With tech giant Microsoft surprising everyone with an announcement of an upcoming Surface Book plus an expected new iteration of their Surface Pro lineup, fans are now setting their sights on another expected laptop lineup – the next-gen MacBook.

So far, Apple has not made any committed response to fans' clamor for the company's next laptop in the MacBook lineup. Because of the Cupertino-based company's reticence, different rumors and speculations about the new MacBook are now floating online.

According to Yibada, Apple originally intended for a new MacBook to make its way into the consumer market this year. However, the lineup failed to appear in the recently concluded Apple event last month that saw the confirmation of several Apple products and services. This sparked speculations that Apple is now targeting the early months of 2016 to release their latest mobile workhorse.

This is in line with another report by NeuroGadget, adding that there are also rumors that the delay is due to Apple wanting to wait first for some new Intel processors. If these speculations are true, the new MacBook will clearly have an upgrade under the hood.

In terms of specs, VCPost reported that aside from a new Skylake processor, Apple's upcoming workstation will also incorporate a slimmer design as the new MacBook will switch to USB Type-C ports, as well as a sleeker keyboard. Apple will also integrate new proprietary features like the new OS X El Capitan and Force Touch technology. As Apple devices are known as a preference among graphics professional, the new Macbook will also reportedly come out with the powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 graphics card.

The new MacBook's price will also be in a range like the previous versions, so it could be priced at around $1500 for a base 13-inch model.