Will new MacBooks finally make it easier to pick the perfect Apple laptop?

Will new MacBooks finally make it easier to pick the perfect Apple laptop?

Now that invites for the October 27 Apple event have seen sent out, there's much speculation about what we will, and won't, see from a purported new generation of MacBook Pro laptops.

Thus far, the generally agreed-upon predictions -- as rounded up by Macrumors -- are:

New MacBook Pros with a thinner, lighter design and a secondary touchscreen at the top of the keyboard. That tiny screen is said to be replacing the function key row and providing context-based commands -- different "soft" buttons which would vary depending on the app in use. Possible minor updates to the MacBook Air, which is one of the longest-standing designs in the Apple universe. A minor spec bump may be in store for the iMac desktops. The elevated level of interest in new MacBooks, especially with an expected major redesign such as this, is reflected in many of the messages I receive from CNET readers. Among the most common email topics is a variation on: "When will product X get updated?" And, more often than not, the product in question is one of Apple's MacBook laptops.

With their distinctive aluminum bodies and (sometimes) glowing Apple logos, MacBooks are a familiar sight everywhere people compute on the go, from coffee shops and airports to college campuses.

But if it feels like you've been seeing the same MacBooks floating around for a while, you'd be correct. And that's why interest in next week's Apple event is so high. The current iterations of most MacBooks have been around for longer than many competing laptop lines, and the lone non-retina display 13-inch MacBook Pro is still on sale with the same basic configuration it's had since 2012. (Yes, Apple still sells a computer with a DVD drive.)

That's an outlier, but it's emblematic of a larger issue: the pace of design innovation on the Mac platform has slowed considerably. The last truly new model was the 12-inch MacBook in 2015. Apple's other laptops, the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, haven't seen anything other than minor spec bumps -- stuff like newer Intel chips, faster Wi-Fi, more memory -- in the past several years, although that may change by next week. Before the upcoming event, the only "new" Mac so far in 2016 has been the refreshed version of that 12-inch MacBook -- again, just a faster chip dropped into last year's body.

Editor's note, October 19, 2016:A version of this article was originally published August 12. It has been updated with new information about Apple's upcoming October 27 media event.

If you're looking for the latest and greatest in the never-ending race toward newer and better system specs, that slow pace of change might be important. New technologies, including the latest Core i-series Intel processors, USB-C ports, OLED displays, 4K-resolution screens, and new graphics chips, are regularly turning up in new laptops from Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer and others. For the most part, MacBook owners have been left out of many of these innovations.

So, as we head into a near-certain refresh next week, here's a look at where we stand right now on each of Apple's laptop lines.

MacBook Pro

With Apple confirming a "special event" for next Thursday with the tag line "hello again" -- recalling Mac events of yore -- it's widely assumed a new version of the MacBook Pro will make its debut. That would be the third major iteration, after the 2006 original and the 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina display.

Besides the presumed thinner bodies, these new systems will reportedly replace the familiar function key row with an OLED touch strip, which may also include a Touch ID fingerprint reader borrowed from the iPhone. New AMD graphics options and a larger touchpad are also part of the current speculation.

For the MacBook Pro, that would be the first real system update since May 2015. But, the actual look and feel of the current Retina-display MacBook Pro 13 and 15-inch models really dates back more than four years. Except for the CPU and a few other component and port tweaks, the Retina-screen MacBook Pro you'd buy today is essentially the same as the one you'd buy in 2012. That it's still one of the most universally useful laptops you can buy is a testament to its forward-looking design.