Is this a good time to get yourself a new iPod & Mac?

It is the time of a year, when suddenly you have a compulsive urge to purchase the shiny new gadgets that just have been polished by the store employee. Oh yes, you know those gadgets are irresistibly charming when they’re sitting pretty on the bright shelves, the glowing aura of a fresh new electronic meat untouched and unused… Oh, so pleasantly alluring… ;-)

But wait, before you went by day dreaming and leave me behind. It’s best for you to know some important rumors about new Apple’s products that are said to be coming soon, well not all of them are to be available in the next few days or so; rumor is still rumor so you may expect no more than that. The only reassuring from these rumors that they’re coming from AppleInsider, which known for its accuracy to bring the latest news and rumors surrounding Apple.

The first rumor that breaks the mold is that: Apple has issued an advisement bulletin to some of its channel partners, hinting at a manufacturing ramp down of iPods and certain Mac notebook models, which will result in limited supplies of those products in the up coming weeks.

New iPod Shuffle & Nano

Apple was "strongly suggesting" that resellers bring in, or place immediate lump orders for approximately 4 weeks worth of their top selling iPod models. This mean all of the stores partner should pile up iPod stocks for new customer orders through August. Supplies of the players would start to become extremely limited in the next seven days, the bulletin said.

And then TG Daily was reporting that according to an unverified; the iPod shuffle may receive a more substantial update alongside its larger counterparts. AppleInsider added that while most of the report's claims about other iPods are drawn from analysts and third-party rumors, the technology site points to more than one unnamed and unverified source that claims a "slight re-design" in the works for the screenless iPod that would allegedly also boost its capacity from 2GB to 4GB and add new colors.

At the very same day, another rumor about new slimmer iPod Nano broke out on the net. It was iLounge reporting that the new player will retain its traditional click-wheel while sporting an elongated display with the same 1.5:1 widescreen aspect ratio as the iPhone and iPod touch, versus the 1.33:1 ratio of the prior iPod nano and iPod classic. You may recall reading news at other tech weblogs about this, they might refer it to as new iPod Nano that looks like Microsoft’s Zune player.

AppleInsider cited the same likeliness: This will leave the player looking like, among all other things, one of Microsoft's existing Flash-based Zune players, those sources say. Apple is said to have made the move in order to preserve all of the fatboy nano's usability, while adding longer display that will allow users to rotate the device into landscape mode for viewing videos.

New MacBooks

Similar to the new iPods rumor, Apple also advised resellers in the bulletin that it would be in their best interest to place at least 3 weeks worth of orders for existing Mac notebook models. In this part of the communication, Apple is said to have specifically identified 13-inch MacBooks and 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros, but made no mention of the MacBook Air.

Such rumor is fueled by the previous first rumor about new MacBooks that I’ve told you before here at PalmAddict, which I believe it’s likely to be true because Intel has just released the new Centrino 2 platform and it’s been awhile since Apple refresh its laptop and desktop line-ups. And while Intel has been pumping out new processors every now and then, Apple will have plenty of choices to pick.

There hasn’t been any solid rumor about the new design of the upcoming MacBook line-ups, but the craziest one is came from Computerworld:

• The new models are thinner than current MacBook and MacBook Pros and slightly more rounded, taking design cues from the MacBook Air.
• The trackpad is glass, multi-touch and uses gestures. The screen isn’t multi-touch.
• The body is manufactured out of one piece of aluminum. Eco-friendly, yet sturdy. Manufacturing process is completely different.

I hate it when I have to see you bite down those Apple gadgets you’ve just purchased, and then the next day newer ones are coming out in stores. Before you open up your wallet or purse, ask this to yourself first: “Do I really need this gadget right now, or do I prefer the new and more powerful one that will come out later?” So if you can hold your buying impulse for a little while, I bet it’s worth it to wait for Apple new surprises in a month or two.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]