Quite a day, wasn't it? While there weren't any real surprises during Steve Jobs' Seybold keynote (at least, not for those of us who scour the rumors sites looking for the early dirt), the stuff that got announced was enough to bring tears to the eyes of the Macintosh faithful who've stayed with the platform through thick and thin. In other words, things were mighty thin a couple of years ago, so we're all glad to see so much thickness in the air right about now. Industry-leading inventory levels, a spiffy new operating system release on deck, healthy pre-order numbers for the iBook, etc. all make for a happy picture-- but of course, the star of the show was the new Big Kahuna in Apple's lineup: the Power Macintosh G4.

There's a ton of info on this speedy new puppy sprayed all over the 'net like mosquito repellent at a nudist Swamp Cookout, so we won't spend too much time hitting the technical details, but we do want to say this: Apple's really, really good at marketing these days. The chewy goodness at the heart of the G4 processor is AltiVec, the technology which can speed certain operations by a factor of a gazillion, or whatever. But AltiVec's kind of a dorky name, so Apple calls it the "Velocity Engine." That's just so cool. And the G4's enclosure is the G3's done right. Gone is that goofy Blueberry, which really detracted from the G3's kick-butt Pentium-chomping performance (it said "Fisher Price" when it should have said "Submit Before I Destroy You"), and in its place are the new "professional colors": clear, silver, and a gorgeous metallic translucent grey which Apple calls "graphite." Geez, even if all that got announced today was the same old G3 systems with the G4's new case, we'd probably run right out and buy one. We can't wait to see one in person.

That said, it's worth noting that Big Steve wasn't being 100% honest with us today. When he mentioned that the Power Mac G4 had 2x AGP graphics, we were surprised, because that implies a Sawtooth motherboard, which we'd repeatedly heard was delayed; we were banking on the "Yikes!" rumor that the first G4s would actually ship with a slightly tweaked version of the Yosemite motherboard in the currently available G3s. And when Steve said that G4s were available immediately, we thought Apple's elves had pulled off a miracle and gotten Sawtooth out the door. But if you look at the tech specs of Apple's new systems, you'll notice some big differences in the G4 that's "shipping now": PCI graphics, lower max RAM, thinner memory bandwidth, slower USB, slower ATA bus, no internal FireWire port, no AirPort capability-- yup, that's "Yikes!" all right. Did you notice how Steve implied that all the G4s had AGP graphics, built-in AirPort antennas, etc.? He was being a Sneaky Pete. Sawtooth G4s won't be available for another month yet.

That's not to say that the "shipping immediately" G4/400s are anything to scoff at; heck, we sure wouldn't kick one out of bed for eating crackers. But while we hate the idea of Apple losing any sales, we also don't want people ordering systems thinking they're getting something they're not. If you want a G4 right away and you don't need the advanced features of the Sawtooth motherboard (and plenty of people don't), by all means, grab a Yikes! and be the envy of all those around you. Otherwise, wait another month and Sawtooth can be yours.

By the way, we can't apologize enough for the server problems that plagued us during such an entertaining time in Apple's continuing journey. The lesson to learn here: a 6500 with a G3 upgrade is lots slower than a beige G3, especially at I/O-- slow enough where the traffic caused by hordes of Seybold-crazed AtAT junkies was enough to grind the system to a nasty, twisted halt culminating in repeated crashes of impressive magnitude. (Really, you folks should be beaming with pride right about now.) We're back on the beige G3 temporarily until we can raise the cash for a suitable replacement-- and we're hoping the new G4s also send G3 prices crashing through the floor so we can pick up some good gear cheap. Hopefully this marks the end of this latest round of hard times.