Handoff Isn't Reason Enough To Upgrade ...

[Dwalls90]

Yea, I'm one of those in the "I don't have Bluetooth ('BT') 4.0 / BT LE" boat. I have a 2011 15" MBP that set me back $2,549 to buy. But perhaps what irritates me the most, is not even 3 years later I have to spend $2,599 for virtually the exact same laptop ... solely for a stupid BT upgrade.

CPU: I have The 2820QM (2.3Ghz Sandy Bridge CPU) in my 2011 MBP. The equivalent 2.3Ghz Haswell offering from Apple in the 2014 rMPB is the 4770TE. Real world performance improvement on this "new" CPU is a measly 10% at best:

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/69...-2820QM_(BGA)_vs_Intel_Core_i7_i7-4770TE.html

RAM: I have 16GB, and it finally comes standard with the 15" rMBP, so no real world improvement here.

Hard Drive: I have a 480GB OCZ SSD. It cost me $250 to buy aftermarket (still spent less in total than the 2014 rMPB, included in figure above). Finally the 2014 rMBP has a 512GB SSD as standard. I don't count this extra 32Gb as an actual improvement in the grand scheme of the comparison, if anything following the "~10% improvement" trend.

GPU: The new rMBP certainly takes the lead in this arena with the 750M, hands down. One caveat is the rMBP has more pixels to drive so relative performance isn't greatly improved as a result:

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-6750M-vs-GeForce-GT-750M

Other items: Battery life - The rMBP is rated at 8 hours versus the 2011 MBP being rated at 7 hours. Yes, the rMBP is thinner, and has retina, but I lose a CD drive, Firewire, Ethernet and upgradability.

Apple REALLY isn't making a compelling case for users to want to upgrade a machine that costs a few thousand dollars only a few years later. Thankfully we may be lucky and be able to upgrade just the Wireless and Bluetooth card?

I understand Handoff isn't the ONLY feature in Yosemite, but I think it's safe to say that UI changes aside, it's virtually the everyday major change to OS X. I would gladly give Apple my money for a new laptop, if there was reason to upgrade, aside from a $15 Bluetooth card

 

[w0lf]

Who exactly said you need continuity? Yosemite is a free update that has other features as well. Heck you don't even have to use it... Look at all the people who still rave about SL back from '09 being the OS master race on here.

Also obviously you'd sell your old MacBook if you upgraded so it would probably be more like $500. Plus you left out the part about you going from a normal screen to retina which is a pretty big deal for a lot of people.

Lastly presumably you can just buy a Bluetooth USB dongle for like $50. Unless that's too ungodly of a sight to have sticking out of a glorious MacBook.

 

[Fzang]

Every time a new feature is out, people act like they're entitled like it's their human right to get that feature, and yell "planned obsolescence" if their hardware is too old.

 

[Lunfai]

Because you bought the machine knowing that you were entitled to continuity three years later. Since Handoff requires Bluetooh LE, is it really their fault at this stage?

 

[TheBuffather]

Technology advances at an exponential rate. New things come along. When new hardware comes along, so does new software. OS X is a very efficient operating system that has a very long shelf life. To accomplish this, while still ensuring that the OS doesn't get boggled down with hordes of legacy code, some new features are limited to newer devices. It's not all just a sales tactic. OS X is leaps and bounds above Windows in terms of code efficiency for reasons like this. iPhones are the same way. Think of Android, most of those devices aren't even on the latest OS, or the second latest, or the third latest. Most relatively recent Macs can run the latest operating systems, but there will inevitably be features limited to newer technologies. C'est la vie.

P.S. The link above is to the site of Ray Kurzweil. Any fan of technology should know about him, and rent Transcendent Man ($2).

 

[hlfway2anywhere]

Yea, I'm one of those in the "I don't have Bluetooth ('BT') 4.0 / BT LE" boat. I have a 2011 15" MBP that set me back $2,549 to buy. But perhaps what irritates me the most, is not even 3 years later I have to spend $2,599 for virtually the exact same laptop ... solely for a stupid BT upgrade.

