We've said it before, and we'll say it again: sometimes we love being wrong. Of course, we haven't said it often, because, well, let's face it-- 99% of the time we're almost annoyingly accurate. Nigh-perfect, some might say. We'd even hazard to claim that we only make a mistake about as often as AppleInsider posts an update, and that just about qualifies as papal infallibility these days.

However, while the jury's still officially out on this one, it appears that we probably erred last month when we hinted that the refreshed PowerBook G4 (whenever the heck Apple sees fit to ship the thing) would appear in slot-loading DVD-ROM and CD-RW configurations, but not with a combo drive option. At the time, we were going off the best info we had-- namely, a hastily-scrawled message someone left by applying a finger to the dirt on our car. We passed that info along to you as the likely truth, because after all, when have we ever been led astray by anonymous car-dirt messages before? (Actually, there was that one which told us that if you flap your arms hard enough, you can hover. And another time we got one which said that drinking pickle brine and Mr. Pibb promotes gastrointestinal health, which, we can attest, was criminally inaccurate. Other than that, though, we're talking about at least a 40% accuracy rating!)

Anyway, what we're trying to say is this: contrary to what we've heard from the Car Dirt Prophets, it looks like the new PowerBook might just boast a DVD/CD-RW combo drive after all. As faithful viewer dzhim! indicates, Mac OS Rumors is reporting that a few customers who had shipped their problematic PowerBook G4s off to Apple for repair have since gotten their titanium babies back-- with slot-loading combo drives built-in as a little bonus. Now, it's up to you to decide whether Mac OS Rumors is more or less trustworthy than a message left in the dirt on a '92 Geo Prizm sedan; personally, we're a little suspicious of reports that Apple is just randomly installing free combo drives into damaged PowerBooks, but seeing as we're trying to believe the best about people these days, heck, why not?

So if Apple really does have access to slot-loading combo drives which fit in the PowerBook G4, and it even has enough of them to be able to sling them out to existing customers willy-nilly, the odds of them not being used in the upcoming PowerBook are pretty darn slim. The reason we're happy about that is because we harbored serious doubts that a PowerBook without a combo drive would sell well, and so we're pleased that, in all likelihood, Apple's going to have another hit on its hands. Of course, now that we've reversed our earlier stance on the combo drive issue, we're guaranteed of being wrong one way or the other-- which just makes us all that much more human, approachable, and lovable. Perfection is offputting. Watch our ratings skyrocket!