Updated Apple Power Mac G5 systems en route to company stores

According to sources, new Apple Power Macs have already begun shipping to select Apple retail stores in the United States.

The models spotted were dual 2GHz, 2.3GHz, and 2.7GHz. All three versions reportedly sport new dual-layer DVD burners. The dual 2GHz configuration reportedly includes 512 ram, a 160 hard disk, and a 128MB ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card.

Apple is expected to make CPU-related announcements as early as Tuesday (though one source says the new Power Macs may debut on a Wednesday).

Reports also suggest the company may be in the process of updating the majority of its CPU offerings to include Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger as the default operating system.

While iMacs and eMacs are now reflecting ship times of 5-7 business days, the remainder of Apple's CPU product lines are also showing extended times today (of 1-3 business days).

Apple last introduced new CPU hardware on January 31st when it announced faster Power Book G4 laptops.