CPU: I have The 2820QM (2.3Ghz Sandy Bridge CPU) in my 2011 MBP. The equivalent 2.3Ghz Haswell offering from Apple in the 2014 rMPB is the 4770TE. Real world performance improvement on this "new" CPU is a measly 10% at best:

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/69...-2820QM_(BGA)_vs_Intel_Core_i7_i7-4770TE.html

RAM: I have 16GB, and it finally comes standard with the 15" rMBP, so no real world improvement here.

Hard Drive: I have a 480GB OCZ SSD. It cost me $250 to buy aftermarket (still spent less in total than the 2014 rMPB, included in figure above). Finally the 2014 rMBP has a 512GB SSD as standard. I don't count this extra 32Gb as an actual improvement in the grand scheme of the comparison, if anything following the "~10% improvement" trend.

GPU: The new rMBP certainly takes the lead in this arena with the 750M, hands down. One caveat is the rMBP has more pixels to drive so relative performance isn't insanely improved as a result:

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-6750M-vs-GeForce-GT-750M

Other items: Battery life - The rMBP is rated at 8 hours versus the 2011 MBP being rated at 7 hours. Yes, the rMBP is thinner, and has retina, but I lose a CD drive, firewire and ethernet.

Apple REALLY isn't making a compelling case for users to want to upgrade a machine that costs a few thousand dollars only a few years later. So what do we do, cross our fingers we can upgrade our BT to a 4.0 card? I'm not dishing out thousands three years later just for continuity with no real world performance improvements.

So don't upgrade then. Nobody cares how much you paid for your computer. Lots of people have paid that much for computers before BT 4.0 existed and none of them will get continuity features either. You're not special.

 

[FallenHeaven]

Yea, I'm one of those in the "I don't have Bluetooth ('BT') 4.0 / BT LE" boat. I have a 2011 15" MBP that set me back $2,549 to buy. But perhaps what irritates me the most, is not even 3 years later I have to spend $2,599 for virtually the exact same laptop ... solely for a stupid BT upgrade.

CPU: I have The 2820QM (2.3Ghz Sandy Bridge CPU) in my 2011 MBP. The equivalent 2.3Ghz Haswell offering from Apple in the 2014 rMPB is the 4770TE. Real world performance improvement on this "new" CPU is a measly 10% at best:

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/69...-2820QM_(BGA)_vs_Intel_Core_i7_i7-4770TE.html

RAM: I have 16GB, and it finally comes standard with the 15" rMBP, so no real world improvement here.

Hard Drive: I have a 480GB OCZ SSD. It cost me $250 to buy aftermarket (still spent less in total than the 2014 rMPB, included in figure above). Finally the 2014 rMBP has a 512GB SSD as standard. I don't count this extra 32Gb as an actual improvement in the grand scheme of the comparison, if anything following the "~10% improvement" trend.

GPU: The new rMBP certainly takes the lead in this arena with the 750M, hands down. One caveat is the rMBP has more pixels to drive so relative performance isn't insanely improved as a result:

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-6750M-vs-GeForce-GT-750M

Other items: Battery life - The rMBP is rated at 8 hours versus the 2011 MBP being rated at 7 hours. Yes, the rMBP is thinner, and has retina, but I lose a CD drive, firewire and ethernet.

Apple REALLY isn't making a compelling case for users to want to upgrade a machine that costs a few thousand dollars only a few years later. So what do we do, cross our fingers we can upgrade our BT to a 4.0 card? I'm not dishing out thousands three years later just for continuity with no real world performance improvements.

is Fine don't upgrade stay old fashion...

 

[thadoggfather]

What's odd is I have 2011 Macbook air and it supposedly works with continuity

weird where it just begins you know? you'd think if anything a pro would be equipped before the air.

 

[ProphetX]

Somebody sounds salty. OP, you should probably wait until the new OS and firmware updates are released (you know out of the beta testing phase, duh). Before you start with your clueless rants about nothing.

