The reports are flooding in from all over, people, and the consensus is clear: new PowerBooks are just around the corner! Of course, if you've been paying attention, they've been "just around the corner" since last January; no one ever bothered to mention just how far away that particular corner is. Apparently it's a corner in Zagreb-- unless, of course, you're in Zagreb, in which case it's actually in Cleveland. But wherever this corner is, there are new PowerBooks waiting just around it, and we'll be there any minute. Probably.

For the past week, AtAT has been serenaded by Sources Who Claim To Know™ who insist that aluminum feature-parity 15-inch PowerBooks (as well as speed-bumped 12- and 17-inch PowerBooks) are slated for a long-overdue launch on or around August 15th, which is a week from this Friday. Now, our memories certainly aren't what they used to be (at least, as far as we can remember), but we don't recall Apple being particularly fond of introducing new hardware on a Friday, so we're leaning a little more towards MacBidouille's claim of a launch the following Monday or Tuesday instead. And after months and months of having your hopes dashed against the rocks, why should you believe the rumors this time, you ask? Simple: if Apple waits much longer to update its PowerBook line, it'll have to endure costly litigation with various preservation groups trying to get the current models declared historical monuments. The cost of the carbon-dating alone is said to be a real wallet-lightener.

Interestingly enough, MacBidouille expects another long-awaited product line to make its debut alongside the new PowerBooks; if its sources are correct, revamped displays are in the cards as well, sporting new casings to bring then in line with Apple's new design mandate that all professional products are to be made of aluminum and punched full of holes. There's no word on whether these alleged new displays will feature bigger screens, higher resolutions, lower prices, or built-in Ionic Breeze air purifiers, but all of that is relatively inconsequential when compared to the fact that these retooled aluminum displays will once again allow Power Macs and displays to match. Metal and plastic? Stripes and polka dots? Next thing you know, iBooks and iMacs will still be wearing white after Labor Day.

Speaking of iMacs, wouldja believe that MacBidouille also lists the possibility of a "little update" to those, as well? Don't bet the farm on it, especially since all of this is rumor and the bit about the iMacs in particular is branded "maybe but who knows." And as long as we're playing "maybe but who knows," can we toss our own unfounded prediction into the pile? Personally, we like playing the long odds for the big payoff, so we're going to predict an updated perforated-aluminum Apple Joystick. Sure, it's kind of a long shot, but if we're right, you will all bow before us and worship us as the gods we are. Maybe. But who knows?