Still reeling from the idea that there are a couple of 2.4 GHz G5 processors floating around out there in Cupertino? Well, come back down to earth, buddy, because even when Apple finally gets Power Mac G5s rolling off the lines, they sure as Steve aren't going to ship at clock speeds even close to that range. However, based on preliminary reports of what the first G5-based Macs are going to be like when they ship, there's still plenty of room for giddiness even without projecting clock speeds well into the stratosphere.

Faithful viewer Tony points out that The Register has received a mess of reports from sources who claim to have encountered prototype G5 systems that Apple has seeded to top developers for the purposes of, er, development. There are heavy caveats about the legitimacy of these accounts, but all in all they seem fairly reasonable-- and if they're on the level, hoo mama are we going to have reason to celebrate in the not-too-distant future. Keep the heart pills handy, Mabel, or change the channel now, because the advent of the G5 means we're not in Kansas anymore.

Here's what these alleged loose-lipped insiders are letting slip: Apple has reportedly shipped a slew of G5s to developers running at speeds of 1.2, 1.4, and 1.6 GHz. These chips are grafted onto prototype motherboards with support for "DDR RAM, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394b [that's the double-speed FireWire that'll be all the rage in Milan next spring], and ATA 133." The latest of these motherboards also boast "a 400 MHz bus with HyperTransport elements." Pardon us while we mop up the drool in our keyboards, because these things are going to scream. Indeed, one mole who claims to have access to prototypes at Adobe reports that the G5 test units are "much faster than Pentium 4s in every single task." And he means actually faster, not "Expo bake-off" faster; this isn't Apple marketing fluff, because the source concedes that the Pentium 4 spanks the G4 "in most tests."

So when can we buy one of these puppies? Well, Mac OS Rumors is still implying that Apple is pushing for a product intro "early next year"; in fact, MOSR is even claiming that Motorola is a wee bit miffed, because it finally has "Apollo" G4s in volume at speeds up to 1.33 GHz, but Apple doesn't want to speed-bump the Power Mac line so soon after the Quicksilver introduction and so close to the targeted G5 rollout. What's this? Apple is keeping us all sub-gigahertz on purpose? Scandal! But we suppose we can let it pass if the G5s indeed surface in January to knock us all flat on our kiesters...