Apple to ship 300,000 MacBooks this month - paper

Apple Computer's new Core 2 Duo MacBooks are selling like popsicles on a hot summer day, with orders for the month of November likely to reach 300,000 units.

According to the Chinese-language Commercial Times, Apple's build orders the 13-inch notebooks to Taiwanese manufacturing partner Asustek Computer are expected to rebound to 300,000 units this month.

Overall, Asustek's notebook shipments for the month — including its own brand of systems — are expected to reach 700,000, the Times said.

The paper added that the manufacturer's shipments dropped to 450,000-500,000 units in October, missing an original target of of 600,000 units because Apple was in the process of upgrading its MacBook line to faster Intel processors.

By shipping similar quantities of MacBooks in December, it's almost assured that Apple will handily eclipse the 1 million milestone for notebook shipments during its current quarter after sales of its professional MacBook Pro systems are factored into the mix.

In August, AppleInsider cited insiders as saying the Cupertino, Calif.-based Mac maker was tracking for shipments of 1 million notebooks systems during its December quarter.

The latest MacBook tallies also suggest the Street's current forecast for total Mac unit shipments during the quarter could once again prove to be conservative.

On average, analysts have been modeling Apple to sell between 1.6 million and 1.8 million during the three-month period ending December.