Circuit board orders point to new MacBooks?

Apple has increased its orders of printed-circuit boards for notebooks by 20 percent, compared to last quarter.

Macs are selling quite good, but that’s a stronger boost than would be expected from the usual seasonal patterns, and it’s unlikely that Apple would be planning for that kind of boost unless it planned to trot out new hardware this quarter.

Apple values the back-to-school shopping season more than just about any other PC company. Last year, it unveiled new iMacs in early August, just before the rush back to college. Given that the MacBook design is aging, the time seems about right for Apple to bring the aluminum casing on the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air to the MacBook line.