New MacBooks on the 14th?

Last month I mentioned October 14th as a likely date for new Mac product introductions, specifically, new MacBooks. Well, the 14th is just a tad over a week away, and we’re starting to see a bevy of MacBook rumors.

Courtesy of Apple

TUAW reports that new MacBooks will use Nvidia-powered graphics chipsets, as opposed to the usual Intel family of onboard graphics processors. If true, the question is, which Nvidia chipset will Apple use?

MacSoda speculates that Apple will use the Nvidia MCP7A-U, which is believed to be the fastest mGPU chipset. The ‘m’ stands for motherboard, an indication that this is an integrated graphics chipset, and not a standalone device that could be used in the expansion slots of desktop computers.

The MCP7A-U has some interesting capabilities, including built-in support for HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface). It’s rumored to also have built-in HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection). Blu-ray movies require HDCP for playback, so the Nvidia chipset would give Apple the end-to-end HDCP system it needs if it’s going to include Blu-ray players with new MacBooks or MacBook Pros.