While the eyes of the tech-world have been distracted by the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas - images have surfaced of what appears to be a new MacBook Air design.

Apple do not attend the CES - preferring to launch new products at its own events.

Radical

The design appeared on 9to5Mac - a website that has a track record of breaking Apple stories. The site claimed that it has received in-depth details about the machine from sources inside Apple.

The site reports that the laptop is so thin that Apple employees refer to is as the "MacBook Stealth."

9to5Mac created artist renditions of the new computer based on these specifications. TechCrunch has since said it has confirmed that the images are accurate depictions of the product at its current stage of development.

It is expected that the laptop will be released in the middle of 2015.

Artist rendition of the model compared to the current MacBook Air

The most radical design change is the dropping of standard features like full-sized USB ports, MagSafe connectors, and SD card slots - in favour of one 3.5mm audio jack and a single USB-C connector that can be used for a number of purposes.

The apparent new design compared to the current 11 and 12 inch models

It is believed that a new 12-inch model will be narrower than the current 11-inch MacBook Air - with smaller bezels on all sides and the keyboard sitting edge-to-edge across the width of the laptop. The keys have also been resized, and sit closer to each other.