As the hype reaches greater heights, less plausible imagery is being tossed around

Oct 2, 2008 14:53 GMT  ·  By

It was only a matter of time before new alleged spy shots of a next-gen MacBook Pro emerged. This time around, new specs are being dished out as well, such as a black casing, and a more square-ish appearance, two aspects not at all consistent with MBP expectations.

Reportedly, Techno Minds is the source of these images. Submitted to modmyi to be made public, the shots allegedly come from an Apple staffer, close to the company's design team.

“We just received an email from a tipster Techno Minds who grabbed some pictures/images of the new Macbook Pro from a claimed Apple Employee working on Apple's design team,” writes cash7c3. “According to the source the above picture is the new Macbook Pro grabbed with a camera phone. Some interesting details about the Pro were also included,” the post reads.

Those tidbits include a new magnetic opening/closing system, a glossy top “shell” (similar to the iPhone's), an aluminum bottom, keyboard that is similar to the MacBook Air keyboard, while the iSight built-in camera is hidden in the glossy frame. Another important piece of information the modmyi poster reveals is that the “Touchpad Dock” rumor is false. “If this picture is real the 'TouchPad Dock' rumor is killed, although the touchpad in the picture does look like it may be made with a different material than the past,” the poster explains.

Also worth noting is that MBP does not sport curved edges, a feature widely believed to be implemented in the new designs – an aspect borrowed from Apple's ultra thin laptop, the MacBook Air.

But then there's always the possibility that these images are fake, which is why Engadget finds the promo mockup (image #2) “amazingly [...] less plausible,” suggesting that “rendering and Photoshop artifacts [are being] unobscured by cameraphone fuzziness.”

And, while the publishers of these shots urge readers to “remember the source is on Apple's design team,” we sincerely hope this is not just another complete forgery, since we too noticed the missing power button on these babies.

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

MacBook Pro spy shot #1
MacBook Pro spy shot #2
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