Rumor: New Power Mac G5s in 7-10 Days?


Stocks of the Power Mac G5 at the Apple Store online are now listing 7-10 day waits, MacBidouille reports. This is the usual signal from Apple that we're due for a new model.

MacBidouille, in fact, originally reported this about a week ago, stating that stocks of the G5s were almost exhausted. However, the US Apple Store was still listing 1-2 day wait last week. At time of writing, the US Store says 7-10 days. Other Apple online stores worldwide are reporting similar wait times.

It's now almost twelve months since Steve Jobs said that the G5 would be at 3GHz. With IBM's Fishkill, NY plant delivering better yields, it's possible that that goal might be achieved.

Analysis: The word around the traps is that the base model might be 2GHz (single processor), with a 2.5 or 2.6GHz DP in there somewhere. DP 3GHz is for the more optimistic tipsters. Given that the availability of high-end processors is likely to be constrained, one wonders whether Apple would go with DPs - at least to begin with.

We suspect that such a revamp would be enough to push a lot of G4 users to finally make the shift to the second-generation Power Mac G5. Apple also needs these speed bumps badly; G5 sales are slowing, as evidenced by last quarter's figures, and the Power Mac, even more so than the iPod, is needed to keep the Apple share price healthy. Sure, iPods are big business, but the Mac is still Apple's core business, and if the pointy heads don't see a strong performance from Apple's premium desktop, they might just get a bit bearish.