You know, by all accounts, the new "Kihei" iMac is still over a month away-- yet over the weekend, specifications for Apple's revamped consumer powerhouse spread like wildfire across the entire Mac-related webscape. Well, okay, maybe they're not everywhere, but they've popped up on enough high-traffic sites to prompt the Apple Anti-Leak Squad to reach for the Rolaids. In particular, the Mac Observer has a list of specifications from the same shadowy source who gave them startlingly accurate pre-release details about the iBook and the Power Mac G4, so we're very inclined to believe them. And in our minds, the fact that the specs are so similar to those just posted at Apple Insider (complete with line drawings of the Kihei) basically erases all doubt. (Then again, we're trusting souls.)

Some things about the new iMac aren't all that surprising, if you've been following the rumors diligently. Kihei sports a 400 MHz G3, 64 MB of RAM, a 10 GB hard drive, AGP-based graphics, built-in AirPort antennae, an improved sound system, and a couple of FireWire ports, as many people expected. Likewise, there are a few features that many of us dared hope for, while fully expecting to be disappointed-- but they made the cut: think trayless DVD-ROM, a 100 MHz system bus, ATI Rage 128 graphics (instead of Rage Pro or Mobility), and VGA video-out for folks who want to use external video devices. Then there are the true surprises (for us, anyway). Get this: according to the Mac Observer, the new iMac has no fan. While we're a smidge doubtful on that point, Steve Jobs's longtime dislike for fan noise is certainly a thing of Apple legend, so we'll have to adopt a "wait and see" attitude on that one.

The real surprise, though, is Apple's alleged plan to ship Kihei in three distinct versions. The iMac has always been the computer for regular shmoes who don't want to agonize over which model to get; "Which color?" has been the toughest question iMac owners have had to answer so far. But with Kihei, Apple is reportedly planning to offer "Good, Better, and Best" configurations. The "Better" model is the one described above, to be available in the five fruit flavors we all know and love, probably at the same $1199 price point. The "Good" model will cost a lot less (sub-$1000?), because it'll sport a slower 350 MHz processor, a trayless CD-ROM instead of DVD, no FireWire, and no color choice-- it's "Blueberry only" for the low-end crowd. Then the "Best" configuration is targeted at the high end of the consumer market; it's got everything the "Better" model does, except the RAM is doubled to 128 MB, the hard drive is upped to 13 GB, and the fruit flavors are shown the door. That's right, kiddies, the "Best" Kihei is said to come in none other than Graphite, the liquid grey of the new Power Mac G4. We sense that style-conscious iMac owners the world over are going to want to trade up...

Now we just hope that these rumors are true, and that Apple gets them out the door sooner rather than later. We've been hearing disturbing rumors that for the first time since its introduction in August of last year, the iMac has fallen out of the list of top five computers sold at retail. If that's true (and we expect it is, since we just can't believe that delayed G4s are solely responsible for Apple's recent earnings warning), then Kihei is just what Apple needs to juice those sales numbers again.