The Power Mac G5 already looks like a hit, despite the fact that it's not even shipping yet; reports are flooding in from all corners of the globe (well, okay, a couple of resellers sent us email) indicating that preorders for the perforated aluminum beauties are off the charts. And you can see for yourself; the dual-processor model has been on the Apple Store's Top Ten list for ages, now-- maybe as far back as the day the G5 was first announced.

There's just one teensy little problem: everybody seems to want the dual-processor 2.0 GHz model. At the Apple Store, the dual currently sits at number 7, while neither of the two single-processor systems are even in the Top 20. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the phenomenon isn't limited to the Apple Store, either; professional Mac users have Dual Fever, and for good reason. Seriously, if you'd been waiting for donkey's years for a serious leap forward in Mac performance, would you spend $1999 for the entry-level 1.6 GHz G5, or would you toss in an extra grand for two processors, each running at 2.0 GHz and with a 25% faster frontside bus, twice the RAM, twice the storage, a RADEON 9600 Pro graphics card, and PCI-X instead of PCI? Exactly. The only conceivable reason to cheap out on a purchase like this is because you just don't have another thou sitting around, and you're too chicken to pull a bank job to score the extra fundage.

Okay, so some people just can't afford the top-of-the-line model. We suppose we can see that. Maybe there's some call for the 1.6 GHz G5. But what's up with the 1.8 GHz one? Seriously, is anyone going to have an extra $400 to spring for the middle-child model that can't somehow raise $600 more for Ultimate Blasting-Guy-Through-Side-Of-House Power? Maybe it's just us, but if all we needed to score a much faster Mac was another $600, we'd find a way to get it, and we're not proud of the things we'd be willing to do for it. (Yes, even things with cooking oil.) We're just guessing, here, but we imagine that demand for the Jan Brady of the G5 lineup is pretty soft. (Which is pretty appropriate, when you think about it, since Jan was probably pretty soft, too.)

Therein lies the problem: sure, lots of people buying the costlier dual 2.0 GHz system is going to bring Apple a lot of revenue; unfortunately, 2.0 GHz chips are probably scarcer than their 1.8 GHz and 1.6 GHz brethren. Not only that, but it's a little-known but crucial fact that a dual-processor Power Mac actually uses up twice as many processors. (Really!) So Apple might run out of 2.0 GHz chips before demand is fulfilled, and then it'll be sitting on a surplus of 1.6 and 1.8 GHz PowerPCs so big company employees will start using them as poker chips in the after-hours hands of five card stud.

So what's the solution? Well, MacBidouille (amusingly cryptic but mostly understandable Google auto-translation here) claims to have info "on one of breakage head of the summer for APPLE, the delivery of G5"-- and who wouldn't want that? As near as we can make out, MacBidouille claims that the dual-G5 preorders have indeed "exceeded all the estimates" and Apple won't have enough 2.0 GHz chips to fulfill all the orders in a reasonable time frame. So sometime within the next week the company will decide whether or not to introduce a new, lower-end dual-processor model-- a 1.8 GHz one-- which may lift some of the heat off the two-giggers while also unloading some of those extra Jan Brady chips.

Reportedly, if this plan gets the go-ahead, customers with dual-2.0 GHz machines on order will be contacted if they won't be getting their gear before their grandchildren die of old age, and they'll be offered a dual-1.8 GHz model instead-- at a price break of about $450. As long as customers have the option to stick it out and wait around for their original 2.0 GHz order at its original price, it sounds like an okay compromise to us; it's nowhere near as lamebrained a scheme as that old G4 Speed Dump fiasco, and customers who want to save a little money without losing a whole lot of power can opt for the "New and Improved Jan Brady" (you know, after she got that wig). After all, Apple needs to do something; all the customers are screaming for "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"

By the way, that "cooking oil" reference-- we meant we'd take a job at the deep-fryer in a fast-food joint to make the extra dough. Why, what did you think we meant?