Still anxiously awaiting the Power Mac G4? Hey, who isn't? The G3 still has a lot of spunk in it, but with the Intel marketing machine pushing Pentium IIIs running at clock speeds higher than anything available in the Mac world, we have to say, the arrival of the G4 would be a welcome boost. The thing is, all along we'd been hearing that Apple's next-generation motherboard, Sawtooth, was pretty much ready to go, and that the holdup was Motorola and their poky development of the actual G4 processor. In fact, some people had even told us that the Sawtooth offered so many improvements over the current Yosemite design (AGP graphics, higher speed bus, etc.) that Apple wouldn't wait for the G4 to put the Sawtooth to work. We were half-expecting new Power Mac G3s with Sawtooth internals to fill the gap until Motorola got the G4 processor out the door.

But now Apple Insider is telling a different story-- one that's almost the direct opposite. According to their sources, it's Sawtooth that's delayed; Motorola's got the G4 pretty much ready to go, but has held off on formally announcing the new processor at Apple's request. (Basically, Apple wants Power Mac G4s available for purchase as soon as Motorola introduces the zippy new chip to the world. Makes sense.) But with professional Mac users clamoring for faster systems, what's Apple to do now that Sawtooth still isn't ready for prime time? Seybold is just around the corner, Steve Jobs is slated to deliver one of his world-famous keynotes, and Sawtooth is reportedly just too unstable to ship right now.

Enter project "Yikes!", the most aptly-named Cupertino initiative we've yet encountered. "Yikes!" is Apple's attempt to slap a blisteringly fast new G4 processor into a Yosemite-based system. The result is essentially a current Power Mac G3 with a better keyboard and mouse, grey highlights replacing the Blueberry plastics, and a brand spankin' new G4 purring under the hood. So whaddaya think, sirs-- believable? We suppose we'll find out in another week. And while we're disappointed to hear that Sawtooth-based systems probably won't surface until next year, a G4 Yosemite in the interim sounds like a welcome stopgap.