Okay, we just realized something slightly odd; we spent so long complaining about PowerPC G4 production stalling out at 500 MHz last year, we seem to have gotten "stuck" at the half-gigahertz level just like Motorola did. Ever since Apple announced the 733 MHz Power Mac G4, we've been relatively quiet about the "Megahertz Gap" issue, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. After all, sure, now we're at 733 MHz, but Intel's at 1.5 GHz. For the mathematically obtuse, that means our fastest clock speed is less than half of that of "the enemy." Think about that for a second; that means that, proportionally speaking, we've actually lost ground since the G4 was at 500 MHz and Intel and AMD hit the magic 1 GHz level.

So if anything, we should be complaining more, not less. Instead, we find ourselves daydreaming idly about Apple's glorious new 733 MHz powerhouse and all the great stuff we could accomplish if we owned one. It's like we're so used to yelling "we're still at 500 MHz," we're not really capable of yelling "we're still at less than half the clock speed of Intel" instead. Weird, no? But we bet plenty of you are at least happy that we shut up about it for a while.

What got us thinking about the whole clock speed issue again, however, is a tasty little tidbit over at Mac OS Rumors. If you're in a trusting mood, you'll be interested to hear that Motorola is actually having a pretty easy time cranking out 533, 667, and even 733 MHz G4s these days-- easy enough for dual-processor 667 and 733 MHz Power Macs to surface in time for May's Worldwide Developer Conference. Even more interesting, however, is the rumor that Apple wants its next megahertz jump to be from 733 to 1000-- and Motorola might actually be in a position to deliver. Yes, if Steve has his way, we'll see gigahertz Power Macs unveiled as early as July at New York's Macworld Expo, and the systems will actually ship by the end of August.

We don't recommend that you place any heavy bets on Apple hitting the Big Gig in time for the festivities in the Big Apple, but it's nice to think about, anyway. Why, if the above rumor is correct, and Intel stands perfectly still, the PowerPC's clock speeds might soon approach 67% of the competition's! We know, we know-- clock speed is no reliable measure of overall performance. But it is the measure by which the Great Unwashed Masses judge speed when they're shopping for computers, and we sure wouldn't mind seeing a gigahertz Power Mac give Apple's sales figures a nice little kick in the kiester.