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Should I wait to buy a rMBP... (waiting for Touch ID)

arian19

arian19

macrumors demi-god
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
369
62
I want to buy a rMBP but with such a big investment I want to make sure I buy it at the right time. I'm not so much worried about Intel speed increase. What I am more worried about is a completely new feature coming to the rMBP. for example, what if Apple decides to add Touch ID on the rMBP.

Does anyone think that touch id would be coming to the rMBP anytime soon? or should I pull the trigger and buy it now. Is it worth waiting at least till they release Yosemite officially? Maybe there will be some update while they are giving the October announcement?
 
F

Freyqq

macrumors 601
Dec 13, 2004
4,038
181
I haven't heard a single rumor about touchid on a mac.

The only big feature that seems to be on the horizon that will definitely make its way into macs in the future is USB 3.1. I assume that addition is at least a year away though, as they are just finalizing the standard now. It's not a big deal though, as USB 3.1 is backwards compatible with USB 3, and 5 gb/s of bandwidth is a lot for most things already.

The 15" already has 4k support, but the 13" doesn't. I would expect the next revision of the 13" to have 4k support too. Thunderbolt III, which is also at least a year away, will probably support 8K (displayport 1.3). I doubt any integrated GPU can handle that many pixels any time soon though.
 
Bending Pixels

Bending Pixels

macrumors 65816
Jul 22, 2010
1,307
365
Although there's been a slight amount of discussion about the MBP's touchpad being able to read a fingerprint, it probably won't happen for some time (read at LEAST a year or more). There's nothing indicating that touch ID will happen in October when Yosemite is released.
 
arian19

arian19

macrumors demi-god
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
369
62
Freyqq said:
I haven't heard a single rumor about touchid on a mac.

The only big feature that seems to be on the horizon that will definitely make its way into macs in the future is USB 3.1. I assume that addition is at least a year away though, as they are just finalizing the standard now. It's not a big deal though, as USB 3.1 is backwards compatible with USB 3, and 5 gb/s of bandwidth is a lot for most things already.

The 15" already has 4k support, but the 13" doesn't. I would expect the next revision of the 13" to have 4k support too. Thunderbolt III, which is also at least a year away, will probably support 8K (displayport 1.3). I doubt any integrated GPU can handle that many pixels any time soon though.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... okay, so basically for the 15inch everything is at least a year away.
 
M

MTL18

macrumors regular
Jan 25, 2013
205
72
The MacBook Pro has had several innovations the last couple of years (new chassis, new screen resolution, new hard drive system), don't be surprised if the innovation dries up for a bit. I remember that after 2008, you didn't get a significant MacBook change until 2011 (Intel i series and SATA 3), and then it seemed like rapid fire until 2014 which was nothing special .

So, in my opinion, you won't see anything soon. Add that there are no rumors, part leaks, and we know that Intel's next chip is delayed and you can make an educated guess that the current machine is here for a while
 
C

c0LdFire

macrumors regular
Jul 10, 2013
234
143
I really doubt TouchID is going to come to the Mac, at least any time soon. It's nearly pointless. TouchID is great on a phone because you unlock it hundreds of times a day. I don't think most people unlock a laptop hundreds of times per day. Hell, they didn't even add it to the iPad yet (although I suspect in that case, they will).

Besides, there's a couple of apps that can unlock it automatically via Bluetooth either by proximity or otherwise.
 
G

gochi

macrumors 6502
Mar 31, 2011
289
1
won't happen with the laptops unless they can do something ala fingerprint id
 
Badrottie

Badrottie

Suspended
May 8, 2011
4,317
336
Los Angeles
There are a lot of fingerprint reader on many Windows laptop in the past but it was never success so they are dead I don't think Apple want to follow this way for Touch ID. :apple:
 
Quu

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,421
6,797
Badrottie said:
There are a lot of fingerprint reader on many Windows laptop in the past but it was never success so they are dead I don't think Apple want to follow this way for Touch ID. :apple:
Click to expand...

That's because those fingerprint scanners didn't work very reliably and weren't utilised properly due to the lack of integration between the hardware OEM and Microsoft.

For example, you buy a laptop with Windows Vista or Windows 7 on it and it has a fingerprint scanner that enables you to login to your computer bypassing the sign on password entry screen.

