Waiting for Broadwell MBP Thread

[farmkittie]

Sorry I didn't read all the previous posts in this thread so I'm probably asking a silly question but does anyone have a guess on when the new MacBook Pro might come out? In looking at past versions (Buyer's Guide on this site) I see there's a wide range of months. Released in Feb one year, October another and July this past year. I thought it was nice that Apple released it in time for students to get the $100 gift card and the new model.

I'm anxious to get a new one and hoping before September. When are suitable Broadwell or Skylark chips coming out? Sorry for the noob question.

 

[chad.petree]

P.S. Skylake-H are the ones you're looking for. There are going to be 35W dual and especially quad-core SKUs, the ones you want in 15" rMBP. Could be useful for the 13" rMBP as well. Confirmed for 2H 2015

Macbook pro 15" with skywell, 4k native display, thiner screen bezels, smaller body overall ala dell xps 13, 500 gb ssd, hdmi 2.0, usb type c... all on the 2000 $ model (not the ultra high end 2500 $ ) , 2H 2015 release

Do you think I'm dreaming too much? That will be my ideal machine , to upgrade from my 2012 15" retina with the GeForce GT 650M and 256 gb ( I regret everyday not getting the 500 gb but apple wanted 400 ¢ extra for it )

I would trade 8 gb of RAM for the extra 250 gb any day, I don't need 16 gb of RAM ( 500 gb SSD in total) ....

 

[gpat]

Macbook pro 15" with skywell, 4k native display, thiner screen bezels, smaller body overall ala dell xps 13, 500 gb ssd, hdmi 2.0, usb type c... all on the 2000 $ model (not the ultra high end 2500 $ ) , 2H 2015 release

Do you think I'm dreaming too much? That will be my ideal machine , to upgrade from my 2012 15" retina with the GeForce GT 650M and 256 gb ( I regret everyday not getting the 500 gb but apple wanted 400 ¢ extra for it )

I would trade 8 gb of RAM for the extra 250 gb any day, I don't need 16 gb of RAM ( 500 gb SSD in total) ....

- Skylake: will come sooner or later
- 4k display: would kill the machine, don't count on it
- thinner bezels: would be nice, but I don't know if they will redesign
- 500 GB SSD on entry level: definitely not going to happen on next revision
- HDMI 2: quite possible
- USB type C: not impossible but I think they'll keep it for MBA 12" and stick to Thunderbolt on the rest of the lineup. They could still add it for cohesion though.


Also I think Dell has an exclusive on the crazy thin bezel panels from Sharp, 1 year maybe

 

[chad.petree]

- Skylake: will come sooner or later
- 4k display: would kill the machine, don't count on it
- thinner bezels: would be nice, but I don't know if they will redesign
- 500 GB SSD on entry level: definitely not going to happen on next revision
- HDMI 2: quite possible
- USB type C: not impossible but I think they'll keep it for MBA 12" and stick to Thunderbolt on the rest of the lineup. They could still add it for cohesion though.


Also I think Dell has an exclusive on the crazy thin bezel panels from Sharp, 1 year maybe

I hate that there's no 320 gb SSD option, just like on the iphone 6 you only get 16 gb and the next model is 64 gb? Are you kidding me apple?

Any chance of seeing the GeForce GT 750M on the entry level 15" model?

4K Would be nice really nice, but I know that maybe the processors are not fully ready for the extra load that 4K (3840 × 2160) represents, but still the XPS 13 has a 3.200 x 1.800 screen on a 13" display ... And no I'm not planning on going back to windows

 

[gpat]

I think the base 15" model will stay 256/16/Iris Pro. Any upgrade will interest the architecture, the ports and maybe the design. That's the way Apple operates.
The 1800p on the XPS 13 drains 4 hours of battery life, 15h vs 11h. Actually I'm pissed off because, here in Europe, Dell doesn't sell the 1080p one.

 

[chad.petree]

I think the base 15" model will stay 256/16/Iris Pro. Any upgrade will interest the architecture, the ports and maybe the design. That's the way Apple operates.
The 1800p on the XPS 13 drains 4 hours of battery life, 15h vs 11h. Actually I'm pissed off because, here in Europe, Dell doesn't sell the 1080p one.

Damn I'll have to pay extra for that 500 gb SDD, I was thinking of going for the 13" model , but there's no quad core only dual core wtf apple?

 

[Woochoo]

- Skylake: will come sooner or later
- 4k display: would kill the machine, don't count on it
- thinner bezels: would be nice, but I don't know if they will redesign
- 500 GB SSD on entry level: definitely not going to happen on next revision
- HDMI 2: quite possible
- USB type C: not impossible but I think they'll keep it for MBA 12" and stick to Thunderbolt on the rest of the lineup. They could still add it for cohesion though.


