Laptop Rumor Wrapup: Winners and Losers

Few Apple product announcements have been preceded by such a discordant flurry of rumors as the Powerbook and iBook revisions that took place on November 6, 2002. After each announcement, MacRumors attempts to sift through the rumors and their sources to reveal their accuracy in hindsight.

PowerBooks

Powerbook rumors have been floating around since their last revision in April... so much that we wrote a Powerbook Rumor Summary back in September, 2002 to recap rumors up until that point. In review, both MacOS Rumors and Spymac provided early hints that Powerbooks would be updated before the New Year, contrary to PowerPage's continued reports.

Relative rumor newcomer -- Kodawarisan -- provided many hints since September, with initial predictions of 800MHz/1GHz Powerbooks in the 3rd week of October. As this date approached, MacPlus.org provided the definitive date of November 5th, 2002 - which was confirmed by our own sources. They revealed that both Powerbooks and 19" LCD's would be released on this day... but LCD's have yet to arrive. The actual date was, of course, pushed back by one day, as reported by ThinkSecret.

The Superdrive option was one that many sites (ThinkSecret, MacOSRumors, MacUser UK) definitively denied... but was one point that MacRumors' own sources persisted on... and proved to come true.

One of the most notable mis-calls was made by MacUser.co.uk. Typically, when the non-rumor Mac press reports on rumors, readers listen... but their report of 933MHz, No Superdrive, Yes Bluetooth Powerbooks turned out to be inaccurate.

iBooks

The iBook updates were low on the radar throughout most of the recent weeks. Kodawarisan hinted at 13" iBooks, while YourDailyMac later posted reports of an iBook update with Powerbooks in November, along with a report of 32MB iBook Video RAM.

And ThinkSecret provided early iBook specs which turned out to be true, while PowerPage provided final specs in the days before the annoncement.


Summary

All in all, an diverse collection of sites and rumors... with some real information coming from relatively unknown (rumor) sites -- MacPlus.org, Kodawarisan, YourDailyMac.com.

Rumors to Watch

19" LCD's?

Apple LCD Display Rumors Summary

XRaid - due by end of 2002

iPhoto Update

Popular Stories

iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1

Apple Releases watchOS 11.4 With Sleep Alarm Update

Tuesday April 1, 2025 10:34 am PDT by
Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2. watchOS 11.4 can be downloaded on a connected iPhone by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software,...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.4 With Mail Categorization and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. With...