During yesterday's launch of the next-generation Core 2 Duo processors, the company said that it expects its new Merom mobile chips in laptops by the end of August, despite an announcement that it has already begun shipping final silicon to its partners, as noted by AppleInsider. The new Core 2 Duo chips sport a larger 4MB L2 cache and boast 64-bit processing for improved performance, while boosting efficiency--they require the same power at similar clock-speeds to previous-generation chips. In addition, the Core 2 Duo is pin-compatible with current generation motherboards, allowing manufacturers to easily update and integrate the new chips into their systems. Conroe, the desktop variant of the new chips, has already been shown to work in Apple's current-generation systems, as hackers have been able to install early versions of the new Core 2 Duo chips in Apple's Mac mini.

Merom, the code-name for Intel's new laptop chips, will boast clock speeds of between 1.66GHz and 2.33GHz, a slight increase to the 2.16GHz version currently available. Industry watchers speculate that Apple will use the new chips in its professional line of MacBook Pro laptops, which began were announced in January, but began shipping mid-February. A few months later, they received a small speed-bump as the company introduced its line of MacBooks based on the same chip

Historically, Apple has attempted to upgrade its laptops before the holiday season in an effort to spur sales and remain competitive and some may believe that Apple will use Apple Expo, which takes place in Paris from September 12-16, to unveil upgraded MacBook Pros--sporting Intel's new Core 2 Duo chips.