Taking the rumors as they come:
1) 5' Firewire (400 or 800? check the connector being put on the end ...)/USB (1.x?2.0? can't know cause the cable's the same!) cable ... This sounds odd, and at first glance like a pretty stupid idea for Apple as most devices use one or the other, not both. Might be a smart idea for things like video cams that use FW for transfering video and (oddly IMHO) USB for transfering "still pictures". But that's pretty much the entire realm of devices that use both connections potentially simultaneously, which IMHO leaves this as a responsibility of the device maker, not the computer maker. Especially as the rumor says the "other" end of this consists of PCB-board leads, not FW/USB connectors ... Just sounds really odd. One possibility would be a monitor with FW/USB hubs built in which will connect to non-ADC (standard RGB or DVI) devices ... as nice as ADC is, no one else is using it and it's an annoying incompatibility point, so this might be a rethinking ... or maybe I'm reading too much into it.
2) I still question if these two new motherboards are really for PowerMacs as originally posted. "larger, longer, narrower" might still fit in the PM case, or it could be designed for the larger XServe case (not sure how the current MB's compare). Good that we have "confirmation" that one is for single-proc and one for dual-proc.
3) The 5"x7" enclosure has an opening on one face. Seems odd that this wasn't mentioned before (as details like a sliding door for a port bay were mentioned), but interesting nonetheless. It's quite a broad array of possibilities for this device (from a Waccom tablet input device type of thing to a new-market-segment iPod big brother to a tablet PC idea to a photo display device to a remote control to ... whatever)
4) "Very large" LCD panel ... high resolution, but not QUXGA (3840x2400) resolution ... can we expect higher or lower pixel density? The 22" QUXGA flat panel display runs arouns $9500 direct, and Apple's not known for market-leading pricing on their LCDs, so I'd expect a similarly dense flat panel which is "very large" (presumably larger than the current 23"?) would be quite expensive. If "very large" is in comparison to 17" displays, and Apple is thinking of introducing new 19" (hardly "very large") or 21-22" panel with ultra-dense resolution, one would have to wonder about product placement (and kiss the newly-cheap 20" and 23" panels goodbye?) I think that the Apple line of LCDs is fairly complete right now, except perhaps for an "across the room" sized low-density device (ie, a HDTV monitor, 40" diagonal range ...) But then, LCD monitors aren't the most interesting thing to me (I have problems with color fidelity across the field of view that still haven't been addressed by current technology, so I'm not looking to replace my Trinitron with a four-times-as-expensive LCD any time soon), so my opinion here is probably not the most important one.
Overall, I still question how strong the links to Apple really are here. Are these just devices that are being manufactured at plants where Apple has also manufactured devices, or is there a more concrete link with Apple itself? Might be something Jack himself can't even answer .. I mean, you ask a factory worker "You doing any neat stuff for Apple?" and you are fairly likely to get an account of the neatest thing the guy has seen, with the "Apple" connection a bit more exagerated than the actual facts would support. I mean, I did temp work in a Bose factory once, and every neat new gadget Bose announced had at least 1000 parts attributed to it by various assembly lines, when in actuality maybe one out of ten of those parts actually went into the neat new device (I mean, a stereo with four speaker cones likely doesn't use ten different speaker cones from different lines
) while the rest went into more mundane applications. Unless you're talking to someone with a fairly complete first-hand "big picture" (which is generally the kind of person that is either fired or no longer contracted with when they talk about such things), factory-floor speculation is often less reliable than a wholesale blind guess.
Which, of course, is probably why we're reading this on Page 2.
