If you're shopping for a new laptop, patience is extra virtuous at the moment

Apple is a company that launches products like clockwork, so it's safe to assume we aren't exactly reading the rumor-steeped tea leaves when it comes to its regular hardware updates. According to reliable Apple blog AppleInsider, some major authorized resellers have found themselves suddenly shorthanded when it comes to stock of Apple's mid-sized high-end laptop, the 15" MacBook Pro. When Apple stops shipping a given product, it's the telltale sign of a refresh just around the corner.


It would be no surprise if the company decided to reinvent the MacBook Pro line, which now looks decidedly huge in comparison to the svelte MacBook Air line of ultraportable notebooks. After doing away with the MacBooks of yore, Apple has positioned the MacBook Pro line as its more heavy-duty portable computing family, but benchmark tests show that the MacBook Air runs circles around just about everything out there.

If Apple is indeed getting its ducks in a row for a refresh, a 15" version of the MacBook Air - which is currently only available in 11" and 13" models - could be very much in the cards. Aside from trimming down the MacBook Pro's chunky design considerably, such a notebook would likely sport a solid state drive, the non-mechanical harddrive that's mostly to thank for the MacBook Air's remarkably zippy performance.