Mistrblank
Apr 8, 07:19 AM
Wow. I bought mine at Best Buy on opening day and they sold out of them. Why in anybody's right mind would best buy not sell what they have?
It keeps people coming back day after day.
It keeps people coming back day after day.
relimw
Aug 6, 11:08 AM
My predictions:
MacPro: quad woodcrest @ 3GHz, 1GB ram standard, two high speed video card slots, ATI x1900, or NVIDIA 7950GX2, for first time, ATI FireGL boards available as BTO.
XServe: dual woodcrest, larger hard drives
Airport: "pre-n" announced, ships on new MacPros, available in 6 weeks for standalone devices, upgradable when standard is formalized
Leopard: preview, all of OS now 64bit able, still runs on 32bit machines. Takes full advantage of GPU. The usual slew of apps updated.
XCode: updated to 3.0, API for project files made available, various "features" (ie bugs) fixed
Not happening:
iPods, iPhone
New displays and updated "pro" apps will happen at NAB in April. However Steve may announce that all Pro apps are now universal apps. Also, he will hold over the quad G5 in the line-up until Adode has all of their apps universal.
MacPro: quad woodcrest @ 3GHz, 1GB ram standard, two high speed video card slots, ATI x1900, or NVIDIA 7950GX2, for first time, ATI FireGL boards available as BTO.
XServe: dual woodcrest, larger hard drives
Airport: "pre-n" announced, ships on new MacPros, available in 6 weeks for standalone devices, upgradable when standard is formalized
Leopard: preview, all of OS now 64bit able, still runs on 32bit machines. Takes full advantage of GPU. The usual slew of apps updated.
XCode: updated to 3.0, API for project files made available, various "features" (ie bugs) fixed
Not happening:
iPods, iPhone
New displays and updated "pro" apps will happen at NAB in April. However Steve may announce that all Pro apps are now universal apps. Also, he will hold over the quad G5 in the line-up until Adode has all of their apps universal.
Rend It
Aug 5, 06:07 PM
snippet
Why is Front Row dependent on iSight ?
No good, clear reason. It's just that Front Row usually goes along with PhotoBooth, so.... Also, it seems that Apple might be really pushing iChat with Leopard, especially video chatting, and the iMac, MBP, and MB all have iSights. It doesn't seem too crazy to believe that perhaps Apple wants a built-in camera in all of their hardware. In the case of the Mac Pro, Xserve, and Mini, the natural place for such a device is a display.
Pure speculation, of course. :D
Why is Front Row dependent on iSight ?
No good, clear reason. It's just that Front Row usually goes along with PhotoBooth, so.... Also, it seems that Apple might be really pushing iChat with Leopard, especially video chatting, and the iMac, MBP, and MB all have iSights. It doesn't seem too crazy to believe that perhaps Apple wants a built-in camera in all of their hardware. In the case of the Mac Pro, Xserve, and Mini, the natural place for such a device is a display.
Pure speculation, of course. :D
Westside guy
Mar 22, 01:05 PM
Ugh. When and if I buy a tablet, I don't intend to limit my consideration to just the iPad - but displaying pre-release hardware that doesn't even function yet is just silly. That's a Microsoft-ish move - it may excite the tech press, but customers aren't going to care unless they can see the darn thing run!
I must admit I'm a bit put off by what appears to be a consistent unwillingness by hardware manufacturers to provide software upgrades for their existing Android devices.
I must admit I'm a bit put off by what appears to be a consistent unwillingness by hardware manufacturers to provide software upgrades for their existing Android devices.
JAT
Apr 6, 03:51 PM
I guess it wouldn't hurt their future sales to announce international release dates. Several people I know have ordered or bought an iPad 2 simply because it is available (even with order backlogs) compared to Honeycomb tablets.
Here in continental Europe, all I saw so far was an announcement for the second quarter, which can slip to whenever...
Those of you who already got it - is it worth the wait?
Every Costco here has had Xooms in abundance since the first shipment. I'd say availability is good, interest...not so much.
Costco probably shouldn't have dropped Apple, wonder if they think about that.
Here in continental Europe, all I saw so far was an announcement for the second quarter, which can slip to whenever...
Those of you who already got it - is it worth the wait?
Every Costco here has had Xooms in abundance since the first shipment. I'd say availability is good, interest...not so much.
Costco probably shouldn't have dropped Apple, wonder if they think about that.
