Performance of new 2.8 Ghz 15" rMBP Mid-2014?

What are your computational requirements? Maybe the extra 300 MHz will not get you the wanted advantage, since those 300 MHz will shave off a maybe five minutes of a 1 hour calculation (if the CPU is fully utilised).

Dude get the base with the GPU. You'll be glad you did. You will not miss those 300mhz. If anything put the money towards the 1TB samsung SSD.

I just got the high end base and I'm severally happy with it.

keftonhall said:

I'm trying to get some stats for the performance of the new 15" Retina Macbook Pro mid-2014 with the 2.8 Ghz upgrade (fully loaded). All the reviews I have seen so far are rather limited and only refer to the 2.5 GHz option.

I would greatly appreciate any examples of real word use from anyone that is using the 2.8 GHz rMBP. I'm particularly keen to understand the battery life loss versus performance gain. The few reviews I have seen of the 2.5 Ghz rMBP 2014 suggest a battery life of 6 hrs 48 minutes (less than the 2013 2.3 Ghz). I'm also confused whether these battery life tests are done with the dedicated GPU switched off etc. I assume that if the dedicated GPU can be forced off it will prolong battery life considerably.

Due to my work I feel that the 2.8 Ghz would be a big help but I don't want to be left with just a tiny amount of battery life during transatlantic flights.

Any suggestions / advice / comments would be much appreciated!

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If you want good battery life with the high end model just get the top end model without the GT 750 GPU.

alphaod said:

If you want good battery life with the high end model just get the top end model without the GT 750 GPU.

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The model with the 750M can also have great battery life.

Just use gfxcardstatus to disable the dGPU.

I have the 2014 2.8GHz/16GB/1TB/750m MBP - just delivered this week.

It's a beast of a machine and I am very impressed. Battery life while using gfxCardStatus to switch on the integrated GPU is amazing - I'm getting 9+ hours on battery (registered at 10.5 hours at one stage). This is with screen brightness at 4 below maximum, surfing the web with safari...you'll get more if you go further.

I'm coming from a 2010 MBP and the difference is staggering. It's so light, yet I can play games like Tomb Raider and Max Payne 3 at fantastic detail, encode video at insane speeds....there is no slowdown. Everything is snappier. My old MBP even had an SSD and it was sluggish compared to this thing! The speakers are incredible and I'm even getting higher wireless transfer speeds from my N router than I did on the old machine.

As an example of the speed of the 2.8, I did a test encode of a HD .MP4 to .MKV with Handbrake - both on this machine and my over clocked 4.4GHz Ivy Bridge Core i5 PC. They were neck-on-neck but the MBP beat the PC by a minute or so!

I wouldn't be worrying about battery life - once you have the iGPU on and turn down the brightness you'll get the advertised life or more!

I got a top spec 2.8 15" also in the last week. Honestly I have no clue of battery life on it as yet as I need to finish up a project on my old machine before moving across properly, but I did run some test models on the old one and the new one and I am very impressed. I ran the exact same model (hierarchical bayesian spatial model with over 18,000 variables - mostly stresses CPU, some influence from disk speed, zero relevance of dGPU) on three machines and got the following runtimes:

Late 2011 2.5 GHz 15" MBP 16GB SATA 512SSD - 16mins
Late 2013 2.6 Ghz 13" MBP 8GB 512 PCIe SSD - 16mins (not bad for dual core!)
Mid 2014 2.8Ghz 15" MBP 16GB 1TB PCIe SSD - 6 mins ....

Very pleased with that to be honest its better than I expected and will save me alot of time as I will be building hundreds of these models. But to your question about flights - um....do you need that power on a flight ? And - can you actually use a 15" on an airplane seat/tray - I can't its too cumbersome and if the guy puts his seat back he could damage your open screen. Honestly - pick up a cheap refurb 11" MBA for flights. 9 hr battery life on the 2013 models.

keftonhall said:

I'm trying to get some stats for the performance of the new 15" Retina Macbook Pro mid-2014 with the 2.8 Ghz upgrade (fully loaded). All the reviews I have seen so far are rather limited and only refer to the 2.5 GHz option.

I would greatly appreciate any examples of real word use from anyone that is using the 2.8 GHz rMBP. I'm particularly keen to understand the battery life loss versus performance gain. The few reviews I have seen of the 2.5 Ghz rMBP 2014 suggest a battery life of 6 hrs 48 minutes (less than the 2013 2.3 Ghz). I'm also confused whether these battery life tests are done with the dedicated GPU switched off etc. I assume that if the dedicated GPU can be forced off it will prolong battery life considerably.

Due to my work I feel that the 2.8 Ghz would be a big help but I don't want to be left with just a tiny amount of battery life during transatlantic flights.

Any suggestions / advice / comments would be much appreciated!

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What do you actually do with your computer? You never mentioned it.

