New MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and probably an updated MacBook Air are coming up next week, at the Apple MacBook 2008 event. The MacBook and MacBook Pro are long due for a case redesign but, beyond that, little is known for sure. Here we have collected all the pieces of information we have about them. All the facts, the logical rumours, and the crazy ones, which we will keep updating through the coming days until the MacBook Event liveblog kicks off.

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This doesn't speak volumes for Nvidia's credibility. As you might recall, a huge swath of Nvidia's notebook graphics cards—ones with the G84 or G86 chipset—fail at "higher-than-normal" rates. MacBook Pros have the GeForce 8600M GT, which uses the G84. Nvidia assured Apple that MacBook Pros were totally cool. Turns out, they were lying! After doing their own investigation, Apple "has determined that some MacBook Pro computers... may be affected." Update: Nvidia just chimed in with their take.

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Out of respect for the great performer Steve Jobs, I prefer to save all surprises for the keynote. But those smarty pantses over at bbGadgets may have unlocked the secret behind Apple's Oct 14th MacBook event teaser. Assuming that the Apple logo is a 1.5" standard, they measured the laptop to have a 13.3" diagonal length. That's the same size as the current generation MacBook, which would seem to support all of those metal MacBook rumours. [bbGadgets]

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Apple's just sent out invites for the October 14 MacBook event being held in Cupertino at Apple's headquarters. How do we know it's about MacBook? Well, take a look at the image. The fun starts 10:00 AM, PST. We'll see you there early that morning for our usual entertaining pre-game commentary before the actual Liveblog starts. Looks like we'll get to see which one of those MacBook "brick" rumours will be coming true. We're hoping for the one where Steve Jobs gives all attendees a new car.

MSI hasn't been shy about their Wind U120, a 10" netbook that should pack a 120GB hard drive, SSD options, 802.11n Wi-Fi and 3G (HSDPA) fun. But from these first official shots of the unofficial sequel to the praised MSI Wind, we see that not much has changed about the exterior beyond adding a new two-tone style with a black border around the screen (probably to help colours pop). Then again, popping in a SIM card to surf the web from anywhere is a pretty solid update in itself. Look for the Wind U120 priced under $US600 this December. [Fudzilla]

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The WiMax Acer Aspire One hasn't even been announced yet (UPDATE: actually, it just was), but Laptop Magazine got their hands on a model and got to poke and prod it to their hearts' content. So how did browsing the web on a tiny WiMax notebook work? Pretty decently.

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Asustek executive Samson Hu has confirmed his company's plans to release a touchscreen Eee PC variant for sale by Q1 of 2009. It's not known whether the devices will look like the touch panel Eee mods that have been floating around or take the shape of a tablet, but we'll see in January when the first models are shown at CES. That's not all though — further announcements indicated that the Eee line is changing is some more subtle ways.

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Amidst a flurry of alleged pictures and some wise words of caution, another Mac notebook rumour has surfaced: the Inquisitr claims that, according to their source, Apple's new line of notebooks will start at $US800 and come in twelve configurations. To put that into perspective, the current range is made up of eight price points, the lowest being $US1099. A $US300 drop in MacBook prices or the likely possibility of an entirely new model are both tantalising, but some are finding reason to be suspicious:

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Taiwanese blog Apple.Pro has put out a couple more pictures that could be related to the upcoming Macbook Pro. We're not sure if they're real or not, but there are enough photos out there to at least mostly rule out Photoshop. While the new pictures resemble case images we saw earlier, it looks to be designed for a smaller laptop and lacks their speaker grills.

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Earlier this week we reported on a rumour about a new "secret" manufacturing technology by Apple. Supposedly code-named "brick", this "revolutionary" process would carve a MacBook shell out of a single block of aluminium. Business Week echoed the unconfirmed information, quoting the usual analysts and citing an Apple patent, implying that the rumour may be true. Today, Engadget published an alleged spy-shot claiming that it looks like a "fancy new MacBook Pro carved out of a single piece of metal." But does it? And does the Apple patent prove anything about this fabled process?

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Today Best Buy launched "Blue Label"—a new line of electronic products developed directly from customer feedback. Shockingly, Best Buy discovered that consumers wanted laptops with "longer battery life, a thin and lightweight design, an illuminated keyboard, more optimal screen size and superior warranty support"—so they enlisted the help of HP and Toshiba to create an exclusive product that conformed to these specifications. HP delivered the Pavilion dv3510nr Notebook PC with a thickness of 3.6cm, backlit keyboard, 4 hours of battery life and a 13.3" LED-backlit WXGA display. Toshiba's Satellite E105-S1402 is also part of the lineup, which is interesting because there was no mention of Blue Label when it was first released. Both are priced at $US1199.

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Sprint's Xohm WiMax network got extra super official today with a party and all, so laptop makers are tossing out confetti in the form of WiMax-enabled notebooks. Here's what you've got to pick from. Acer dropped a pair of Aspire cheapies in 14- and 16-inch sizes, while Asus's 14 and 15-inchers are a bit mo' better for a bit mo' money. Oh, there's more.

