Admit it-- you were a little let down by Pismo, weren't you? Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of; we'd all been hearing rumors about Apple's next PowerBook for so long, it's only natural to have been just a bit underwhelmed by what we got when it finally surfaced: a brand new PowerBook that looks just like last year's PowerBook. No super-cool translucent Graphite clamshell enclosure, à la iBook. And while the guts were new, they weren't that new; sure, Pismo has a UMA motherboard, supports AirPort, etc., but the 400 or 500 MHz processor blazing at its core is "only" a G3. In recent years we've been a bit spoiled; we've gotten used to Apple's pro portables pretty much matching its pro desktops when it comes to processing oomph. Yeah, a 500 MHz G3 may well outpace a 400 MHz G4 in many tasks, but we've had our expectations dazzled with talk of supercomputers, gigaflops, and the Velocity Engine, dammit. And while only the most diehard of optimists really thought Pismo was going to be a PowerBook G4, deep in our hearts, each of us was at least subconsciously disappointed when the Pismo surfaced with the expected G3 chip.

So we guess it's time to start looking forward to the next PowerBook, right? Well, you're in luck; faithful viewer Tim Rzeznik informs us that the unfortunately-named Go2Mac has an "exclusive report" on Apple's next pro portable, apparently code-named "Mercury." Due this fall or winter, Mercury is said to pack a pistol-hot G4-- early prototypes have been spotted running at clock speeds ranging between 500 and 750 MHz. (750 MHz?! Must be one of the three >500 MHz G4 chips on the planet, at this point.) Other than that, details are sorely lacking, short of the claim that Mercury will be "certified for Mac OS X," which is a relief, because we were worried that Apple would release a system next fall that couldn't run Apple's latest operating system. It's also claimed that Mercury will ship with a "totally new trackpad design" that will accept stylus input, so you can use your incredibly expensive bleeding-edge PowerBook to "take notes like the Palm." That last innovation will be particularly welcome, because personally, when we're typing a long document on a comfortable full-size scissor-action PowerBook keyboard, we really wish we had the option to spend hours inputting it via Graffiti instead.

Seriously, though, if Mercury's time frame for release is really this fall/winter, it's pretty early to expect any real details. Given that our own personal portable needs are adequately met by our trusty iBook, our interest in the PowerBook G4 is purely drool factor. That means we'll eagerly soak up whatever rumors and leaked info dribbles out of Cupertino, but since we're not looking to buy, we're not overly anxious. Product development as spectator sport; does it get any better than this?