Hey, great news! While Intel is dorking around with its Pentium 4 at a measly 2 GHz, Motorola (whom everyone knows is the Clock Speed King, baby!) has reportedly just bested that score by a full twenty percent: according to The Register, good ol' Moto has successfully produced PowerPC G5 chips at a stunning 2.4 GHz. Break out the party hats, because Chipzilla's reign of terror has finally come to a crashing end.

Of course, we may be celebrating a mite early. Intel still holds a minor advantage, in the sense that you can actually buy a 2 GHz Pentium 4, whereas G5s of any flavor are still strictly the stuff of lab tests, prototypes, and pipe dreams at this point. There's also the fact that yields on those 2.4 GHz chips is still sort of low, and by "sort of low," we mean, two. That's right, everyone; if The Reg's sources aren't yanking our chains, then Apple has received exactly TWO 2.4 GHz G5s with which to play. So if you want a 2.4 GHz Power Mac G5, we recommend placing your preorder now, because otherwise you're going to have a looooong wait ahead of you.

See, it turns out that those 2.4 GHz monsters are basically mutants; "normal" G5s are currently running at 1, 1.2, 1.4, and 1.6 GHz-- nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but a darn sight less frightening than those two 2.4 GHz pituitary freaks. And, of course, even the 1 GHz G5s aren't commercially available, yet, and we're personally not expecting to see them hit the market for at least another six months or so. But really, is that any reason to refrain from thumbing our noses at Intel and saying "neener neener neener"? Well, okay, yes, it is... but we're ignoring our better judgment this week for religious reasons.

As for what Apple should do with those two freakishly fast G5s, well, a couple of options spring to mind. The first is to dim the lights, put on a little Barry White, and give those two chips a little privacy in the hope that they'll breed. If that fails, we figure that Apple should stick them both into the Fastest Mac We Can't Buy-- a dual-2.4 GHz Power Mac G5-- and then put it up for auction on eBay. You just know that there are a few filthy rich Mac nuts out there who'd be willing to shell out crazy ducats to own what would likely be the single zippiest Mac on the planet for at least the next two years (especially now that, to our utter shock and surprise, Xtrem appears to have vanished from the face of the 'net). Why, the proceeds from the sale of that one system alone could keep Apple in the black for another quarter. And if the winning bidder turns out to be an anonymous benefactor who then donates the system to the AtAT studios, well, so much the better...