The countdown continues, and just about everybody expects Apple to introduce the new "101" PowerBooks at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference. Of course, most of us also expected them at the last three or four big media events, but who's counting? The thing is, information about the new PowerBooks hasn't exactly been easy to come by; whereas everybody pretty much knew everything about the Wall Street models for a couple of months before they finally surfaced, Apple's managed to plug leaks and keep most of the details about 101 under wraps. That little fact, however, hasn't stopped Apple Insider from compiling what they are calling their "final" compendium of 101 information.

As it turns out, most of the changes in 101 are under-the-hood, so don't expect a big, flashy new enclosure; Apple's even internally referring to 101 as "Wall Street 1.5," implying that they've improved the current PowerBooks instead of replacing them outright. In addition to faster processors and a kick-ass Rage 128-based graphics controller, Apple has also reportedly redesigned the cooling system in the new portables, meaning that, unlike the original Wall Streets, 101 units probably won't double as a portable electric room heater and mug warmer. Then there are the ports; wave bye-bye to the ADB and DIN-8 serial ports, because they're being replaced with two USB ports instead. But other than a few small tweaks here and there, it sure looks like 101 bears more than a passing resemblance to the current Wall Street enclosures. Check out the engineering drawings for yourself; we might have a long while to wait before super-curvy or super-thin PowerBooks make it out of the gate.

If you ask us, perhaps the most interesting thing about those technical drawings is the trackpad and its buttons. That's "buttons," as in plural. Doesn't it look as though the 101 has two buttons below its trackpad? If this technical drawing is genuine, then it looks like at some point Apple was at least toying with the idea of putting two-button "mice" on its pro-level machines; whether or not the two buttons will make it into shipping systems remains to be seen. Heck, for all we know, all of this info could be a crock-- just part of a deliberate Apple campaign to befuddle the rumors sites and track down leaks. But that's what makes following Apple so much fun.