Okay, enough with the numbers game-- too much "gross margins" and "EPS guidance" and "net thingy per diluted whosis" always leaves us with a headache. We're really just not built to dwell on financial data like that; we'd much rather be daydreaming about new Power Macs just around the corner. Our own dual 800 MHz G4 is starting to feel really pokey by contemporary standards, and its SuperDrive appears to be dying, and since we never had time to figure out which fan blew and replace it, we have to run it with its side door open or else it turns itself off when it gets too hot. Plus we've had the thing for over three years, now, so we're probably due to replace it with the Latest and Greatest (or at least something Tardier and Slightly More Terrific). After all, we are professionals, here.

No, really. We are.

Honest!

Look, giggle all you want; it sounds a little odd to us, too, but the simple fact is, we use our Macs to make money, and since "they" say you have to spend money to make money, well, clearly that's a resounding mandate from "them" that we're due to blow a wad of cash on a new Power Mac. And we probably will-- just as soon as a new Power Mac is actually a new Power Mac, because the current line-up's starting to look a little stale. Other than the low-end single-processor 1.8 GHz model that got slapped together in October, Apple is still shipping Power Macs that came out... what, last June or something, right? So those puppies are due for a refresh any day now.

But when, exactly? Well, Think Secret ("Lawsuit? What lawsuit?") reports that Apple has some tweaked Power Macs waiting in the wings for a big debut at next week's National Association of Broadcasters conference, which makes perfect sense, because if anyone needs more horsepower, it's those broadcaster fellas with all their video compression and whatnot. "Details are scarce" (the better to avoid further litigation, my dear), so no one's sure whether the upcoming Power Macs will boast the new dual-core 970MP processor, the new single-core 970GX, or both; in any case, however, the new G5s will reportedly run cool enough that Apple can finally "do away with the complicated and expensive liquid-cooling system featured in high-end Power Mac G5s right now."

That's a good thing-- both because it'll lower the cost of top-of-the-line Power Macs, but also because we've always been a little leery of sticking a bunch of liquid-pumping hoses inside a Mac amid a mine field of delicate and decidedly unwaterproof components. And apparently we're right to worry, since faithful viewer frozen tundra tipped us off to an AppleInsider article which claims that the liquid-in-hoses cooling apparatus has been a "topic of concern at several Apple exec meetings"; it seems that the manufacturer of the liquid-cooling rigs "only guarantees the cooling systems to Apple for a period of 2.5 years, though the expected life-span of each unit is rumored to be closer to 2 years"-- meaning that is you own a dual 2.5 GHz G5 unit, you may well want to spring for AppleCare coverage before your warranty is up, in case you experience "leakage of the thermal conductive fluid" inside your Mac, which Apple worries "could cause damage to consumers' valuables or expensive carpets." (We have it on good authority that a little club soda will get that right out.)

So: faster G5s, without any of that tedious mucking about with Mystery Coolants pumping through hoses? Sign us up! Here's hoping that the rumors are correct and we can all look forward to a little more new hardware next week. And a lot more debt.