iMacs
Dear oh dear, the poor old iMac has been starved of an update since last September. Rumours are abound of an entirely new, aluminium-wrapped enclosure just around the corner, combined with an all-new keyboard to boot.

AppleInsider speculates that the new keyboard will be a very slim affair, drawing upon the current 13" MacBook's low-profile keys - here's hoping Jonathan Ive & co. aren't about to ship us a laptop keyboard with our new iMacs in the name of cool aesthetics, but knowing Apple we're sure they'll achieve the perfect balance.

As Apple moves away from the gloss white plastics, we can also expect to see this new aluminium iMac to benefit from an enclosure just 2" thick according to ThinkSecret - a hefty bit of bulk shed compared to the current 17" iMac's 6.8" depth and the 24" mother's 8.1" depth.

Specs-wise, given the iMac's similar architecture with the MacBook Pro's, it is fair to expect speeds of 2.4GHz, possibly 2.6GHz if the recently shipping Intel Core 2 Extremes are implemented. Current launch date expectations are a July/August timeframe which would coincide with the annual iLife update, so expect iLife '07 to be bundled too.


iPods
It's fair to assume that future iPods will be touting many of the features of the new iPhone - in fact, the iPods may well share a very similar enclosure to the iPhone and, in conjunction with rumoured new aluminium iMacs, completely leave behind the old gloss plastic designs originally pioneered 10 years ago with the first bondi blue iMac.

These new iPods are likely to be Mac OS X-based and of course share the same touch screen interface that the iPhone uses. The current range of iPods haven't been updated since 2006, but the expected launch date for the latest generation of iPods is some time in August according to DigiTimes.


Ultra-portable MacBook (Pro?)
Rumours have been abound for quite some time about Apple's return to the sub-notebook market. Their initial foray into the market with the PowerBook 2400 in the 90's was short-lived, but with advances in technology, Apple's move to Intel, and the combo of Jobs and Ive, this could be a real winner, especially in Japan.

AppleInsider reports the ultra-portable is being built around a 13" display which is LED-backlit, like the current 15.4" MacBook Pro. Assuming that this new sub-notebook forms part of the MacBook Pro family, it is fair to assume that this too will don an aluminium enclosure.

Specs-wise, expect the DVD drive to be an external affair in keeping with it's ultra-portable-goodness, as well as the option to have a solid-state flash drive for those who can afford it. Don't expect this bad boy any time soon though, at least not til this fall at the earliest.