The answer to that is no. The reason is because we would have seen new desktops by now if they were going with Woodcrest. It's obvious at this point that the Conroe release is what is holding up the desktop release, not Woodcrest. Yeah, people can say "no, it's because Apple is waiting for WWDC". But, I say BS. If Apple was going to release Woodcrest machines, they would have done so by now... or at least began accepted orders. WWDC gets us closer to Conroe and that will be the chip they go with. I can see no other valid reason to hold up the introduction of the desktop line other than waiting for Conroe.
I'm going further out on a limb and state that Woodcrest will probably not make it into desktop at all. Hold on, hear me out... the reason is because, other than video, there aren't enough pro apps to warrant going all Intel Quad on the pro desktop yet. What we might see is two or three Conroe machines coming out around WWDC in brand new cases. They will keep the current G5 quad in the line-up until Macworld SF, then replace it with Kentsfield. Jobs will go on stage and say the migration is complete as promised. "... one more thing, we are proud to introduce the NEW Pro-line Intel Quad (Kentsfield) that is optimized to run Adobe CS3 that is coming out as UB.. next month!"
The more I think about this... it just makes sense. By holding off for Conroe, they won't get stuck supporting expensive dual configurations in the desktop line (Woodcrest and Conroe). Apple probably makes the majority of desktop sales in the dual chip category. I doubt they sell enough (precentage wise) to worry about Quad until Adobe catches up. Yeah, I know, there are a lot of Quad users... but not enough to force the Woodcrest chip when the software isn't ready. Apple is better off to get faster Conroe boxes out to the small business/studio owner first, then they can go after the high-end market when the chips and software are ready first quarter '07. They could even split the line-up like I mentioned in another post.
Don't expect to get your socks knocked off this year. Job's stated that this is a transition year (and they need to do it right). 2007 is when it's all going to happen! Those people who bought G5 Quads over the past 6 months are going to be really happy with their investments in the long run.
Finally, I really don't think Apple is worried about keeping up with Dell (or any other computer maker) in the hardware department. They like to think the primary reason to choose Apple is not for the hardware... you choose it to run OSX. I think they could care less about Dell or Boxx having faster Woodcrest machines out, simply because those machines don't run OSX. Apple will choose it's processor on what makes sense for the market for their long-term stategy, not on what other companies are doing. It's the only way they can compete... by doing things differently and offering products exclusive to the Apple platform. For me, if the computer I run my apps on was more important than the work I need to do, then I'd just build my own computer and stick XP or Linux on it. However, I need OSX , so I'm stuck with whatever Apple is selling at the moment. You don't choose Apple because of how fast their machines are.. you choose Apple for a variety of reasons other than speed of processor. If speed were truly an issue, you would go elsewhere. Apple knows this and it's why you won't see them scrambling to keep up with the most current processor.
