You people are relentless! We get a lot of viewer mail here at the AtAT studios, covering a wide range of topics-- everything from "your show has changed my life, so I've taken a vow of silence to show my support and I've sent you all of my worldly possessions" (by the way, to "Speechless in Des Moines"-- thanks for the stereo!) to "I can't believe you're wasting your young, vibrant lives cranking out this pointless drivel" to "make three million dollars your first year licking stamps in the comfort of your own home." And yet, by far the most viewer mail we get seems to be along the lines of "I'm planning to buy an iMac, but I hear there's a better version just around the corner. What's up with that?" (Actually, okay, we admit it-- we get more mail of the "licking stamps" variety. Hey, who doesn't?)

Well, here at AtAT Studios and Personal Computer Purchase Consultants, when it comes to insider iMac news, we're going to have to borrow a page from Apple's big heavy book and issue a blanket statement of "no comment." However, entirely unlike Apple, we're perfectly willing to comment on the aforementioned "no comment." Basically, it comes down to this: we just don't know. And beyond that, we're going to hazard a wild guess and say that very, very few people outside of Apple's walls know, either. Sure, some of those insiders talk, at the risk of getting a pink slip shoved through the backs of their skulls by an irate and ninja-trained Steve Jobs, but it's entirely possible that most of that insider info comes from insiders who are misinformed, deliberately fed false rumors to catch leaks, or just plain not insiders at all. Them's the risks of trading in the rumors biz.

That said, we can tell you that rumors sites like Apple Insider, who generally have a pretty good track record as far as this stuff goes, are still expecting a 300 MHz iMac to surface sometime towards the end of the month, possibly sporting a revamped flavor palette (with Banana replacing Tangerine and Cherry bumping Strawberry). And on top of that, now the "legitimate" tech press is getting into the act. CNET, for example, is claiming that "industry sources" tell them to expect a speed-bumped iMac running at 333 MHz showing up on store shelves within the next couple of weeks. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to determine whether the sheer volume of these rumors indicates a certain level of truth, or whether it's just the same rumors being repeated and amplified by several sources. Our personal take on the whole thing? Well, keeping our "no comment" firmly in mind, we'll casually let slip that we wouldn't be at all surprised to see a slightly faster iMac hit the shelves sometime between two and six weeks from now-- after all, Apple revised the iMac twice in five months, and it's been three months since the last upgrade, so we figure they're about due. But we sure wouldn't put any money on it.

Mac owners will totally understand what we mean when we talk about the Excuse to Buy™. The Excuse to Buy is what one tries to concoct when rational justification of the expense of buying a new Mac simply isn't going to happen. For instance, say you've got a beige Power Mac G3 and you're drooling uncontrollably at the thought of getting one of the new "icebox" models. From a logical cost-benefit perspective, there's just no way you can make it stick-- you'd gain extra speed, but how much speed is really necessary to check your email and play StarCraft? Certainly no more than your existing beige box already delivers. And you have no use for FireWire, but you want it anyway because it sounds cool-- even though you've got a slew of SCSI peripherals and you'd have to spring for a SCSI card to keep using them. Basically, you're slavering over the cool blue and white easy-open case, the big "G3" on the side, and "FireWire" because it's fun to say, particularly in a "Great Cornholio" voice. But if you actually go and blow the kids' college fund on a new G3 (especially since you're just now rebuilding that fund after you blew it last year on your beige G3), your spouse will be on the lam and wanted for justifiable homicide and you'll get to answer the age-old question of whether or not there are Macs in the afterlife.

And that's where the Excuse to Buy enters the picture. Isn't it kind of Apple to help us justify our unnecessary outlays of vast quantities of cash better spent elsewhere? Take, for example, Apple's brand new G3 promotion: anyone who purchases a new Power Mac G3 before June 27th gets to choose between a free internal 56K modem or a free internal Zip drive. That's exactly the hook you need to make that new G3 seem like a reasonable purchase-- after all, it's like saving over a hundred bucks, and it's a limited-time offer! You'd better pick one up now, because otherwise you might forget and miss the deadline. After all, you've got that tax refund coming in any day now, right?

If a free Zip drive or modem isn't enough to rationalize your purchase, consider throwing in an extra $500 to get a matching Apple 17" Studio Display; Apple's now offering a $100 rebate if you buy one with your new G3. That means you'd be saving well over $200 on your total purchase, and you'd have a matching Mac and monitor, which, as everyone knows, is absolutely key to being a productive member of society. C'mon, those kids of yours probably won't even want to go to college-- who are you to force them into a life they'd resent? And if you can't run faster than your spouse, just make sure you've got a decent head start...

What's the world's easiest job, in terms of sheer "nothing-to-do-ness"? Hot dog vendor at the National Vegetarian Society conference? Nope, it's iMac wrangler at Best Buy. Considering that almost all Best Buy stores no longer even have any iMacs to sell, and rumor has it that no new iMacs will be hitting the shelves before May, there just doesn't seem like a whole lot for an Apple rep to do there short of lounging around in front of the PC's and urging people not to look. But according to MacNN, that's not stopping MarketSource Corporation from trying to enlist the part-time help of "highly motivated, Mac savvy, well-organized dependable people with strong 'people skills'" to support Apple's sales efforts at Best Buys in several U.S. cities.

This isn't a Demo Days one-shot deal; it's apparently an ongoing part-time job that has generally flexible hours and requires a commitment of between one and twenty hours a week, with some occasional mandatory weekend time. Personally, we can't think of a more daunting mission than trying to support potential iMac customers in such an Apple-hostile environment as your average Best Buy, but we're not exactly of the "go-getter" mentality. We're more familiar with the "go-sit-on-the-couch-and-see-what's-on-TV" approach to living life on the edge. (Hey, it can be dangerous-- sometimes when changing channels we accidentally linger too long on a "Road Rules" marathon and have to spend the next three hours trying to unroll our eyes.)

That all said, this could be a golden opportunity for some informed and personable Mac people to start making Best Buy into a viable iMac reseller. We've all heard the horror stories (and some of us have lived through them), but this is a chance for you to turn your local Best Buy into a truly iMac-friendly environment. If you're up to the challenge, subvert the dominant paradigm from within.