Almost always, Apple never fails to please its loyal followers and tech watchers, the same way that it did last week when the Cupertino, California-based tech giant unveiled the upgraded MacBook Air that is juiced up by Intel's Core i5 and i7 processors.

The Air's new upgrade will be marketed in both the 11-inch and 13-inch screens and will feature the OS X Lion, Thunderbolt connectivity and backlit keys, which basically were the come ons of the MacBook Pros that were launched by Apple on February this year.

Obviously basking on its sustained success, which is mostly attributed to its innovative gadgets such as the iPhone and iPad that so far sold millions of units, Apple is reportedly planning to release a new notebook that fuses the good traits of the Air and Pro.

Macrumors has reported that a 15-inch MacBook Air/Pro ultraportable hybrid could hit the market during the holiday season and wow Apple's millions of aficionados.

According to the online tech news site, the new breed of Apple laptop will sport the features that endeared both the Air and Pro to consumers: no optical disk drive and having solid state drive for storage in lieu of the perennial hard disks.

Once the new notebook is released, TUAW said on its report that Apple plans to lump the new product with its MacBook Pro line, which could also mean that the tech giant plans to release models beyond the 15-inch screen mark.

Almost immediately, online speculations abound that as early as the 2011 Christmas season, global consumers could be seen snatching their units of 17-inch Apple notebooks, minus the heft and weight of the iconic MacBook Pro.

Such spectre is undoubtedly another piece of excitement set to be delivered by Apple to its captivated audience in the tech world and the only caveat, according to Mashable, is how to keep the retail price somewhat reasonable, which experts added is the major factor that keeps Apple from finally flexing its sole dominance in the computer hardware market.

Selling new laptops that keep its tradition of high aesthetic standard and A1 functionalities with affordable sticker price have been a perennial challenge for Apple and the introduction of the so-called hybrid portable computers could finally solve that puzzle.