You say you're just about convinced that this is finally going to be the week that we'll see new PowerBooks, and that even one teensy sliver more of evidence will land you squarely in the camp of the believers? Well, grab a tent, a sleeping bag, and one of those cans of blue burny stuff, 'cause it's time to go camping: the PowerPage reports that a "reliable source" has actually laid eyes on both the long-fabled aluminum 15-inch PowerBook and its box, and it's a safe bet that Apple wouldn't have the custom box done unless the product were ready to be placed in said box and sent winging its way off to store shelves, right?

(Incidentally, this strategy departs drastically from product design during the Amelio era, when Apple engineers were ordered first to pump out 200,000 shipping boxes and then to design something that might fit in them.)

The PowerPage's source describes the 15-incher as "looking just like a 17-inch except smaller," which, when you think about it a bit, is probably one of the most profound statements of this or any other era in human history and deserves immortalization as a bumper sticker-- or at the very least as Apple's official marketing slogan for the new model. (We are unavoidably reminded of the classified ad that read, "PONY FOR SALE: looks like small horse.") Reportedly the new 15-incher boasts a 1.25 GHz processor; FireWire 800; and some form of nVIDIA graphics subsystem, which will apparently be used across the Poppa, Momma, and Baby PowerBooks, at least for a while. The 15-incher is explicitly listed by the PowerPage as having the 17-incher's killer auto-illuminating keyboard, but there's no word on whether the feature made it down into the 12-inch model. Fingers crossed.

But the big question, of course, is "when?" Well, according to other PowerPage sources, "Apple plans to announce four new products this week." Waitaminnit, four? We've been watching enough Sesame Street to be reasonably confident in our under-20 counting abilities, and as far as our fingers can tell, there are only three new PowerBooks, three, ah ah ah (all brought to you by the letter Q and the number 9). So what, exactly, is the Mystery Product? Dadadadadummmmmmmm!!!!

The PowerPage reports rumors of "an iBook revision, tablet Mac, or (more likely) a new audio application." Wow, now there's a mixed bag o' rumorocity, hmmmm? Given how lousy sales of Microsoft's Tablet PCs have been-- not to mention the distinct aroma of "Eau de Disney Buys Apple/Mac OS X for Intel" hanging in the air-- we're going to have to classify the middle one as too unlikely even for us to consider. As for an iBook revision, well, that's a pretty conservative guess, so it's not going to merit much discussion. But what's this new audio application? In order for it to do something that iTunes doesn't, it'd probably have to be some sort of composition program. Perhaps iSoundtrack for the iMovie set? Intriguing.

Of course, it really could be anything, which is what's so exciting. Whatever it is, we'll find out soon enough. (We bet it's a home dental hygiene system, ourselves.)