Apple Store is down, new MacBook Pros likely incoming

By Adam Rosenberg Published February 24, 2011

Today is Thursday!!! Sure, it happened last week and it’s going to happen again next week. Probably the week after that too. This Thursday is a special one however, since it’s the day that all signs are pointing to for Apple to announce/launch its latest update to its MacBook Pro line of laptops. The most concrete confirmation of a new product launch greeted online Apple shoppers this morning: the Apple Store is down.

A friendly Post-It graphic reads “We’ll be back soon,” sitting alongside the standard message that so many of us have seen before, “We are busy updating the store for you and will be back shortly.” Either the MacBook Pro is being added to the array of options or Apple is finally preparing to march its iRobot armies in a grand-scale play for world domination. Let’s all bet on the former and hope for the best.

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Talk surrounding the laptop update has been building in recent weeks. Just yesterday we heard that the new notebook models will incorporate Intel’s Light Peak tech, a device interconnection standard that offers a significant speed boost over FireWire and even USB 3.0. Earlier in the week rumors pointed to a larger trackpad and a built-in solid-state drive for the Mac operating system to live on.

All of this information comes alongside various indicator the strongly suggest Apple is prepping a new product for launch this week. Earlier this week, the online Apple Store placed a three- to five-day wait on all MacBook Pro orders. Meanwhile, Best Buy added five new Apple laptop SKUs to its own online store, revealing prices that range between $1,199 and $2,499. Finally, reports from various brick-and-mortar Apple Stores early this week indicate that pallets of product arrived sealed in black plastic and “Apple Confidential” tape along with a notice to store managers that the contents are to remain sealed until an announcement is made.

All of which means that we are safe from Apple’s iRobots for another day. Also, the new MacBook Pro is incoming.

Former Gaming/Movies Editor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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