Hello, I have a question that I am hoping the more informed on here can help me with. I'm an owner of a late 2011 15" MBP, but I want a change. I want to downsize to a 13" and something new. I'm just so confused about what I should upgrade to. I don't need a super powerful machine, I am a casual user. When comparing Broadwell to Skylake will there be a significant difference? A difference a casual user would care about? I can wait a few months, but if it isn't worth it I would like to upgrade to a Broadwell ASAP. Thoughts?
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Broadwell or Skylake
- Thread starter Ceez23
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Wait until next year. Skylake rMBP is coming.
The 13" rMBP will never have a dGPU, so if you need some extra performance I recommend the 15".
It's kind of obvious that Apple is redesigning and making the next rMBP series thin. Skylake is a 14nm processor. Less heat, less energy usage. Not to mention USB-C connector. Apple will definitely dump the minidisplay port and add 2-3 USB-C ports on the next rMBP.
So my opinion? Hold off until next year if you can. Your 2011 MBP is quite good, I used to have one. It's fast. Upgrade your HDD to SSD for now if you haven't and you'll be ok for a little bit.
I recently bought a Mid2014 15" rMBP for $1800, I couldn't say no at that price.
The 13" rMBP will never have a dGPU, so if you need some extra performance I recommend the 15".
It's kind of obvious that Apple is redesigning and making the next rMBP series thin. Skylake is a 14nm processor. Less heat, less energy usage. Not to mention USB-C connector. Apple will definitely dump the minidisplay port and add 2-3 USB-C ports on the next rMBP.
So my opinion? Hold off until next year if you can. Your 2011 MBP is quite good, I used to have one. It's fast. Upgrade your HDD to SSD for now if you haven't and you'll be ok for a little bit.
I recently bought a Mid2014 15" rMBP for $1800, I couldn't say no at that price.
Since Intel released a mobile quad core i5, I can't wait for a quad core 13" i5 rmbp to show up. It'll be the perfect laptop for me and to compensate for battery life, 2 cores would automatically be disabled and TDP will automatically be decreased to 25W when running on battery.
USB-C (Possible single port charging), Thunderbolt 3.0, faster dGPU (for 15" rMBP), faster iGPU, faster memory (1866Mhz), less heat, thinner laptop are also good incentives.
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Well there may be a redesign which may or may not be worth waiting for , for a casual user it will make no practical difference performance wise, but battery should be a bit better. To be honest if I was you I would buy now waiting 6 months for something that in all likelihood will make little difference to you just sounds like 6 months not having the computer you want to me.
Take a look at this post to get an idea of what to expect.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2015-13-rmbp-battery-life-rave.1912189/
The thing is, if the OP waited this long to upgrade, what's another 6 months?
I recently had to get rid of my desktop and was desperate so I got a Mid 2014 rMBP. Its a perfectly fast machine and gets the job done.
But OP has a 2011 15" MBP. that machine which I had is no joke. If he doesn't have an SSD and a RAM upgrade I highly recommend that first and holding off 6 months. the rMBP is at the end of it's design cycle.
It could be a nightmare of a 6 months if he has to use that 2011 15 inch on a train commuting for 4 hours everyday, or spends weeks on end flying around the world to meetings....
More importantly there is no indication that the next one will be anything other than the same with a new processor which is marginally better than the one we have, so why wait if thats what he wants, he states no use for thunderbolt 3 or improved graphics so it really matters not.... He has no reason to wait and similarly no reason not to if he just has to buy the newest thing on the day it's released.
How is a 2011 MBP a nightmare? haha
There will definitely be an update to the design. Apple redesigns every 4-5 years. This is one of the reasons they didnt put Broadwell in the 15" rMBP and only in the 13".
Well it's big and heavy and doesn't fit on travel tables in planes and trains, its not much fun on your chest in bed or even on a lap on the sofa, so for casual use it's not a great machine. But hey thats my opinion of the 15 inch and why I don't have one.
Apple redesigned the MBP in 2012 that is only 3 years ago by your own reckoning it'll be 2017 for a redesign.
SDave I don't know why you have such a problem with my posts they are just as relevant as yours and just have a different take on the available information, practically nothing but rumour and conjecture as it is.
Just inform the OP what you would do and why and leave it at that your guess is no better or worse than mine.
Apple redesigned the MBP in 2012 that is only 3 years ago by your own reckoning it'll be 2017 for a redesign.
SDave I don't know why you have such a problem with my posts they are just as relevant as yours and just have a different take on the available information, practically nothing but rumour and conjecture as it is.
Just inform the OP what you would do and why and leave it at that your guess is no better or worse than mine.
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It's not that big. You're acting like it's a PowerBook from 2002 or something. It fits fine in travel tables and planes, I've had one. The rMBP is quite nice, but its not THAT much thinner than the 2001. Quite thin.
There's no way apple will wait until 2017. I've been following Apple for about 20 years and know how they work. They want to get rid of all the excess. They want to move to USB-C really badly and unify all of their products and their manufacturing. 2017 moves into 10nm CPU manufacturing and it won't be until 2019 that these processors become a reality. Skylake is essentailly a SoC now because the PCH moved onto the die, so Apple has more room to wiggle around. They can get rid of USB 3.0 ports and the MagSafe port and make the rMBP way thinner. They can also get rid of the bigger fans, have smaller batteries and possibly downsize the display bezel.
Apple usually makes smaller products first then moves it to their bigger brothers. The new MacBook 12" is a revolutionary design and they would move it to the rMBP.
Watch next year, 2016 is the year of the new rMBP.
I honestly don't care, I like my rMBP a lot, it's light and very very fast. the 750m is not the greatest dGPU for me but its enough. I wish they would move to the 960m at least. Maybe they will soon. Those GPU's are also very light on energy usage and heat.
You clearly haven't followed them very well then as they have moved to all AMD on all their machines and even the most rabid NVIDIA gamer would not expect them to use anything else in the next couple of years.
I'm expecting the redesign on the canonlake, the silicon will be 10nm by then with much smaller and more power efficient chips allowing for much more wiggle room as you like to call it for making things a lot slimmer and really making the most out of a redesign. DDR4 will also be mainstream and cheaper and will be the standard. They will be able to get rid of ports as you say but if they do that next year the outcry will be huge and they won't risk it, they'll keep what they have for one more upgrade make the most money out of it they can and avoid pissing off a lot of customers.
Just because I see things differently doesn't make my reasoning any less valid, you could well be bang on, but then again so could I or they may be some middle ground between us. In short no one knows, it's all conjecture and if you'll just wind the arrogance in slightly you'd realise that the best we could do wouyld be just to post our opinions for the OP to peruse and avoid this pointless bickering.
Very true. However I don't think they completely dumped nVidia. I just think AMD has better value for their GPUs. Apple has switched between nVidia and AMD for years, I really don't think they let nVidia go. 960m has a good chance of being in the next rMBP. It's a decent dGPU.
I just think for the OP he can wait. Or get a Mid 2014 rMBP like I did for $1800 (2.5Ghz, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM) and sell his 2011 and be on his way.
You can build a eGPU for ±$1500 if you really want to game with your laptop with a really good GPU. Or just build a Hackintosh.
I like the MagSafe port, much more then charging via USB-C. But agree: a unified connector for Apple makes sense. (Just not for charging for me)