QuarterSwede
Apr 25, 01:54 PM
why isn't there an opt-in (apart from the general 'eat **** or die' TOU) or at least an opt-out for this?
It's opt-in. When you first use an app that requests to use location data iOS asks you if that okay and you can deny it. You can also opt out by turning location services off..
why is it so easy to access the data?
Put a pin/password on you phone and encrypt your iTunes backup (it's a simple checkbox in iTunes preferences). You're secure.
I can't possibly see how the plaintiffs can win this one.
It's opt-in. When you first use an app that requests to use location data iOS asks you if that okay and you can deny it. You can also opt out by turning location services off..
why is it so easy to access the data?
Put a pin/password on you phone and encrypt your iTunes backup (it's a simple checkbox in iTunes preferences). You're secure.
I can't possibly see how the plaintiffs can win this one.
deadworlds
Mar 25, 11:58 PM
I'm really not looking forward to Lion at all. It just seems like a huge step backwards for those of us that use our computers as real computers and not toys. I have an ipad, an iphone and several macs, but they each have specific uses. I don't want my desktop machine to be anything like my ipad, one is for doing real work and doing my daily stuff on, the iOS gadgets are for fun games and browsing mostly.
I LOATH the whole idea of merging OSX and iOS, they shouldn't even be related. I hate how they are ruining expose, I really don't want my stuff groups by app, I want to see every window like it is now. I have no use for "full screen" apps, why would I waste all my screen real estate only showing one thing at a time? I hate the idea of getting programs through the app store on the Mac, I refuse to do that. I hate all the gesture crap going on, sure it's fine for laptop users, but it's of no use to me on my mac pro.
I think all this is just a dumbing down of what is an amazing OS. I don't use my mac with dual displays anything like I'd use an iPad, so why put that crap in there? I just don't like the direction they are taking OSX in general, and I doubt I will upgrade from snow leopard. To me this is very sad news, the day OSX and iOS merge is the day the mac dies.
I 100% agree!
I LOATH the whole idea of merging OSX and iOS, they shouldn't even be related. I hate how they are ruining expose, I really don't want my stuff groups by app, I want to see every window like it is now. I have no use for "full screen" apps, why would I waste all my screen real estate only showing one thing at a time? I hate the idea of getting programs through the app store on the Mac, I refuse to do that. I hate all the gesture crap going on, sure it's fine for laptop users, but it's of no use to me on my mac pro.
I think all this is just a dumbing down of what is an amazing OS. I don't use my mac with dual displays anything like I'd use an iPad, so why put that crap in there? I just don't like the direction they are taking OSX in general, and I doubt I will upgrade from snow leopard. To me this is very sad news, the day OSX and iOS merge is the day the mac dies.
I 100% agree!
Yebubbleman
Apr 6, 02:20 PM
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)
@yebubbleman
You keep talking about the MBA being "crippled" - how so? What can't it do other than play optical media? Why can't you do "real work" on it?
As for the graphics, I'm under no illusion that it can play games like a mbp let alone gaming PC. And I don't need that. But the current MBA can play some modern games (SC II for example) at decent settings and frames. I wouldnt want to lose the ability to do casual gaming by going to the intel integrated.
A 13" MacBook Pro has a hard drive that can be easily replaced and upgraded (even with an SSD if you so fancy), RAM that can be easily replaced and upgraded, a standard-voltage (read: more powerful) CPU, and yes (love it or hate it) an optical drive, along with a FireWire 800 port, an Ethernet Port, an IR sensor (which granted, isn't the most useful feature out there) and battery life to spare even given the faster speed. And yes, even with a Sandy Bridge MacBook Air, the benefits that a Sandy Bridge 13" MacBook Pro have over it, especially for the price, make it a much better machine. You are grossly limited with a MacBook Air by comparison.
I don't mean to say that with a 27" iMac at home, one couldn't be happily mobile with a 13" MacBook Air if they so desired, I just don't think it has enough going for it to make it worthy of being stand-alone to anyone who isn't either (a) bat-**** crazy about about the MacBook Air or (b) very simple in their computing needs.
I didn't go through all the pages of replies, but in case some one hasn't corrected them yet, the bus speed of the 13" is 1066mhz.
Already covered, but kudos regardless.
@yebubbleman
You keep talking about the MBA being "crippled" - how so? What can't it do other than play optical media? Why can't you do "real work" on it?