Unless your work involves pegging all 4 cores at 100% all the time, the performance gain from going to the 2.8GHz will be completely impossible to notice day to day. Well, you'll notice your wallet is a bit lighter.

Regardless, battery life will be the same to within a few minutes, so that shouldn't even cross your mind as a possible issue.

yjchua95 said:

Just use gfxcardstatus to disable the dGPU.

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What is gfxcardstatus ?

UPDATE I found out, thanks. Looks good.

Not sure if this is common, but the 2.8ghz model is barely faster (and in a few cases slower) than the previous top end 2.6ghz model in this test. It is speculated that throttling is involved.

http://barefeats.com/rmbp14.html

thunng8 said:

Not sure if this is common, but the 2.8ghz model is barely faster (and in a few cases slower) than the previous top end 2.6ghz model in this test. It is speculated that throttling is involved.

http://barefeats.com/rmbp14.html

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Unfortunately, that's true.

I compared it with my 2.6GHz machine and in Macoh tests, even when forced into NVIDIA-only, apparently the 2.8GHz throttles a bit compared to the 2.6GHz when running the tests.

keftonhall said:

Thanks to everyone for all the comments and suggestions - much appreciated.

I was surprised by the results at http://barefeats.com/rmbp14.html, especially as the 2.6Ghz under review had a slower SSD (512GB vs 1TB).

Q) Would you always recommend a 2013 2.6GHz/16GB/1TB/750m MBP over a 2014 2.8GHz/16GB/1TB/750m MBP? Or does the 2014 version have improved battery life like the 2014 MB Airs over the 2013 versions?

BTW could anyone guess what would be the load on the processor of driving six 27" monitors from the rMBP (2 via thunderbolt/4 via USB to DVI)?

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The only difference between late-2013 and mid-2014 machines is the CPU.

The 512GB SSD is no slouch and the difference is completely unnoticeable compared to the 1TB, except when doing 4K work (it's heavy on random I/O performance).

I don't think you can drive 6 displays with any rMBP. The Mac Pro (trash can Mac) can, but no other Mac can't, afaik.

I have the same dilemma. Think I'm going with the high end 15" with the 2.5ghz. The 2.8 seems like a high price for 0.3ghz more. The dGPU should hopefully make up for the higher price versus the base 15".

Which one did you buy?

Lukewarmwinner said:

I have the same dilemma. Think I'm going with the high end 15" with the 2.5ghz. The 2.8 seems like a high price for 0.3ghz more. The dGPU should hopefully make up for the higher price versus the base 15".

Which one did you buy?

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2.5, you won't notice the difference except for maybe some warm fuzzies that you have the best (which will fade).

calderone said:

2.5, you won't notice the difference except for maybe some warm fuzzies that you have the best (which will fade).

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Allrighty

calderone said:

2.5, you won't notice the difference except for maybe some warm fuzzies that you have the best for the moment (which will fade).

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Fixed.

snaky69 said:

Fixed.

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Hence the parenthetical.

calderone said:

Hence the parenthetical.

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Think that went over his head

burgman said:

Think that went over his head

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No, no it didn't.

And here's why: feeling you have the best, that does fade. Feelings can fade.

Having new technology come out does not make your having the best fade, it makes it no longer be the best. Instantly. Not in a fading way.

snaky69 said:

No, no it didn't.

And here's why: feeling you have the best, that does fade. Feelings can fade.

Having new technology come out does not make your having the best fade, it makes it no longer be the best. Instantly. Not in a fading way.

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Like I said...
Please continue

The 2014 15" Macbook Pro is TDP-unlocked as I describe here. The CPU will be limited by temperature throttling long before it hits maximum performance levels.

More performance can be encompassed within the temp limits by undervolting the CPU and unlocking multipliers (up to +600Mhz) using Throttlestop and/or XTU under Windows. Some holes drilled on the base and a notebook cooler helping keep temps down further.

snaky69 said:

No, no it didn't.

And here's why: feeling you have the best, that does fade. Feelings can fade.

Having new technology come out does not make your having the best fade, it makes it no longer be the best. Instantly. Not in a fading way.

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Thanks captain obvious. I don't think anyone knew that hardware advances. Thank you for your supreme insight.

calderone said:

2.5, you won't notice the difference except for maybe some warm fuzzies that you have the best (which will fade).

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Even if I'll be using the Mac for Premiere editing? I'm not gonna wait while the computer renders, usual leave the machine while it works, so if the 300mhz won't affect the overall performance then it seems like a high price (250$)

Lukewarmwinner said:

Even if I'll be using the Mac for Premiere editing? I'm not gonna wait while the computer renders, usual leave the machine while it works, so if the 300mhz won't affect the overall performance then it seems like a high price (250$)

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People are using Premiere on much worse hardware. If you think the $250 is high, then it probably isn't a great choice for you.