Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

I know I know its only been a few months since the last refresh but still, the last refresh was fairly uninspiring IMHO. My current machine is approaching twelve months old now and for the money I got a nice bright/evenly lit screen and a modest speed bump. When are we likely to see a 1066 Mhz FSB? What difference it is likely to make to overall performance and are the newer chips announced by INTEL going to find their way into an MBP this year? Any other features to keep a look out for to take an update more compelling?

My opinion on this is matter is to be content with what you have.

You are correct in assessing that the MBP was just updated this past February. This means it will be a little while before we see a revision.

I also have the June 07 model of the MBP and its a fine machine, why pine after something that doesn't exist. To be honest I think the next roll out will be incremental as well so if you're looking for a huge increase in speed then you're going to be disappointed.

besides you'll be throwing your money away, by selling your current model and then buying another that's not that much different.

Intel will roll out the Cantiga chipset (the chipset for the Montevina/Centrino2 platform) in June. Together with it they will release the new Penryn generation (socket B). These are 45 nm CPUs with Intel's new standard package size and lower TDPs. The chipset will offer support for various other new things (DDR3, DisplayPort, Boazman controller, X4500, new WiFi and WiMAX controllers), but I doubt Apple will switch over to these right away.

You can expect an updated MBP no later than October.

The new MBP will run a 1067 MT/s FSB and have 800 MHz RAM. Expect a P8600 (2.4 GHz, 3 MB, 25W)) or a P9500 (2.53 GHz, 6 MB, 25W) on the low end and a T9600 (2.8 GHz, 6 MB, 35W) at the high end. There will likely be changes to the GPU, but in terms of actual performance increase I'm not expecting a large jump. Expect larger/faster HDDs. I wouldn't hold my breath for a BR BTO option. Case redesign is certainly possible, but there are no credible rumors pointing in that direction (yet).

The release from Intel will be in June, so following Apple's history with the MBP I'd expect the upgrade in August. I don't see much of an schedule impact from the minor (pretty much a drop-in) upgrade earlier this year.

I'd expect an overall performance upgrade of about 15% from the current machines, but of course it depends what you do and how you do it. There's a possibility of a case redesign (dump the plastic edges and add some curvature like the MacBook Air) but nothing is certain.

Much to the dismay of Simon and I, some Mac news sites were already calling the new iMacs Montevina (they're not even Cantiga, just overclocked Crestline) before they were "corrected" to Santa Rosa, so they'll probably make the same mistake with the MBPs leading up to and after the release.

I still can't understand this. How is it easier to say Montevina than Cantiga? Are the 'editors' of most Mac websites simply ignorant or just plain lazy? I mean it's two lines on Wikipedia, how hard is that to understand?