As for the graphics, I'm under no illusion that it can play games like a mbp let alone gaming PC. And I don't need that. But the current MBA can play some modern games (SC II for example) at decent settings and frames. I wouldnt want to lose the ability to do casual gaming by going to the intel integrated.
A 13" MacBook Pro has a hard drive that can be easily replaced and upgraded (even with an SSD if you so fancy), RAM that can be easily replaced and upgraded, a standard-voltage (read: more powerful) CPU, and yes (love it or hate it) an optical drive, along with a FireWire 800 port, an Ethernet Port, an IR sensor (which granted, isn't the most useful feature out there) and battery life to spare even given the faster speed. And yes, even with a Sandy Bridge MacBook Air, the benefits that a Sandy Bridge 13" MacBook Pro have over it, especially for the price, make it a much better machine. You are grossly limited with a MacBook Air by comparison.
I don't mean to say that with a 27" iMac at home, one couldn't be happily mobile with a 13" MacBook Air if they so desired, I just don't think it has enough going for it to make it worthy of being stand-alone to anyone who isn't either (a) bat-**** crazy about about the MacBook Air or (b) very simple in their computing needs.
I didn't go through all the pages of replies, but in case some one hasn't corrected them yet, the bus speed of the 13" is 1066mhz.
Already covered, but kudos regardless.
treblah
Sep 19, 07:45 AM
The mermon G6s should be out before summer.
Fixed. :D
Fixed. :D
iVoid
Apr 27, 11:24 AM
Well, I think it's good that Apple is addressing this issue (although I wonder if they'll release an update for the 3G, since they are no longer doing iOS upgrades for it and the original iPhone).
But their statement: "The iPhone is not logging your location" is ridiculous. They are logging your location. For a long time. In an insecure way.
Outside of the PR butt saving double-speak, this is a good move by Apple to address this issue.
But their statement: "The iPhone is not logging your location" is ridiculous. They are logging your location. For a long time. In an insecure way.
Outside of the PR butt saving double-speak, this is a good move by Apple to address this issue.
JAT
Mar 22, 03:57 PM
The prices are official. Stop this fanboy **** about "it's not released yet".
Xoom has been released and sells well, although not so much as the iPad, but it still grabs some market share.
You people keep trying to find problems where there are no problems.
It's an official announcement, the tablets are officially coming with an official price that makes real front to the iPad, you accepting it or not.
It's like you fanboy people hate the fact that competitors are doing well.
The Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 are thinner than the iPad 2, that must be too much for fanboys hearts.
I don't own any tablet. I've used an iPad, and found little purpose to owning one myself at this time. That said, I am impressed with what it can do, esp as a gaming and business device. The others....meh.
"Fanboy" is much more readily applied to someone fawning over a product that is not yet shipping, and claiming it is superior to one that is shipping. Such assertions are absolutely ridiculous. These products aren't "doing well", they are not yet available.
I find fanboy assertions amusing, hence I post on occasion. :cool:
Xoom has been released and sells well, although not so much as the iPad, but it still grabs some market share.
You people keep trying to find problems where there are no problems.
It's an official announcement, the tablets are officially coming with an official price that makes real front to the iPad, you accepting it or not.
It's like you fanboy people hate the fact that competitors are doing well.
The Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 are thinner than the iPad 2, that must be too much for fanboys hearts.
I don't own any tablet. I've used an iPad, and found little purpose to owning one myself at this time. That said, I am impressed with what it can do, esp as a gaming and business device. The others....meh.
"Fanboy" is much more readily applied to someone fawning over a product that is not yet shipping, and claiming it is superior to one that is shipping. Such assertions are absolutely ridiculous. These products aren't "doing well", they are not yet available.
I find fanboy assertions amusing, hence I post on occasion. :cool:
benthewraith
Nov 28, 07:42 PM
Many years ago a media levy was passed in the United States that applies a "tax" to "consumer digital audio" media (CD-R blanks, DAT, etc.) with the proceeds going to music industry/artists. The justification was to offset losses due to illegal copying of music in digital form (generational loseless copies). This to date hasn't been expanded to include devices like the iPod (at least I don't recall that taking place).
Which makes no sense. If they get compensated by blank CD/DVD sales to offset the money loss from pirating, then why the hell are they suing consumers for P2P?
Actually, I suspected Universal was going to do the same with the iPod, regardless of whether the Zune debuted or not. They obviously can manipulate Microsoft, they'll try and do the same with Apple.
