I ordered the 17″ PowerBook on January 8, just after the Keynote announcement. The Apple Store website has said for a while March 8 for ship date. Today, an Apple Store representative told me the “earliest it can ship out is February 27 and latest is March 20.” When I asked, he said this was based on the real world, not arithmatic from announcement date. He said that the 17″ PB is not yet shipping. When asked, he said he had not heard of any overall hold-up on production or shipping, and that “we are committed to meet those dates” he gave me. This is different, of course, than the reported production delays on various websites. We’ll see, I suppose. (I have been surprised in the past that Apple has come through with promised dates)
Ed: Michael Allen writes in, as well, to point out coverage on MacNN. Readers there report an “official” ship date of April 10, and while some readers suggest ship dates could be much earlier, one says the Apple Store quoted him no earlier than March 20, as late as April 10, even for buyers who ordered on the day of the keynote. Ship date estimates can be notoriously conservative, though, so let’s stay tuned to see if David’s got it right. -PK
