Well, nurtz-- after about four years of dependable service, it may be time to let our beloved Pismo-class PowerBook G3 run out the rest of its days grazing serenely in a pasture or studding to sire new little PowerBooklets or something. It was a handy and capable machine under Mac OS 9, but the latest versions of Mac OS X really push it to its limits; upping its RAM to 576 MB a few years back helped immensely, but Quartz Extreme is a no-go on its 8 MB ATI RAGE 128 video subsystem, and its 400 MHz G3 can't pump the pixels like Mac OS X wants it to, nor can it reasonably support later technologies like video conferencing in iChat AV or software instruments in GarageBand. What's more, its 6 GB hard drive is so cramped we can't keep more than a couple of apps open at once without klaxons going off and red lights flashing a "LOW DISK SPACE" warning. The final straw is that its battery capacity, which has been steadily dwindling for ages, has finally hit El Zilcho; the PowerBook doesn't even recognize the battery as a battery anymore, which means we might as well be using that battery bay to store mashed potatoes or an emergency sock.

Now, sure, we could replace the battery with a new high-capacity model from Newer Technology, and we could replace that 6 GB hard drive with a slightly less pathetically-sized one, and while we're at it we could even upgrade the processor to a 500 MHz G4-- but by the time we'd be finished, we'd have blown about 600 clams and we'd still be stuck with that 8 MB video system, not to mention the curvy black plastic of yesteryear. So it seems to us that the smart thing to do would be to put our money into a whole new PowerBook, which would upgrade everything at once. That's a decent rationalization to spend a couple of grand, right? Right?

So we're keeping our fingers crossed on a long shot: that new PowerBooks will touch down soon, and maybe-- just maybe-- as early as tomorrow. Faithful viewer David Triska tipped us off to a Think Secret article which insists that "an Apple product announcement will be arriving early this week, either Monday or Tuesday," and there was at least one rumor making the rounds a while ago about refreshed PowerBooks getting geared up for a quiet debut. Like we said, though, it's sort of a long shot, since the smart money's on this "product announcement" actually being the revamped iBooks that MacGadget had predicted for an October 19th intro sometime last week; in fact, some dealers reportedly already have the new iBooks in stock and are just waiting for Apple's go-ahead to put 'em out on the shelves.

While a new iBook would certainly still be a healthy step up from our four-year-old PowerBook with a sock for a battery, we're not sure we'd feel comfortable going that route; that whole "kitchen appliance" vibe gives us the heebie-jeebies. But if you aren't allergic to shiny white plastic and you're in the market for a consumer Mac that you can transport without detailed instructions, Tuesday ought to be a good day for you; MacRumors has "confirmed" specs on the new iBooks, and the entry-level 12-incher with a 1.2 GHz G4, a 30 GB hard disk, and a combo drive will reportedly sell for a disgustingly low $999. Bump the screen up to the 14-inch model, pop the processor to 1.33 GHz, and double the hard drive to 60 GB for just $300 more, and if you really want to get jiggy wit' it, add another $200 to replace that combo drive with a SuperDrive. That's $1,499 for the top-of-the-line-- and did we mention that AirPort Extreme will apparently come standard in all three configs?

As for other new gear making an appearance tomorrow, apparently there'll be a new low-end Power Mac G5-- a single-processor model running at 1.8 GHz with an 80 GB hard drive, a GeForce FX 5200, and a SuperDrive for the low, low price of just $1,499. (MacRumors notes that's the same price for an iMac packing the exact same processor, which includes the 17-inch LCD screen for free; there's no SuperDrive, though, and far less expandability-- and there's that whole white-plastic-vs.-aluminum thing, too, of course.) There appears to be exactly zero word on the possibility of updated PowerBooks showing up tomorrow, too, which is why the term "long shot" presented itself so readily, but heck, we'll keep our fingers crossed anyway. Perhaps the universe will take pity on our desperate desire to part with a large wad of cash.