Despite Apple claims just last week that ‘thermal challenges‘ might delay the announcement of portable G5 laptops, Taiwanese tech magazine DigiTimes reports on two manufacturers there ready to ship G5 portables in quantity by the end of Q2 2005. The report is headlined in ho-hum fashion: ‘Sources: Taiwan makers receive Apple’s Mac mini and iPod shuffle orders.’ Yawn. Well, what the report fails to highlight is that two Taiwanese vendors are on track to ship 200k+ portables to Apple by Q2 2005.

Asustek Computer is making the iPod shuffle, and is tapped in this report to ship G5 iBooks in quantity before the end of Q2. Quanta is reported to be on track to ship 30-50k Powerbook G5s per month in Q2.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed.