Okay, this is the last day we're going to spend on those alleged G4 spy photos, we promise. We've already made it clear that, personally, we're skeptical, but we lean towards the "authentic" side of the fence, based mostly on little more than raw gut feeling. All around us, however, the debate has risen to a fever pitch, and we won't be surprised to hear that riots are breaking out across the world as Apple watchers pummel each other with bloody fists while shouting "REAL!" and "FAKE!" All we're going to do today is point out a little more data so that you can build a more informed opinion before beating the bejeezus out of some poor sap who happens to disagree with you.

On the "fake" side of the argument, faithful viewer Shayon Ghosh pointed out that one of the threads in Ambrosia's forums includes "conclusive proof" that the photos are fake. Basically, some eagle-eyed gent posting as oasamostexianu rustled up some official PR images of the current G4 that are suspiciously similar to the alleged spy photos, and even composited them together to show just how perfectly they align. The idea, presumably, is that the "spy photos" were simply doctored versions of the official pictures. For the record (and we're well aware we'll get flamed for this), we're not convinced by the comparison, since in our opinion the photos just don't align perfectly enough for one to have been generated from the other. The three-quarter perspectives look to be slightly different angles. And anyway, it's not that much of a stretch to consider the similarities a coincidence. After all, if you were taking a spy photo of an unreleased product, wouldn't you try to get one shot straight-on and another from a generic three-quarter perspective? Still, consider the evidence on its own merits; it may land you solidly in the "fake" camp.

On the other hand, if the pics are fake, then why is Apple's legal department so bent on getting them pulled? MacOSX.org claims to have received orders from the mothership to yank its pictures (and has since even pulled its text description of the new systems' front panel); true, the site could have been lying about that to perpetuate the hoax, but yesterday we linked to two other sites who had posted the images: MacAnonymous and macGuardians. Today faithful viewer Ian informed us that both of those sites have also been gagged by Apple Legal. So unless all three sites are part of a vast and far-reaching hoax conspiracy, it's a safe bet that (for whatever reason), Apple doesn't want people looking at those pictures. The most obvious explanation is that they're legit photos of a pre-release prototype.

Meanwhile, if you'd like a more cut-and-dried example of fakery to cleanse the palate, faithful viewer Martin-Luc Girard pointed out that Go2Mac has linked to a different photo of the new G4-- but this one is clearly bogus, having obviously been pieced together from an image from Apple's web site and isolated elements from the alleged spy pics. Still, it's nice to get a break from the controversy for a while, isn't it? It gives your knuckles a chance to cool down a little.