And lets not forget, these are the same people who wish they could sue people for ripping their cds (and burning them again so as to do away with all the DRM **** they put on them).
As to why their music sales have been dropping, if half the songs on the market weren't about pimps and beating hos', probably a lot more people would buy it.
Which makes no sense. If they get compensated by blank CD/DVD sales to offset the money loss from pirating, then why the hell are they suing consumers for P2P?
Actually, I suspected Universal was going to do the same with the iPod, regardless of whether the Zune debuted or not. They obviously can manipulate Microsoft, they'll try and do the same with Apple.
And lets not forget, these are the same people who wish they could sue people for ripping their cds (and burning them again so as to do away with all the DRM **** they put on them).
As to why their music sales have been dropping, if half the songs on the market weren't about pimps and beating hos', probably a lot more people would buy it.
j26
Nov 29, 06:26 AM
My initial reservations about this story (the Zune/Universal payment) was much like eveybody's elses on these forums - very bad for us and screw 'em. But now that I've had time to think it through I actually think it's a fantastic idea.
Fantastic for the consumer and the artist, and potentially catastrophic for Universal Music.
Allow me to explain! Somebody buys a Zune or iPod that has had the 'Universal Tax' applied to it and then fills it with 30GB of stolen Universal music. It goes to court and the 'Pirate' successfully argues that he/she has already compensated UMG by buying the iPod/Zune. The judge agrees and piracy of Universal music becomes legal so long as it's for the 'UMG taxed' iPod or Zune. UMG collapses overnight and the artists get to release music on their terms and get more of the money that they deserve, not the faceless corporations and shareholders.
Why is this good for us? Because every entertainment company would become very wary of labelling us all 'pirates' and might actually realise that digital distribution at a fair price is their future.
D'oh somebody has already written something to this effect whilst I was typing!!
But do you really think a court will decide that way. Not likely, especially if it's a judge from the wealth maximisation school of thought.
Fantastic for the consumer and the artist, and potentially catastrophic for Universal Music.
Allow me to explain! Somebody buys a Zune or iPod that has had the 'Universal Tax' applied to it and then fills it with 30GB of stolen Universal music. It goes to court and the 'Pirate' successfully argues that he/she has already compensated UMG by buying the iPod/Zune. The judge agrees and piracy of Universal music becomes legal so long as it's for the 'UMG taxed' iPod or Zune. UMG collapses overnight and the artists get to release music on their terms and get more of the money that they deserve, not the faceless corporations and shareholders.
Why is this good for us? Because every entertainment company would become very wary of labelling us all 'pirates' and might actually realise that digital distribution at a fair price is their future.
D'oh somebody has already written something to this effect whilst I was typing!!
But do you really think a court will decide that way. Not likely, especially if it's a judge from the wealth maximisation school of thought.
bluetorch18
Aug 26, 04:02 PM
Merom MBP on Tuesday? I sure hope so.
shelterpaw
Aug 7, 03:54 PM
i love the changes they made.
now if only they can merge ical into mail so it can fully compete against entourage and other apps.
I want my full telephone book, contact data management, with calendar in one program.
easier for me that way.
Yeah, that'd be cool. Just imagine if you could grab certain things from other apps, like that widget web clip feature and paste together your own app in whichever way you please. Would probably confuse the heck out of some novice users, but would be great for advanced users. Elastic applications.
now if only they can merge ical into mail so it can fully compete against entourage and other apps.
I want my full telephone book, contact data management, with calendar in one program.
easier for me that way.
Yeah, that'd be cool. Just imagine if you could grab certain things from other apps, like that widget web clip feature and paste together your own app in whichever way you please. Would probably confuse the heck out of some novice users, but would be great for advanced users. Elastic applications.
ingenious
Aug 11, 10:16 AM
I really hope Apple comes out with a phone that's an awesome phone, music player, and smart phone... Is that asking too much?
Oh, and it needs to cost US$200 or less (preferably less). :D :rolleyes:
edit: after reading article, it looks pretty promising! :)
Oh, and it needs to cost US$200 or less (preferably less). :D :rolleyes:
edit: after reading article, it looks pretty promising! :)
BigHungry04
Apr 28, 12:38 PM
I figured he was born in the United States, as Hawaii is a state and was when he was born there. Now this McCain guy, he was not born in the United States, he was born in the Panama Canal Zone, which was a US territory or protectorate, so it still counts. Maybe if he had won the presidency, someone would have made a big deal about it too. I doubt it.
