Rumor check! It's ten o'clock; do you know where your next iBook is? Apple's clamshell consumer portable got its first minor revision way back in February in the form of a hard disk increase and a RAM boost, so it's probably way past due for another feature bump. While most of the iBook rumors making the rounds are pretty solidly believable (due in no small part to Apple's public confirmation of worker bee's iBook report in its lawsuit against that busy, buzzy individual), variations still persist, so we thought we'd collate the data into a reasonably clear picture of what the next iBook will probably be and then present it to you in a handy, easy-to-digest info bite. No need to thank us-- just throw money.

Except, as it turns out, there's hardly any reason for us to bother, since the PowerBook Zone pretty much beat us to it. We seem to recall that, in the past, the PowerBook Zone has occasionally been dead-on accurate in its predictions of forthcoming Apple portables, so we find ourselves inclined to consider its latest report pretty darn credible. The Zone claims that the next iBook is code-named "Midway," and retains the current iBook's distinctive enclosure. It also keeps the same 12.1-inch active matrix display. Beyond that, though, tradition goes out the window; Midway sports faster processors running at speeds up to 466 MHz, and beefier graphics circuitry currently used in the PowerBook-- an ATI Rage Mobility 128 with 8 MB of SDRAM video memory. The high-end Special Edition will even house a FireWire port and a DVD-ROM drive, meaning you can watch a Hollywood blockbuster on the road, or whip up your own with iMovie. Apparently we can expect this thing to materialize by the end of next month, barring the inexplicable release delays that have become par for the course whenever Apple portables are concerned. Color choices are up in the air at this point, but the safe money's on rubberized versions of the current "softer" iMac hues.

Now, given that the high-end iBook is likely to be about seven hundred bucks cheaper than the low-end PowerBook, what's going to keep value-conscious professionals from straying from their intended device? After all, with a 466 MHz G3, FireWire, and DVD, that "consumer" iBook is sounding suspiciously professional to us. Well, think about what the iBook will still be lacking: a 14.1-inch screen, PC card slots, video-out, audio-in, multiple ports, hot-swappable expansion bays, and an overall package that's up to a pound lighter. Plus, even with a Graphite color choice, there are plenty of professionals who wouldn't want to been seen toting a giant makeup compact around with them. Market differentiation via Fisher-Price styling: gotta love it.

Of course, then there's the other end of the spectrum: unadulterated wishful thinking. Enter MacMonkey's "HiBook" specs, which clearly wander freely through the land of make-believe: there you'll find all of the more "realistic" features listed in the PowerBook Zone article, plus a 12.1-inch display capable of 1024x768 resolution, Harmon-Kardon internal speakers, touch-screen capability, slate-style operation, and even an ADC video-out port on the high-end model. The price tag for this visitor from Fantasyland? Why, a mere $1799, of course. Oh, did we mention that it'll have a 20 GB hard drive and 128 MB of RAM, standard? Just for kicks, we configured a similarly-tricked out PowerBook at the Apple Store-- sure, the PowerBook has a bigger screen, more ports, and card slots, but we hardly think that cancels out the difference in its $3299 price tag, especially since MacMonkey's fantasy system even has a slightly faster processor and a slightly larger hard drive. But what a beautiful dream, huh?