We're getting an awful lot of mail from irate Mac users wondering whatever happened to those GHz-level Power Macs that many of us had been expecting this week. Specifically, lots of people are wondering why on earth Apple would expect anyone to shell out roughly $2300 for the current 733 MHz Power Mac G4 and a 15-inch display when they could save $500 by grabbing a new top-of-the-line iMac instead-- especially since the iMac has a faster processor, twice the RAM, 50% more storage space, and a SuperDrive, whereas all the Power Mac has is upgradeability, a faster system bus, and probably a bigger cardboard box. Something's gotta give.

Well, the Power Mac does have the added advantage of actually being available right now, but beyond that, you're right; it's tough to imagine why anyone would opt for one of the existing Power Macs over an iMac unless they absolutely need a larger display (or a larger cardboard box), have an addiction to PCI slots, need to spend a boatload of cash, or simply can't abide all that white. And therefore we won't be surprised if orders for Power Macs temporarily plunge straight through the floor as iMac pre-orders multiply like bunnies. But note that we said "temporarily."

We look at it this way: we consider it to be extremely unlikely that a company smart enough to cram an 800 MHz G4, a SuperDrive, a 15-inch LCD display, and a measly $1799 sticker price into an all-in-one design that's got most of the world taxing their salivary glands would somehow also be so brick-stupid as to forget that this snazzy little package might just totally and utterly cannibalize any and all potential Power Mac sales. It's often said that Einstein had trouble learning to tie his shoes, but we really don't think we're looking at some kind of Rain Man savant behavior, here. Apple has a plan; bet on it.

In fact, we'd we willing to make an educated guess that in all likelihood, those new Power Macs are done and ready to go, and that the only reason we haven't seen them yet is because Apple doesn't want anything to crash the iMac's coming-out party. iMac sales have slid badly in recent months, the new design needs to generate as much buzz as possible, and Macworld Expo is a consumer-oriented gig: all that adds up to "no Power Macs at Macworld." The cannibalization of some Power Mac sales is therefore a necessary evil, but we bet that Steve plans to yank those GHz Apollos out of his sleeve sometime around the end of the month-- say, perhaps, right before the very first iMacs are slated to ship. Here's hoping, anyway... for the sake of the quarterly balance sheet.