Apple reportedly posts G5 details

The Mac maker late Thursday is widely reported to have posted on its online store the specifications for a new line of Power Macs running on a new G5 processor at speeds well above Apple's current lineup, which tops out at 1.42GHz.

According to screen shots taken by enthusiast sites including MacMinute, the new Macs range in speed from 1.6GHz to a dual 2GHz, all using a new G5 processor. The machines also were touted as having up to 8GB of memory, a 1GHz processor bus, Serial ATA disk drives, AGP 8x Pro graphics from either ATI Technologies or Nvidia, and three PCI or PCI-X expansion slots. The machines were also said to come with three USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire 800 port and two FireWire 400 ports as well as optical and analog audio in and out ports.

Apple has been widely expected to introduce new Power Macs running IBM's faster 970 processor at Monday's Worldwide Developer Conference, but the accuracy of the Apple Store posting could not be independently verified. An Apple representative declined to comment on the posting.

The information was reported to have been briefly posted on the existing Power Mac G4 page of the Apple Store. According to enthusiast site MacNN, the Apple store was then briefly unavailable and when it came back, the G5 information was removed.

The apparent lapse in security is unusual for Apple, which keeps its new products a tightly guarded secret. The company has been particularly aggressive in trying to keep a lid on information regarding the new chip architecture. IBM announced plans for the chip last October. At the time sources close to IBM indicated the chip would be used by Apple, but the chipmaker has said little on the fate of the 970 processor since then.

Several Mac enthusiast sites, including AppleInsider that have posted alleged details on the G5-based Power Macs say they were forced to take down their articles by Apple's legal department.