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Asus has admitted to its Japanese customers that some of the Eee Box B202 mini PCs they shipped included a recycled.exe virus loaded on the D: partition. When the drive is opened, the virus (identified by Symantec as the W32/Usbalex worm) attempts to infect the C: drive and any removable drives attached to the system. So far, Asus has not confirmed that the problem is limited to PCs released in Japan, and they have offered no explanation about how the virus may have appeared on the drive. However, Reg Hardware believes they can confirm that other areas may be affected. Either way, it is probably a good idea to run a check if you picked one up. [Reg Hardware]

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Now that the Baltimore's XOHM network is up and running, companies are scrambling to release WiMAX-enabled notebooks to capitalise on faster-than-EVDO internet. One of the first out the door is Acer, with two new WiMAX sporting Aspires. The Aspire 4930 comes with a 14.1-inch 1280x800 resolution CrystalBrite screen, 3GB RAM, a 320GB hard drive, a webcam, and retails for $900. The 6930 is all that (including the $US900 price point), but with a 16-inch screen instead. Both use Intel's Centrino 2-based WiMAX/Wi-Fi modules. Happy on-the-go downloading!

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Asus has updated its G-series gaming laptop line with the G71, a notebook that sports Intel's new QX9300 quad-core processor. The computer comes with a 17-inch Crystal Shine display, an NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT GDDR3 512MB graphics card, and can be customised with up to 4GB of system memory and 1TB of hard disk space. Asus is also throwing in a 2mp integrated webcam and a Eee Stick--some casual gaming dongle that works a little like Sony's Eyetoy. Price and retail date are not yet available. [Akihabara News]

We don't know what kind of deal with the devil Mobile Computer made, but while most of us are excitedly posting the first real pictures of the Asus S101 netbook, MC is running their full review. After reading through the four page account of the experience, we can sum it up in these quick points:

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Modders prodding around inside the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 have discovered that there is a lot of potential to add new functionality thanks to some areas with empty space. That having been said, MyDellMini member Tom Beauchamp used a pocket next to the Bluetooth adaptor to add a super-small GPS receiver. If using your PC for navigation sounds appealing and danger is your middle name, Beauchamp has provided a complete set of instructions on how to do it yourself. At the very least, the project illustrates the potential of the Dell Mini 9 as a hackable device. [MyDellMini]

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While I thought the Asus S101 (or generic Macbook Air, as I'm pretty much insisting on inaccurately calling it from now to eternity) looked great in its CG mockup, these new, real photos reveal the truth: The Asus S101 won't quite fool anyone into thinking you're using a some $US2,000 computer, but at 17.8mm thick, it's definitely svelte enough to keep things interesting:

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VoodooPC's Envy 133, the world's thinnest laptop, just started shipping, and we scored one of the first production units straight outta Calgary. It's a lithe black laptop that keeps cool while running Vista, a super light machine that's strong as hell thanks to a carbon-fibre frame. It's the size of a MacBook Air with way more tech crammed inside, including its own second Linux-based operating system. And though it costs a lot more than most laptops that perform similar chores, it does it with a grace that I haven't seen since Vista's launch. It's not a gamer's system, but the Voodoo team deserves credit for using what they've learned to build a laptop that stands out when everything else on the PC market just blends in. Does it have any flaws? Yep, plenty. Here's the full review:

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Who knew sugar wafers and Rolos could so accurately recreate the situational Pavlovian response we get from looking at the latest silicon wonders from Intel, AMD, ATi and NVIDIA? While we've never before craved some motherboard and milk or hot motherboard à la mode, we must admit, we're coming around to what could be the hottest dessert trend of Q4 2008. And that old Dell gathering dust in the corner is looking mighty scrumptious. [Craftster via Technabob and Geekcake]

CrunchGear got their meaty hands on the new HP HDX16 Blu-ray notebook we previewed back in September, and it's pretty shiny. And I say "meaty" because they damn near broke some of those flashy, flush buttons during the initial feeling up. Keep those paws away from the 16:9 high def widescreen and I think we'll be OK, fellas. [CrunchGear]

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9to5 Mac has gone on record as saying that the rumoured Apple Brick isn't a product, but a manufacturing process that can make high quality aluminium shells. The "brick" part comes in because the supposed technique carves these MacBook casings with lasers and high pressure water jets out of bricks of aluminium, making for a seamless and screwless design. Whether or not it's true is still left to be seen, but one benefit would mean that there would be no need to bend metal (which creates weak spots). Again, no idea if this is legit, but 9 to 5 Mac has a fairly decent track record, which they conveniently point out at the end of their post. [9 to 5 Mac]

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Netbooks were supposed to be this great inroad for Linux development, but it turns out that the XP side of the netbook business is doing a lot better in the area of customer satisfaction: MSI today told Laptop that, according to internal studies, "The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks."

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Looks like Samsung keeps pushing for green computing. These computers are Korea-only for now, but the MV100 Tower and MZ100 Slim Tower, running on the Intel G43 chipset, consume only sixty watts in "power saving mode" and one watt in stand-by mode. I only have one question for you: Do you really care about how much energy your computer really consumes or you are now just thinking that the Samsung ninjas really need to eat a few pizzas? [Akihabara]

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I just got off the phone with Rahul Sood, founder of VoodooPC, who confirmed that the rumours of Voodoo's demise were not just premature but "nonsense," but said "HP is asking us to integrate into the larger execution engine." Rahul is comfortable speaking both plainly and in business-ese—what we take this to mean is that Voodoo will merge manufacturing with HP's core in Asia, unify other non-design aspects of the business, and shut down a good chunk of the operation in Calgary, Alberta. "Typically we don't comment on layoffs specifically," says Rahul, who adds that he himself will not be leaving Canada.

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