I don't know about everyone else here in these forums. But I'm starting to feel like this place is going down hill. When i first started lurking around here there was nothing but informative genuine techies posting here. Now this place is overrun with fake hipster techies crying about bugs in alphas and betas. Im all for people branching out and learning new things/ hobbies. But this is getting ridiculous. If your gonna be about this life (tech life) then please do your research. Its bad enough you hipsters have taken over such things as anime, cosplay and even gaming. Not to mention eyeglasses (I'm talking about plastic frames with fake non prescription lenses).

 

[CyBeRino]

but I lose a CD drive, firewire and ethernet.

If they make a retina macbook pro with firewire and ethernet (or at the very least with ethernet) I will buy that shi​​t so fast it'll knock their socks off.

 

[Dwalls90]

Who exactly said you need continuity? Yosemite is a free update that has other features as well. Heck you don't even have to use it... Look at all the people who still rave about SL back from '09 being the OS master race on here.

Also obviously you'd sell your old MacBook if you upgraded so it would probably be more like $500. Plus you left out the part about you going from a normal screen to retina which is a pretty big deal for a lot of people.

Lastly presumably you can just buy a Bluetooth USB dongle for like $50. Unless that's too ungodly of a sight to have sticking out of a glorious MacBook.

Nope, dongles aren't supported at present. Given Apple's track record, I'd bet this doesn't change by release time.

Technology advances at an exponential rate. New things come along. When new hardware comes along, so does new software. OS X is a very efficient operating system that has a very long shelf life. To accomplish this, while still ensuring that the OS doesn't get boggled down with hordes of legacy code, some new features are limited to newer devices. It's not all just a sales tactic. OS X is leaps and bounds above Windows in terms of code efficiency for reasons like this. iPhones are the same way. Think of Android, most of those devices aren't even on the latest OS, or the second latest, or the third latest. Most relatively recent Macs can run the latest operating systems, but there will inevitably be features limited to newer technologies. C'est la vie.

P.S. The link above is to the site of Ray Kurzweil. Any fan of technology should know about him, and rent Transcendent Man ($2).

See I would be a little less frustrated if I agreed with your point. Technology hasn't increased exponentially here. As you can see above from the benchmarks (or conduct on your own), performance and technology hasn't changed much, thus making it a hard argument to upgrade when my machine does everything the current rMBP does.

iPhones cost $200. Apple laptops cost ten times that. In addition, iPhones have increased their feature set and performance by double each generation or so. Apple laptops haven't.

So don't upgrade then. Nobody cares how much you paid for your computer. Lots of people have paid that much for computers before BT 4.0 existed and none of them will get continuity features either. You're not special.

Saying "nobody cares" doesn't contribute to the discussion.

 

[thirdeyeopen666]

Nope, dongles aren't supported at present. Given Apple's track record, I'd bet this doesn't change by release time.



See I would be a little less frustrated if I agreed with your point. Technology hasn't increased exponentially here. As you can see above from the benchmarks (or conduct on your own), performance and technology hasn't changed much, thus making it a hard argument to upgrade when my machine does everything the current rMBP does.

Still not understanding your point. You're making it as if Apple called you and said "Hey, we'd really like you to upgrade. The new MBP is REALLY GOOD!!!11!" If there's no compelling reason to upgrade: don't upgrade. Continuity is nice, but its also a bit gimmicky. You've been fine thus far without it. No one is forcing you to upgrade. Hell, no one is even suggesting it. We don't even know if the Bluetooth LE thing is even accurate yet.

 

[Dwalls90]

Still not understanding your point. You're making it as if Apple called you and said "Hey, we'd really like you to upgrade. The new MBP is REALLY GOOD!!!11!" If there's no compelling reason to upgrade: don't upgrade. Continuity is nice, but its also a bit gimmicky. You've been fine thus far without it. No one is forcing you to upgrade. Hell, no one is even suggesting it. We don't even know if the Bluetooth LE thing is even accurate yet.

They did drop the ball by putting the BT LE in the 2011 Airs but not the 2011 Pro's. "Pro" Machine is a gimmick.

As for BT LE being accurate:

https://www.macrumors.com/2014/06/17/yosemite-handoff-bluetooth-le/

Subject to change before official release? Well, yea, anything is. But it seems pretty straightforward continuity relies on BT LE.

 

[hlfway2anywhere]

iPhones cost $200. Apple laptops cost ten times that.

