CNN might want to consider getting its PowerBook orders in fast, though, because as usual, when Steve mentioned the ship dates of Apple's new gear during last week's keynote, he was evidently speaking in tongues. You may recall that he stated in no uncertain terms that the PowerBook G4 would be shipping by the end of this month, right? And as for the 667 MHz and 733 MHz Power Macs, those were supposed to make it out the door by the end of February. While it's still very possible for Apple to meet those deadlines, some changes at the Apple Store may hint at longer delays than originally anticipated.

See, as MacNN reports, placing a new order for a stock 400 MHz PowerBook G4 at the Apple Store now spits out an estimated ship date of "45 days"-- which means that if you order now, if you're very lucky, you just might get your titanium sex machine just in time for National Pig Day on March 1st. Accounting for shipping and a little slippage, though, we think you'd be more likely to receive it on Panic Day on the 9th instead. It's worth noting that, until now, orders for the PowerBook G4 were tagged with a far less anxiety-inducing ship date of "21 days," but even that time frame just barely matches up with Steve's "end of this month" assertion.

In the market for a higher-end Power Mac instead? The increase isn't nearly as dramatic, but an order placed today for a 667 MHz model yields an estimated ship date of "7-10 weeks"-- a smidge higher than the "6-8 weeks" reported just days ago. If you're one of the lucky ones who gets a seven-week delivery time, you might be enjoying your new Power Mac just before February winds to a close, but we're thinking it's more likely you'll be waiting until well into March. Still, at least some of the very first orders for the high-end Power Macs might ship by the end of next month-- provided that the Apple Store's reported ship dates are even accurate in the first place. (Personally, we trust them about as far as we could comfortably spit an iMac.)

Unfortunately, there's no way to know whether Apple's increasing lead times are due to "unforeseen" parts shortages (as in, "when is Motorola going to get us those freakin' processors?") or just to some really healthy demand-- but given how many people are telling us that they've ordered new equipment in the past week, we're inclined to believe the latter. That certainly doesn't rule out the possibility of a replay of that nastiness that ensued with the original Power Mac G4s back in 1999, though; if you recall, the last time that Steve announced high-end hardware that wouldn't be shipping for a couple of months, Apple eventually had to alter its whole product line because Motorola couldn't come up with the goods. Now there's a little piece of drama we could live without seeing again.