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The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has seen its share of the US notebook market double to 12 percent since announcing its first Intel-based notebook, the MacBook Pro, back in January.

In the three-month period ending July 1st, Apple reported record-setting shipments of Mac systems, including nearly 800,000 notebooks — 75 percent of which the company estimated were Intel-based.

So far, the success of Apple’s Intel systems has hinged on a single line of processors, the 32-bit Core Duo series formerly code-named Yonah. But in recent weeks, Intel has rolled-out far more capable chips in its 64-bit line of Core 2 Duo processors, including a mobile variant known by its code-named Merom.

The news has lead to widespread speculation over precisely when and where the new mobile chips will take their seat in Apple’s product lines.

According to a source familiar with the Mac maker’s plans, the company is slated to receive mass shipments of the new Merom Core 2 Duo processors by the first week of September and plans to be amongst the first PC manufacturers to introduce systems based on the new chips.