You update from Vista to Windows 7 or Windows 7 to Windows 8 and now that feature no longer works because the manufacturer of the laptop never releases a software update for the new operating system so that it can work with your fingerprint scanner.

Essentially killing the feature dead.

Another problem is that pretty much was all it ever got used for, logging in to the system. Windows does not have a password manager like OS X now does. Windows also doesn't have a set of fingerprint security frameworks for developers to use, iOS does have this and it could be ported to OS X.

The way Apple could deploy it, unlock your machine with your fingerprint which continues to function across all software updates, use it to access your keychain for logins to anything, use it for filling out forms in web pages (addresses, credit card info etc). Use it to buy Apps on the Mac App Store, use it for Apple Pay within apps (like on iOS).

So I think the likelihood that their Macs will get TouchID is quite high and I would even go as far to say that the Magic Trackpad will get it as a feature too.

Might be a year or more away though.
 
Badrottie

Badrottie

Suspended
May 8, 2011
4,317
336
Los Angeles
Quu said:
That's because those fingerprint scanners didn't work very reliably and weren't utilised properly due to the lack of integration between the hardware OEM and Microsoft.

For example, you buy a laptop with Windows Vista or Windows 7 on it and it has a fingerprint scanner that enables you to login to your computer bypassing the sign on password entry screen.

You update from Vista to Windows 7 or Windows 7 to Windows 8 and now that feature no longer works because the manufacturer of the laptop never releases a software update for the new operating system so that it can work with your fingerprint scanner.

Essentially killing the feature dead.

Another problem is that pretty much was all it ever got used for, logging in to the system. Windows does not have a password manager like OS X now does. Windows also doesn't have a set of fingerprint security frameworks for developers to use, iOS does have this and it could be ported to OS X.

The way Apple could deploy it, unlock your machine with your fingerprint which continues to function across all software updates, use it to access your keychain for logins to anything, use it for filling out forms in web pages (addresses, credit card info etc). Use it to buy Apps on the Mac App Store, use it for Apple Pay within apps (like on iOS).

So I think the likelihood that their Macs will get TouchID is quite high and I would even go as far to say that the Magic Trackpad will get it as a feature too.

Might be a year or more away though.
Click to expand...

I see.... I guess we will wait and see what happens in the near future. :apple:
 
MuGeN PoWeR

MuGeN PoWeR

macrumors 68040
Jun 29, 2011
3,184
1,215
i dont think the TOUCH ID will ever be incorporated in macbooks because it doesnt make any sense for them. On the other hand i am also holding off till october to buy a new macbook pro. i am expecting some new model to be released as soon as the Yosemite is released.
 
S

Striker-UMB

macrumors regular
Feb 15, 2010
124
2
Toronto
MuGeN PoWeR said:
i dont think the TOUCH ID will ever be incorporated in macbooks because it doesnt make any sense for them. On the other hand i am also holding off till october to buy a new macbook pro. i am expecting some new model to be released as soon as the Yosemite is released.
Click to expand...

Why are you expecting that??? Apple just released a small .2GHz CPU bump for there rMBP line and a $100 price drop this passed July. Why would they release another rMBP in October?? If they were planning something, they would have just waited for October. Releasing two different iterations of the MacBook so soon after, would piss a lot of recent customers off. The next rMBP will not be released until 2015 when Braodwell comes out. You're going to be waiting for an awful long time because there will be no rMBP coming out when Yosemite is released.
 
MuGeN PoWeR

MuGeN PoWeR

macrumors 68040
Jun 29, 2011
3,184
1,215
Striker-UMB said:
Why are you expecting that??? Apple just released a small .2GHz CPU bump for there rMBP line and a $100 price drop this passed July. Why would they release another rMBP in October?? If they were planning something, they would have just waited for October. Releasing two different iterations of the MacBook so soon after, would piss a lot of recent customers off. The next rMBP will not be released until 2015 when Braodwell comes out. You're going to be waiting for an awful long time because there will be no rMBP coming out when Yosemite is released.
Click to expand...

Yes when I think logically I realize they aren't going to release any. So I am just waiting anyway. May be I get a good deal or something like that.
 
M

mcarling

macrumors 65816
Oct 22, 2009
1,292
180
Touch ID requires an Apple A7 or A8 CPU. At the moment, no shipping or announced Intel CPU can support Touch ID as implemented by Apple.
 
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