Stridder44
Nov 28, 09:06 PM
No guys, this sounds like a great idea....*cough*.....
Super Dave
Aug 5, 06:35 PM
Recall that Tiger features saw significant UI overhauls (Dashboard, Spotlight, Automator) from the original Tiger demos at WWDC until it's reshowing at Macworld. Apple has no reason to rush this out after WWDC.
You can bank on 07. First Half. No sooner than April.
You're right that there is "no reason to rush" except it would be awfully fun to beat Vista to market AGAIN.
David :cool:
You can bank on 07. First Half. No sooner than April.
You're right that there is "no reason to rush" except it would be awfully fun to beat Vista to market AGAIN.
David :cool:
brewser
Apr 7, 11:50 PM
This notion that Best Buy is the only one hoarding stock is typical of the stereotypical Apple fan. And once again, I've never bought Apple or Mac products at Best Buy because the staff are not knowledgeable in most cases, the same way I never bought a Mac at Circuit City for the short period they carried Macs.
But which stores are well stocked the best with iPads?
See if you can guess. I'll give you a hint, it begins with an A.
Sure you can say, those are Apple's rules, deal with it, but that doesn't make it right.
The truth probably is that some Best Buys are probably near Walmarts and Targets so they don't want to be out of stock for 2-3 weeks while Apple hoards stock at its stores. I'm sure none of them want to be out of stock for 2-3 weeks and suspect that Best Buy is the not the only offender of conserving stock due to Apple's inability to meet demand.
Not one of these chains wants to be known as the chain that didn't have iPads for 2-3 weeks giving consumers the impression they don't carry it anymore!
The only difference is Best Buy got CAUGHT!
I would bet that this directive came from corporate and applied to a limited number of stores that were faced with the possibility of being out of stock for an extended period of time.
People can conjecture here all they want, but no one really knows the details of Apple's supply promises vs. what it delivered with any of these chains.
You are an idiot to believe any of that. BB wants to save stock for their Sunday ads. That is the drive to bring customers in. They do this with any limited product. It's their nature. They need a certain number that matches their ad. They will tell you they are out of stock but they are waiting for Sunday.
But which stores are well stocked the best with iPads?
See if you can guess. I'll give you a hint, it begins with an A.
Sure you can say, those are Apple's rules, deal with it, but that doesn't make it right.
The truth probably is that some Best Buys are probably near Walmarts and Targets so they don't want to be out of stock for 2-3 weeks while Apple hoards stock at its stores. I'm sure none of them want to be out of stock for 2-3 weeks and suspect that Best Buy is the not the only offender of conserving stock due to Apple's inability to meet demand.
Not one of these chains wants to be known as the chain that didn't have iPads for 2-3 weeks giving consumers the impression they don't carry it anymore!
The only difference is Best Buy got CAUGHT!
I would bet that this directive came from corporate and applied to a limited number of stores that were faced with the possibility of being out of stock for an extended period of time.
People can conjecture here all they want, but no one really knows the details of Apple's supply promises vs. what it delivered with any of these chains.
You are an idiot to believe any of that. BB wants to save stock for their Sunday ads. That is the drive to bring customers in. They do this with any limited product. It's their nature. They need a certain number that matches their ad. They will tell you they are out of stock but they are waiting for Sunday.
dudemac
Aug 7, 04:05 PM
Features I want:
-iChat screen sharing (awesome idea!) and video effects
-Spaces (finally a Apple OS-level implementation)
-Time Machine (I want a friggin wormhole on my computer!)
I wish they'd show us the Top Secret features.
But seriously, so one even saw Time Machine coming. That was a surprise!
-iChat screen sharing (awesome idea!) and video effects
-Spaces (finally a Apple OS-level implementation)
-Time Machine (I want a friggin wormhole on my computer!)
I wish they'd show us the Top Secret features.
But seriously, so one even saw Time Machine coming. That was a surprise!
b166er
Apr 7, 10:34 PM
me too! I wanna learn!
How does withholding stock from the public aid a company? I can imagine holding them till everything is registered in their system and accounted for. But turning people away when they actually do have stock doesn't sound like a good business practice to me
When you are as HUGE as best buy, and you are selling a product as huge as the iPad, it makes sense to create a demand. People do this all the time. You can't get it now, so the second it becomes available to you, you buy it in fear that you might have to wait another month. This happens all the time with a lot of products.
