So you want to know the real details about Apple's upcoming consumer portable? Hey, who doesn't? The simple fact is, Apple has the project encased in a Cone of Secrecy so dense, not even light can escape; if they hadn't announced that such a product was even in the works, we doubt any info about its progress would have been picked up by the press. Remember how the iMac stunned the world? The way that Apple's managed to keep most "iBook" details under wraps for over a year while everyone's trying to sneak a peek is impressive, to say the least.

But that doesn't mean the occasional fourth-hand detail doesn't worm its way through the Translucent Curtain-- of course, sometimes you have to go halfway around the world to find a spot weak enough to penetrate. The latest buzz all emanates from a story in an Asian business journal, which claims that Apple has selected a third-party manufacturer to build the iBooks, in much the same way that LG Electronics now produces the iMac. The lucky winner of the iBook contract is reportedly Alpha Top of Taiwan, who, as related by a CNET article, plans to begin production in June; if all goes according to plan, then an unveiling at July's Macworld Expo is virtually guaranteed (though we expected that, anyway).

As for what that means regarding an actual ship date, we're personally skeptical that units will be available for sale in time for the Expo. As the CNET article points out, the company that's producing the new "bronze" PowerBooks started working on them in March, and they still haven't shipped; if the iBooks follow a similar timeline, then they might well follow in the iMac's footsteps and inherit an August 15th launch date. Not that we wouldn't welcome an earlier addition to our Mac family-- heck, we'd buy the demo unit from Steve Jobs after his keynote if he'd sell it to us. Are you listening, Steve? Cash in hand, and no one else needs to know. Meet us in the alley next to Zen Palate on Broadway after the speech and we'll make the exchange. We'll even buy you a vegan meal for your trouble. How can you pass up an offer like that?

Is Apple expecting to sell a lot of consumer portables? Well, unless their legendary poor forecasting makes a stunning surprise reappearance, we would definitely think so. We don't know just how many iMacs have been sold since they first hit the shelves last August, but we're guessing the number is somewhere close to a million and a half-- maybe two million. That's a whole lotta iMacs, which shows that the market for simple, cool, colorful, and relatively inexpensive desktop systems was just waiting to be tapped. Now, given that premise, we've just got to imagine that the market for simple, cool, colorful, and relatively inexpensive laptops is just as ripe. After all, the iMac is holding its own against other low-cost desktop computers, but the consumer portable will have considerably less competition at its performance level and price point. Put simply, we think Apple are going to sell these things faster than they can crank them out.

That said, even with the Mac's legendary ease of use, a couple million more customers is going to generate a spike in customer support calls. Portables, especially, are prone to take a beating, since they're being dragged all over creation, and even if the "iBook" is as shock-proof as the eMate (which, reportedly, was designed to withstand a six-foot drop onto concrete and live to tell the harrowing story of its survival to all of its eMate buddies down at the bar), there are going to be problems. The nice thing is, Apple actually seems to realize this, according to Mac OS Rumors, and is taking early action to gear up for the challenge.

It seems that Apple has transplanted one of the more butt-kicking übermanagers from its Austin, TX call center to the Cupertino area in order to help put together a new call center, which will be dedicated to fielding service calls from iBook customers. In fact, if the reports can be believed, Apple even broke precedent and paid for the manager's move to sunny California-- all in the name of making sure iBook owners get the level of customer service they deserve. We have no idea how long it takes to put together a call center, but we wouldn't be terribly surprised if this move is widely taken as yet another hint that the iBook may be available for purchase sooner than we all might think.

Call us crazy, call us incurably optimistic, call us certifiably insane-- we refuse to let the dream die. We're talking about light-up Macs. Over a year ago, when the iMac was first introduced, early reports indicated that the whole translucent case lit up when the system was in use. That turned out to be false; what eyewitnesses were seeing was the light from the illuminated table on which the iMac sat filtering through the translucent plastics. Fair enough. Then it appeared that the iMac's mouse, at least, did light up; although Apple initially denied it, when faced with actual QuickTime footage that clearly shows a lit-up iMac mouse, they admitted that it was a feature implemented in some early prototypes and removed from the specification. So, no light-up iMacs-- unless you rig it yourself, or pay someone else to do it for you.

During the same time period, though, there were also reports that the big white Apple logo on the cover of the new "Wall Street" PowerBook G3 Series glowed when the system was on. We got to test that theory first-hand, and we were sorely disappointed to discover that it just wasn't so (although if the room's really dark, you can just barely make out the logo as light from the screen filters through the back). And then there were rumors that El Capitan prototypes (which are now the blue-and-white Power Mac G3s) lit up internally when turned on, to reveal the "G3" silk-screened on the inside of the case through the translucent sides. That went nowhere, too.

So we return to the PowerBooks for the latest light-up Mac rumor. MacNN notes a series of photos of the new "bronze" PowerBook G3 posted by Apple Japan, and one of the pictures shows what appears to be the white Apple logo on the cover glowing like an excited alien life form. Is this it? When the new PowerBooks finally start to reach end-users, will they find that Apple has finally fulfilled our long-held dream of a light-up Mac? Well, probably not, but we like to keep hope alive.