laptops are expected to ship with built in iSight, Front Row and the Apple Remote, according to people familiar with the company's plans.

The exact specifications remain unclear, but reason points towards the Intel Core Solo processor, at 1.67GHz, mainly because it is the only processor on the Intel roadmap that is less powerful than the chip inside the MacBook Pro. The look of the new iBook is expected to remain similar to that of the current models and, according to a AppleInsider source who claims to have seen the nearly finalized prototype, it will look like a "slightly-smaller cousin to the recently introduced MacBook Pro, but clad in iMac white."

Rumors of the laptop that said it would ship without FireWire are also untrue, according to AppleInsider sources. The new iBook are said to have a FireWire 400 port and two USB 2.0 ports, like the MacBook Pro. Two models are expected to be available, one with a SuperDrive and one without. The latter is expected to be priced under the $1000 mark, probably around the same price as the current 12-inch PowerPC-based 1.33GHz iBook. At this point it is unconfirmed, but very likely that Apple will re-brand the iBook under new name like it recently did with the PowerBook.