According to analyst Shaw Wu, who is known to have pitted himself against the great Gene Munster in a free-for-all death match for the title of world's most kick-ass Apple analyst, Apple seems on track to exceed its sales goal for the third quarter. According to Wu, the introduction of the new version of the Macbook a little earlier than expected should serve to give the company a boost in sales.

"MacBook is shipping one to two months ahead of our checks," wrote analyst Shaw Wu in a research note. "We thus have a higher degree of confidence that Apple is on track to hit the upper-end, if not exceed, its guidance."

Wu thinks that the pricing scheme for the latest Macbook makes it an attractive alternative to many consumers out there in the market for a good laptop. With its ability to boot Windows XP with Boot Camp, the computer is poised to see record sales, though Wu believes the $1,499 black version may be a little overpriced. I guess he didn't read one of our previous posts, huh?