Whoa, there, Trigger, slam on the brakes-- when we mentioned yesterday that the new iMac G5 represented a major step forward in the journey toward the holy grail of a G5-based PowerBook, we didn't mean you should start warming up your clickin' finger in preparation for the imminent placing of a preorder. All we said was that Apple's new two-inch-thick iMac is loads closer to portability than any G5-based system we've seen to date. Given that the Power Mac G5 is the size of a Buick and has more fans than Hilary Duff (albeit quieter ones) and the Xserve (aside from being over two feet deep from front to back) reportedly puts out more heat than your average Duraflame log, that's not quite the same as saying that a PowerBook G5 will hit store shelves before Thanksgiving. So cool it.

Indeed, people are getting antsy enough about the ramifications of the iMac's relatively tiny form factor that Apple has elected to perform a little crowd control. The Mac Observer cites Tom Boger, director of Apple's worldwide product marketing, as saying that "consumers shouldn't expect the G5 in a portable for the foreseeable future." Quoth the Bogerman, "the new iMac G5 is thin, but (the G5) is not thin enough for a laptop right now. There are great challenges in putting a G5 processor in a laptop... You're not going to see a G5 in a laptop anytime soon." He then "ruled out any G5 laptop this year."

This shouldn't come as any particular surprise, since we've all heard dire PowerBook G5 time frames from multiple Apple employees for ages, now-- Greg Joswiak was the first to throw cold water on the dream in June of last year, and just over a year ago Steve Jobs himself said he'd "like to have it by the end of" 2004. Now that it's a year later and even Steve's promise of a 3 GHz G5 hasn't yet come to pass, Boger's 2005-at-best projection seems right in line with what any reasonable person should expect.

Then again, doesn't that name ring any bells? Let's not forget that Apple itself publicly downplayed the likelihood of a G5-based iMac as recently as early June-- and guess who the mouthpiece was? That's right, our ol' buddy Tom Boger! If you think back, you might recall him stating that squeezing a G5 into an iMac chassis would be "the same story" as wedging one into a PowerBook and saying that such a feat "would be a heck of a challenge"-- and now the iMac G5 is slated to ship barely three months later. What's more, Apple has already admitted that it had originally planned to ship the iMac G5 in mid-July, meaning that only about six weeks prior to a planned product rollout, Tom Boger was telling the press that said product was probably much further away.

And now Mr. Boger's currently taking pains to warn us not to expect a PowerBook G5 anytime soon, even using some of the same verbiage-- "great challenges" versus "heck of a challenge," etc. Suuuuuure, Tom; fool us once, shame on you, but fool us twice, and we've either been drinking too much or not enough.

So you folks know what this all means, don't you? Let's see, six weeks from today, give or take... Hey, screw Thanksgiving-- PowerBook G5s by Columbus Day! Woo-hoo!