APPLE Computer's chairman, Mr Gilbert Amelio, will outline a long awaited plan on Tuesday to revamp the Macintosh personal computer with the help of recently acquired NeXt Software Inc.

At the Macworld trade show next week, Apple and dozens of other vendors also will unveil new products that could help boost the Macintosh market in 1997, analysts said.

This year's show will be more cheery than last year's, when Apple's future as an independent company was in doubt, customers and vendors said. In 1996, Apple's new management under Mr Amelio stopped huge financial losses and acted quickly to come ups with a plan to update the Mac.

"We're very pleased with the decisions Apple has made with the future of the Mac," said Mr Bob Roblin, senior vice president of marketing at Adobe Systems Inc one of the biggest suppliers of Mac software.

"It's going to be a much more upbeat show, but one where a lot of questions have to be answered."

The questions swirl around Apple's agreement last month to pay $400 million for NeXt, the company run by Apple co founder Mr Steven Jobs.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, plans to take NeXt's well regarded operating system - a type of programme that controls the basic functions of a computer - and meld it with the Mac operating system. The Mac's fundamental software needs an overhaul to keep up with Microsoft Corp's Windows family of software.

While Apple management has outlined the NeXt strategy, Macintosh programmers and executives of Mac related companies said they still needed lots of technical details before they could start working on new products.

Other highlights of Macworld are expected to be the release of new versions of several key Macintosh products.