I guess I won’t have to send any high-res photos of my middle digit to the Apple rumors sites today. They were right. This morning, Apple announced a new MacBook and a new MacBook Pro.

OK, the particulars:

• The MacBook Pro has been upgraded to the new Penryn chips from Intel, at 2.4 GHz and 2.6 GHz speeds
• The 17" MacBook Pro now offers a backlit keyboard (previously only on the 15" models)
• The MacBooks are seeing processor bumps as well, to 2.1 GHz and 2.4 GHz.
• Both models are seeing increases in hard drive size, with the Pros getting 200 GB and 250 GB options and the MacBooks seeing 120 GB up to 250 GB options
• Upgrade to the multi-touch touchpads which are previously only available on the MacBook Air. This will allow gesture-based control of the unit.

Pricing has remained unchanged on all models.

Much to the chagrin of some MacBook Pro owners, this upgrade did not include a design change to the chassis. Some Pro users have been hoping Apple would release a sleek new look to the Pro. Personally, I don’t see why. I think the current design is fine and built like a brick sh*thouse. Why upgrade it?

One change is that you now have to pay an extra $19 for the little remote control that used to be included with these laptops. Kudos to Apple to the upgrades, but it seems rather stupid to ask for an additional amount of money for this little remote. It probably costs them next to nothing to make the thing. Why must Apple turn it’s customers upside down and shake for pennies?

All in all, I’m very happy to see these upgrades. Why? Because I am going to be buying either a MacBook or a Macbook Pro 15" in the next few weeks. Even though my HP DV6000 is still working fine, I just want to go OS X. I am using OS X on my Mac Pro in the office and really dig it. I do, though, use my laptop almost every day and it will be nice to not have to switch environments.

Besides, the HP is using Vista. Yeah. That’s what I’m thinking, too.