Speaking of those slowed-down Power Macs, after a wonderful hype-licious introduction last August, the Power Mac G4 just doesn't seem to be shaking many trees these days. Yeah, it's stunningly gorgeous in Graphite-- but so is the iMac DV Special Edition. Yes, technically the G4 is a supercomputer for your desktop, but Altivec (uh, we mean the "Velocity Engine") only speeds applications written to take advantage of it-- and there aren't all that many out there yet. Numerous real-world tests appear to indicate that a really fast G3 is often quite a bit faster than a high-end G4. And while gigaflops may push the geek buttons of a few souls out there, the vast unwashed majority feels their pulses quicken at the mention of megahertz instead. What's Joe Schmoe going to pick: a 450 MHz G4 or an 800 MHz Pentium III? Sad, but true. The Power Mac G4 just hasn't caught on like it should have.

That's not to say that we don't want one-- especially now that even the $1599 "low-end" model comes with a Sawtooth motherboard and a Rage 128 Pro graphics card. It's just that, after all that "supercomputer" hype, the G4 has yet to take the world by storm. We don't have any sales numbers available, but we know lots of people buying iMacs and iBooks; we know maybe two people with G4s. What we're looking for is some way for Apple to put the buzz back in the G4, reinvigorate it, and get them flying off the shelves (now that they can actually build them). A speed bump, as rumored for Macworld Expo, will help, but it's not going to be enough. That's why we should all be excited about "Mystic," Apple's upcoming multiple-processor G4 Macs. According to Apple Insider, an Expo introduction is on track, with the first dual-500 MHz system slated to ship sometime in February or March. Quad-processor machines will follow.

Okay, sure, the Mac OS isn't symmetrically multiprocessing yet, so these Macs probably won't be able to take full advantage of both processors to start. Initially we're probably not going to get much more than new multiprocessing Photoshop plug-ins, but it's something Apple can use to build buzz again. And there's always the possibility that Apple will bill that dual-500 MHz box as a 1 GHz Mac in its marketing campaign in order to take the lead in the Megahertz Wars. Specious? A bit. Intellectually shaky? Probably. Guaranteed to generate some press, be it good or bad, to get the G4 back into the public's mind again? Hell yes. And once Mac OS X ships, those multiple-processor Macs will really be able to scream.