Finessing fall family's features. (Mac the Knife) (Column)

You don't have to spend your free time immersed in PC columnists' minutiae to come to the conclusion that, as far as the Mac is concerned, it's all over but for the official release of Windows 4.0. The shaky acceptance of the Power Mac after its initial splash only reinforces the gloom, especially if you factor in Apple's somewhat checkered record for fleet-of-foot midcourse corrections.

But while others have been idly checking their wardrobes for ashes and sackcloth, the Knife has not been deterred. As a result, he has unearthed the latest on Apple's product announcement plans for the next few months. And the newfound spring in his step indicates that Apple isn't prepared to fold in the face of Chicago. Not even close.

As evidence, the Knife offers the latest, more accurate plans for the speed-bump Power Macs. Rather than rolling them out at the November Comdex as originally thought, these beefed-up replacements for the current configurations should debut in January at the San Francisco Macworld Expo. But that doesn't mean the Las Vegas crowd will be left holding an empty bag. Instead, they will witness the debut of the hottest Mac yet to roll off the assembly line.

According to the Knife's sources, this Mac will be powered by a 100-MHz (or faster, production yields permitting) 601 PowerPC. Aimed at what one source insists on calling the elitist render-geek market, it will come out of the box equipped with an enormous capacity hard drive and all the RAM that market conditions will allow. And as you have no doubt already surmised, this Mac will command a significant premium and therefore represent a meaningful profit opportunity for Apple.

Go, speed-bump racer, go

As good as the November 8100s will be for Apple's revenue stream, the more reasonably priced replacements for the current Power Mac configurations are where most of us will do our fishing. Among other improvements, ...