News.blog: iMacs to upgrade to Penryn?

Apple could be getting ready for the advent of the educational buying season with new iMacs.

So says GeekSugar, which has a post up on Thursday claiming Apple's about to tweak the all-in-one iMac desktop. It doesn't sound like much of an overhaul, just a speed bump to Intel's latest Penryn processors used by the MacBook and MacBook Pro and a larger hard drive, with no major design changes expected. Apple hasn't updated the iMac since introducing a new design for the lineup last August.

The current quarter is a prime buying period for primary school systems, said Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer on Wednesday's earnings call. A slightly faster and larger system -- at around the current price point, according to GeekSugar -- might induce some to take the plunge.

Tuesday tends to be New Apple Product Introduction Day, so we'll probably know if new iMacs will soon grace Apple's store shelves by then.