Bonjour, mes amis! You will remember my usual incoherent rambling about me trying to buy a new portable Apple computer from my last article. Well, after a bout of unsuccessful stints onto the highstreets (the machines I wanted to have were never in stock or only available as demo-models with faults), I fell into a deep gloom and even stood in front of one of these nice and shiny Vaios with my fingers twitching – but fortunately my significant other was able to drag me away from them, whispering that I would never forgive myself if I bought a PC, which is actually true.

And I wouldn’t be able to write for Low End Mac anymore. I am sure Dan Knight would not be happy with that (yeah, right).

Aaaanyway, I decided to try out the Apple Store, and after a couple of glasses of 2001 Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc, some research, checking the rumour sites to avoid falling in the “buying something one day before a new, better, and cheaper machine is released” trap, I ordered a nice 12″ iBook with a Combo drive, 640 MB RAM, an AirPort card, and a 40 GB hard disk on October 20 and congratulated myself on my prudence: There was really no need for me to have a G4, because the only applications I need are Safari, Office, and iTunes.

So I sat back and waited for my machine to arrive, from time to time checking the Apple Store to see whether my new travel partner was already being assembled. Two days after my order, the new iBook G4 was released, and you can understand my frustration – they were not only faster and had AirPort Extreme, the bloody things were also cheaper!

After tearing out the rest of my sparse hair, kicking several doorframes, and getting terribly on the nerves of my significant other, I tried to find my inner peace and convince myself that I didn’t want a G4 anyway (yeah, right), and when MacSlash reported that the G4s inside the iBooks weren’t even “real” G4s (fortunately a unfounded rumour), I found my equilibrium again.

Then, last weekend, when I was in Laruns to try to get my old body back into the routine of regular mountain walking, a little email from Apple arrived on my cellphone, telling me that they would scrap my G3 order and instead send me a 14″ iBook G4 with bells and whistles. Just like that. And it costs the same. Unbelievable!

So, with other words, I am one happy bunny. Apple’s tracking site tells me that my baby (name is not yet decided on, proposals eagerly invited) has been picked up in Taiwan three days ago, so I’m expecting it any day now. I’ll give you my exclusive review as soon as it arrives.