Also I think Dell has an exclusive on the crazy thin bezel panels from Sharp, 1 year maybe

It'd be great if they put 500GB SSD on 15" entry level and 1TB on the high end. But also if they add at least 1 type C usb since it will become the future standard... despite not needing it right now, it would be funny to see Apple going Skylake which is upgrading the buses like PCIe 4.0, new wifi, DDR4 RAM and still going with the USB 3.0, seeing that 3.1 will become the new standard (And Apple is the ones to come first in this kind of things before being mainstream, like with Thunderbolt).

 

[gpat]

Damn I'll have to pay extra for that 500 gb SDD, I was thinking of going for the 13" model , but there's no quad core only dual core wtf apple?

That depends on Intel, it's not Apple's fault. The lowest powered Skylake quad chip will be 35W, too high for next 13", so don't expect it either.

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It'd be great if they put 500GB SSD on 15" entry level and 1TB on the high end. But also if they add at least 1 type C usb since it will become the future standard... despite not needing it right now, it would be funny to see Apple going Skylake which is upgrading the buses like PCIe 4.0, new wifi, DDR4 RAM and still going with the USB 3.0, seeing that 3.1 will become the new standard (And Apple is the ones to come first in this kind of things before being mainstream, like with Thunderbolt).

Keeping both USB TypeC and Thunderbolt seems redundant to me. They do the same things - all in one connector, very flexible, incorporates multiple protocols. As they'll be using USB Type-C on their 12" MBA, I wouldn't be surprised to see Thunderbolt ditched on the whole lineup in favor of USB-C.
The only problem is, USB-C has 10Gb bandwidth, while Thunderbolt 3 will be 40 Gb. But I can't see both ports being used by Apple - too confusing, even for the compatibility with the upcoming apple displays. Hopefully they'll figure it out.

 

[chad.petree]

That depends on Intel, it's not Apple's fault. The lowest powered Skylake quad chip will be 35W, too high for next 13", so don't expect it either.

How many w does the chip that apple included on the 13" macbook pro use?

It'd be great if they put 500GB SSD on 15" entry level and 1TB on the high end. But also if they add at least 1 type C usb since it will become the future standard... despite not needing it right now, it would be funny to see Apple going Skylake which is upgrading the buses like PCIe 4.0, new wifi, DDR4 RAM and still going with the USB 3.0, seeing that 3.1 will become the new standard (And Apple is the ones to come first in this kind of things before being mainstream, like with Thunderbolt).

Exactly my point, apple really likes being the first when it comes to new connectivity standards

 

[gpat]

How many w does the chip that apple included on the 13" macbook pro use?

28w. The Macbook Air is 15w. And they'll eventually merge the two models when a lower powered chip that can drive Retina is released.
So they'll only go lower, not higher.

 

[SSD-GUY]

So is skylake basically coming in Q1 2016?

 

[Woochoo]

28w. The Macbook Air is 15w. And they'll eventually merge the two models when a lower powered chip that can drive Retina is released.
So they'll only go lower, not higher.

As far as I know, Core M is cappable of driving retina. I don't see Apple merging Air and Pro's in a low-end chip, but downgrading Airs to Core M instead of using i5's & i7 is plausible since its not made for heavy usage.

 

[chad.petree]

So basically we should skip Broadwell and wait for Skylake? Skylake is supossed to have a considerably better integrated gpu, plus support for DDR4.

Apple should be able to release a refreshed macbook air and a refreshed 13" macbook retina any time now, since the dual core Broadwell cpus are already out, right?

 

[thunng8]

Apple should be able to release a refreshed macbook air and a refresed 13" macbook retina any time now, since the dual core Broadwell cpus are already out, right?

Air - yes
Retina - no yet. I don't believe the 28w dual cores with hd6100 are out yet.

 

[thundersteele]

Air - yes
Retina - no yet. I don't believe the 28w dual cores with hd6100 are out yet.

If rumors are to believed the Airs will be updated Feb. 24.

There are also rumors about a 12'' retina Air for March/April.

The non-retina Airs can exist for a while as entry level machines. But I wonder a bit what the role of the 13'' rMBP will be if the 12'' rAir appears. The 13'' rMBP is not all that powerful, being limited to dual core CPUs and Iris graphics (not Iris Pro).

 

[chad.petree]

If rumors are to believed the Airs will be updated Feb. 24.

There are also rumors about a 12'' retina Air for March/April.

The non-retina Airs can exist for a while as entry level machines. But I wonder a bit what the role of the 13'' rMBP will be if the 12'' rAir appears. The 13'' rMBP is not all that powerful, being limited to dual core CPUs and Iris graphics (not Iris Pro).

The same role that the 13" rmbp has now, more power but a thicker body?