How does withholding stock from the public aid a company? I can imagine holding them till everything is registered in their system and accounted for. But turning people away when they actually do have stock doesn't sound like a good business practice to me
When you are as HUGE as best buy, and you are selling a product as huge as the iPad, it makes sense to create a demand. People do this all the time. You can't get it now, so the second it becomes available to you, you buy it in fear that you might have to wait another month. This happens all the time with a lot of products.
NJRonbo
Jun 14, 07:24 PM
Bbiz,
Keep us posted. Worse case I pre order from Apple first
thing tomorrow then cancel if Radio Shack guarantees me
a phone later that day with their PIN program.
Keep us posted. Worse case I pre order from Apple first
thing tomorrow then cancel if Radio Shack guarantees me
a phone later that day with their PIN program.
epitaphic
Aug 18, 09:06 PM
Do you think a Conroe iMac will beat a Mac Pro due to lower memory latency alone? Do you have real experience or data regarding how horrendous a problem this is? Extra dual-core processor aside, the Mac Pro has a higher speed FSB, higher memory bus bandwidth, higher RAM capacity, and ability to set up internal RAID amongst other advantages over a Conroe iMac.
Obviously, inherently the iMac design is inferior to the Mac Pro/Powermac. But I think there's a bigger reason why Apple chose to go all quad with the Mac Pro: Apple chose all quad because a duo option would have had the same performance in professional apps (again, excluding handbrake and toast which are the only two examples touted about). A single processor Woodcrest or Conroe option will have the same obtainable CPU power for 90-95% of the professional market for another 6-12 months at the very least.
Here's some data regarding the Mac Pro's FSB:
the Mac Pro (...) actually takes longer to access main memory than the Core Duo processor in the MacBook Pro. This is much worse than it sounds once you take into account the fact that the MacBook Pro features a 667MHz FSB compared to the 1333MHz FSB (per chip) used in the Mac Pro.
What can we take from this? Because of the use of FB-DIMMs, the Mac Pro's effective FSB is that of ~640MHz DDR2 system.
And how does it fare in memory latency?
It's not Apple's fault, but FB-DIMMs absolutely kill memory latency; even running in quad channel mode, the FB-DIMM equipped Mac Pro takes 45% more time to access memory than our DDR2 equipped test bed at the same memory frequency.
As for bandwidth, although the Mac Pro has a load of theoretical bandwidth, the efficiency is an abysmal 20%. In real use a DDR2 system has 72% more usable bandwidth. (source here (http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2816&p=11))
I don't know bout you, but if I were a heavy user of memory intensive apps such as Photoshop, I'd be worried. Worried in the sense that a Conroe would be noticeably faster.
Memory issues aside, Woodcrests are faster than Conroes, 2.4% on average (source here (http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=6))
Obviously, inherently the iMac design is inferior to the Mac Pro/Powermac. But I think there's a bigger reason why Apple chose to go all quad with the Mac Pro: Apple chose all quad because a duo option would have had the same performance in professional apps (again, excluding handbrake and toast which are the only two examples touted about). A single processor Woodcrest or Conroe option will have the same obtainable CPU power for 90-95% of the professional market for another 6-12 months at the very least.
Here's some data regarding the Mac Pro's FSB:
the Mac Pro (...) actually takes longer to access main memory than the Core Duo processor in the MacBook Pro. This is much worse than it sounds once you take into account the fact that the MacBook Pro features a 667MHz FSB compared to the 1333MHz FSB (per chip) used in the Mac Pro.
What can we take from this? Because of the use of FB-DIMMs, the Mac Pro's effective FSB is that of ~640MHz DDR2 system.
And how does it fare in memory latency?
It's not Apple's fault, but FB-DIMMs absolutely kill memory latency; even running in quad channel mode, the FB-DIMM equipped Mac Pro takes 45% more time to access memory than our DDR2 equipped test bed at the same memory frequency.
As for bandwidth, although the Mac Pro has a load of theoretical bandwidth, the efficiency is an abysmal 20%. In real use a DDR2 system has 72% more usable bandwidth. (source here (http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2816&p=11))
I don't know bout you, but if I were a heavy user of memory intensive apps such as Photoshop, I'd be worried. Worried in the sense that a Conroe would be noticeably faster.
Memory issues aside, Woodcrests are faster than Conroes, 2.4% on average (source here (http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=6))