Wouldn't you know it; on the very day we were about to purchase a brand-spanking-new Power Macintosh G3 at one of our day jobs, news comes over the wire that we might want to wait another couple of weeks. According to several Mac news sites (including MacNN and MacInTouch), Apple is expected to cut the prices of several of its systems on August 1st, or a week from this Saturday.

At the lower end, a G3/233 in a desktop case will reportedly go for $1399, down from the current $1699. If you already had $1699 saved up for that no-frills, baseline G3/233, now you can spend it on a desktop G3 266 instead-- complete with an internal Zip drive, which is a nifty extra. And for those of you looking for something a bit bulkier, there's the 266 MHz minitower for $1999, and higher-end systems shedding between $350 and $1100 from their prices. Something for everyone, and a bargain at twice the price. (Almost.)

There's no doubt that these price drops are being spurred by both the August 15th ship date of the iMac (which, at $1299 for a complete system, apparently outperforms even the G3/266) and by the expected unveiling of new Pro models at Seybold at the end of August. So if you need something more expandable than an iMac but don't have a compelling reason to wait for the new Pro systems, now might be the time to start scraping together your cash in preparation for taking the G3 plunge. Remember, these price drops are just rumors right now, but when both MacNN and MacInTouch report this sort of info, it generally turns out to be correct. Happy shopping...