I'd say at least before July apple should release new macbooks, last year they released refreshes only in july and for the last couple of years, they had been releasing 2 refreshes per year, probably they skipped it because they wanted to wait for Broadwell

----------

That depends on Intel, it's not Apple's fault. The lowest powered Skylake quad chip will be 35W, too high for next 13", so don't expect it either

So if I want a quad core retina macbook I HAVE to go with the 15 model I like the big screen and the power, but I don't find the 15" model particularly portable, let's hope apple shrinks it quite a bit


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Also the rmbp 15" uses 47W TDP but I read that the Skylake-S chips will come with 35, 65 and 96W TDP, where does the 15" fit in there?

 

[gpat]

Also the rmbp 15" uses 47W TDP but I read that the Skylake-S chips will come with 35, 65 and 96W TDP, where does the 15" fit in there?

Try Skylake-H, 35w and 45w. Skylake-S is more of an iMac chip.

 

[Woochoo]

The same role that the 13" rmbp has now, more power but a thicker body?

The main difference between a rMBP 13" and a MBA is its screen, because they perform almost the same (MBA hits just a lil lower, but similar). If Apple doesn't go Core-M with the rMBA and goes i5-i7, there won't be any reason why some one would want a rMBP 13 over a rMBA, because of its similar performance and better portability of the Air (thinner, less weigh...).

I'd say at least before July apple should release new macbooks, last year they released refreshes only in july and for the last couple of years, they had been releasing 2 refreshes per year, probably they skipped it because they wanted to wait for Broadwell

Well, this time Intel has messed up and Apple depends on Intel to release new stuff (not just revamped), so the release times will be different. Appart from that, Apple is known for doing whatever they want, there's no rule that says they will release X stuff in the month Y, so it's impossible to know if they will go Broadwell (almost the same thing as Haswell) or skip to Skylake (a whole new thing).

 

[koyoot]

Results make perfect sense. It indicates a bottleneck in memory performance. That's the reason why edram was introduced in iris pro. Without it, scaling with more execution units is minimal.

We've seen it in hd4400->hd5000 and seeing exact same pattern in hd5500->hd6000. No amount of drivers will fix this.

It doesn't look like broadwell does much to alleviate this bottleneck (sky lake with ddr4 will to some extent though)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8986/intel-nuc5i5ryk-review-a-broadwellu-ucffpc-for-enthusiasts/4

Here HD6000 is slower than HD5500.

Sorry, but I don't buy first reviews of performance .

 

[thunng8]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8986/intel-nuc5i5ryk-review-a-broadwellu-ucffpc-for-enthusiasts/4

Here HD6000 is slower than HD5500.

Sorry, but I don't buy first reviews of performance .

It even makes more sense here.

"One aspect to be kept in mind while considering the above results is that the HD 5500 in the Core i7-5500U had accesses to DRAM running at 2133 MHz, while the HD 6000 in the NUC5i5RYK was limited to 1866 MHz."

Looks like performance dominated by memory performance not number of execution units.

That's why hd6000 will never get anywhere close to the hd5200 iris pro since it doesn't have edram

 

[draughn101]

Air - yes
Retina - no yet. I don't believe the 28w dual cores with hd6100 are out yet.

So, if you had a 13 rMBP that just arrived from Amazon, would you open that bad boy up, or would you wait for the 24th just to be sure. I wouldn't feel bad if they were refreshed at WWDC as expected, but if I crack this thing open four days before a new processor is released, i'll be a little upset.

 

[Woochoo]

So, if you had a 13 rMBP that just arrived from Amazon, would you open that bad boy up, or would you wait for the 24th just to be sure. I wouldn't feel bad if they were refreshed at WWDC as expected, but if I crack this thing open four days before a new processor is released, i'll be a little upset.

If you want a rMBP, open it... There's no chance there will be a February MBP release (only Airs if there is a release/revamp). If you doubt between an Air (Broadwell) and a rMBP (Haswell) don't open it yet and wait 4 days. After that, you can decide depending on what happened.

 

[Flabasha]

NO chance of a MacBook Pro February release? Why so certain?

 

[Jayayess1190]

NO chance of a MacBook Pro February release? Why so certain?

There is a chance we could see a silent upgrade if the rumors are true.

 

[chad.petree]

The main difference between a rMBP 13" and a MBA is its screen, because they perform almost the same (MBA hits just a lil lower, but similar). If Apple doesn't go Core-M with the rMBA and goes i5-i7, there won't be any reason why some one would want a rMBP 13 over a rMBA, because of its similar performance and better portability of the Air (thinner, less weigh...).

But what is apple planning on doing with the 13" air? Kill it off? Every single rumor just mentions the 12" model and also, they mention core M , no i5