Apple’s MacBook line of consumer portables haven’t been updated since May, so it’s not entirely surprising to hear that the black and white notebooks might be getting a speed bump soon. Think Secret reports that the MacBook line will see a minor hardware refresh following the release of Leopard (on the 26th?); the new machines “could be [in] consumer hands by the first half of November, if not sooner.” What’s unclear is exactly how the machines will be upgraded–will the MacBooks simply get bumps in CPU clock speed or will they move to Intel’s new Santa Rosa architecture? Either way, that will bring the high-end MacBooks suspiciously close to the MacBook Pro line in terms of specs, so might a MacBook Pro update be in the cards as well? No such luck if you believe Think Secret: “Apple is not expected to update the MacBook Pro before the end of the year, and sources at this time don’t expect any other Mac hardware to see a revision before the holidays.”

For more on the rumored upgrade:
– see this Think Secret article