Unconfirmed: MacBook Air preview, 17-inch delay, no Blu-ray

In the days and hours leading up to Apple's product announcements, AppleInsider typically receives and influx of last minute tips from new sources for which there is little time for confirmation. Historically, we've refrained from publishing these rumors in order to maintain focus on information that we believe is most accurate.

However, the recent launch of our Backpage blogs affords us with a forum to present some of the more sound but unconfirmed tips solely for the sake of reader discussion. Again, AppleInsider cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports and recommends that readers treat them rumors that may pan out, but may also prove to be incredibly inaccurate. With that said, here's some of the latest rumblings.

17-inch MacBook Pro

One person claims that new 13-inch MacBooks and 15-inch MacBook Pros will both see an introduction Tuesday with new NVIDIA graphics chipsets. A new 17-inch MacBook Pro would not accompany these new models, that person adds, and would instead arrive several months later.

Possibly supporting this unconfirmed tip is the fact that casing designs for both the 13-inch MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro are believed to have been leaked on the Web, while no 17-inch MacBook Pro casing has been sighted.

Apple has also passed over 17-inch notebook updates in the past. Specifically, the company introduced the first 15-inch MacBook at Macworld in January of 2006 but didn't get around to introducing its 17-inch cousin until late April.

MacBook Air

Another tip suggests that Apple may use Tuesday's event to announce word of MacBook Air speed bumps that wouldn't be available for purchase for some time.

While the logic behind such a rumor is suspect, PC Perspectives Ryan Shrout has received a similar report, which AppleInsider has confirmed to have come from an independent source. Shrout's source said the new Air wouldn't be available till January.

No Blu-ray drives

Finally, yet another tip suggests that neither the 13-inch MacBook nor the 15-inch MacBook Pro will be receiving Blu-ray drives, as was recently rumored by Digg founder Kevin Rose.

There are a few reasons this rumor could prove accurate, namely that Rose -- the lone source of the Blu-ray rumor -- recently described his source of the information as "Bad." Additionally, Blu-ray drives would presumably add costs to the price of the MacBook and MacBook Pro at a time when Apple is expected to be working to reduce the cost of its notebooks.

DisplayPort

Finally, a couple of tipsters have suggested the new MacBook Pro may include a DisplayPort, which is a new license-free, royalty-free, digital audio/video interconnect, intended to be used primarily between a computer and its display monitor, or a computer and a home-theater system.

There had been no evidence to support this rumor until MacBidouille published a tip Monday saying that Apple has asked Longwell to develop a mini DVI to DVI adapter, as well as a mini DisplayPort connector. The latter is "tagged as being in production and shipping," according to the report.

Again, AppleInsider stresses the unconfirmed nature of these reports, which it is publishing solely for reader discussion. Reports of higher conviction have been highlighted on our main page for months, and were recently aggregated in links at the end of this article.