Correction. iPhone costs $649.

 

[hlfway2anywhere]

Saying "nobody cares" doesn't contribute to the discussion.

Yes because your irrational whining warrants a well-thought-out dissertation.

 

[Fzang]

If they make a retina macbook pro with firewire and ethernet (or at the very least with ethernet) I will buy that shi​​t so fast it'll knock their socks off.

What's wrong with a dongle, instead of making the computer thicker with the addition of the humongous size of the ethernet port?

 

[CyBeRino]

What's wrong with a dongle, instead of making the computer thicker with the addition of the humongous size of the ethernet port?

Because I'm a professional system/network admin and I prefer having a slightly fatter machine (which I use right now in the form of a non-retina macbook pro) to having to carry around and then inevitably forget and/or lose dongles.

I want a professional machine, with professional connections, for my profession. I don't think that's too much to ask.

I also want the option of upgrading the hdd/ssd and memory, by the way. Basically I'm happy with my current (late 2011) machine, I'd just like to get it up to par with the modern ones in terms of performance and things like support for BT LE and whatnot.

 

[daneoni]

The self-entitlement of some Apple users never ceases to amuse me. No, its actually astounding at this point.

 

[maflynn]

I want a professional machine, with professional connections, for my profession. I don't think that's too much to ask.

I also want the option of upgrading the hdd/ssd and memory

Based on what you posted, it appears that the MBPs are not a good fit for your stated needs. Apple loves thinner products and has removed ports in that goal. Plus they're moving to a sealed computer where you cannot upgrade anything.

 

[CyBeRino]

Based on what you posted, it appears that the MBPs are not a good fit for your stated needs. Apple loves thinner products and has removed ports in that goal. Plus they're moving to a sealed computer where you cannot upgrade anything.

Well, to be honest I can live without the upgradability of memory and storage; I typically upgrade those when I buy it and then never really look at them agan until I buy a new machine.

But having a machine that can, without external hardware, only connect to wireless networks is just a non-starter. I need real networking. And I'm not the only one.

I'm not saying Apple can't make laptops that don't have network ports; I'm saying they should continue making laptops that do. And I'm quite certain there's a market for such machines.

 

[ZombiePete]

I'm not saying Apple can't make laptops that don't have network ports; I'm saying they should continue making laptops that do. And I'm quite certain there's a market for such machines.

I'd be willing to bet that Apple has done more market research than you have in this regard. Ethernet connectivity is likely a low priority for most of the vast majority of the demographics that Apple targets; outside of work environments, I doubt many people use Cat5/6 connections for the laptops/portable devices.

 

[CyBeRino]

I'd be willing to bet that Apple has done more market research than you have in this regard. Ethernet connectivity is likely a low priority for most of the vast majority of the demographics that Apple targets; outside of work environments, I doubt many people use Cat5/6 connections for the laptops/portable devices.

I think you're underestimating the number of portable macs being used in work environments.

 

[AndyK]

Perhaps you should never buy anything to save yourself form the perpetual disappointment from the fact that three years later the company you bought the machine from didn't hold back their progress and innovation to keep you happy.

Technology moves on, either spend the £€$ to keep up or accept you're going to eventually get left behind.

 

[JoEw]

I think you're underestimating the number of portable macs being used in work environments.

Why keep around ports that can easily be emulated using a dock/adapter? Thunderbolt can literally become any port you could imagine. It really is the most logical port of the future compatibility wise.

If you think Apple will keep it's laptops the thickness of an Ethernet port your fooling yourself. Get the dated MBP, or jump to a Windows computer with all the ports of your dreams.

 

[ZombiePete]

I think you're underestimating the number of portable macs being used in work environments.

If you use a device like that in a work environment, typically you have some kind of docking station for it too so you're not constantly have to plug and unplug peripherals; either that or your environment is mostly wireless. Either way, no pressing need or desire to have an ethernet port in the laptop itself.

It really doesn't matter though because, again, I can only assume that Apple has done the appropriate market research and determined that for their user base ethernet ports are not a "must have", which is more valuable than extrapolation based on personal, anecdotal information.