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16-Inch MacBook Pro Now Available With Up to 75% Faster Radeon Pro 5600M Graphics

Metrosey said:
So I have to answer this, I can’t simply scroll past it anymore. Lower Nanometer CPUs/GPUs does not mean it will automatically beat a higher nanometer part. There’s other more important things within a CPU. Intel are currently using a four year old architecture with their mobile CPUs, yet, it’s highly competitive and in most cases, better. Furthermore, actually has a denser fab process, meaning Intel 14nm is similar to 10nm TSMC, and Intel 10nm is similar to 7nm TSMC.

With the hopeful introduction of Tigerlake this year or next year, Intel will have a new architecture.

In terms of Thunderbolt 80Gbp/s we won’t be getting it soon. USB4 doesn’t automatically mean Thunderbolt, and USB4 only supports 40Gbp/s, we have no idea if USB4.1 supports higher bandwidth since it’s not been taped out.
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Yeah but we're not talking about TSMC. We're talking about AMD. 7nm will run a lot cooler, which is important in these thin professional laptops that have issues getting burning hot under load. I'm done with having kids but I still don't prefer to have my balls broiled. Also AMD is beating Intel top to bottom.

As for USB 4.0, it actually is Thunderbolt 3. Look it up. It's really weird. That's why I was curious whether Thunderbolt was going to even stick around or if it would just morph into future, faster versions of USB 4.1 or 5.0 or whatever going forward.
 
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Zdigital2015 said:
Honestly, that was my first thought. Unless I am mobile so much that lugging an eGPU around is prohibitive, I would go with the 8GB 5500M option and spend $700 on an eGPU box and either a Radeon VII, if you can find one, or a 5700XT until RDNA 2 GPUs are introduced and Apple includes support in a future version of macOS. $700-$800 just seems a bit ridiculous to me. I guess benchmarks and real world testing will tell us if it’s worth the extra expense.
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Yup - and this released pushed me over the edge. I ordered a Sapphire 8GB 5700XT and Sonnet eGFX enclosure for $700.
 
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PickUrPoison said:
Actually Wi-Fi 6E has already been ratified and the FCC has approved the frequency re-allocation

It’s 1.2GHz of new bandwidth that could be a game changer. Unfortunately, new hardware is required.

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Is this some kind of a joke?

Standards body: "Let's change the naming of WiFi so it's not just some random letters"

Manufacturers: "Ok, here is WiFi 6!"

WiFi 6E: "Get wrecked son."
 
macduke said:
Yeah but we're not talking about TSMC. We're talking about AMD. 7nm will run a lot cooler, which is important in these thin professional laptops that have issues getting burning hot under load. I'm done with having kids but I still don't prefer to have my balls broiled. Also AMD is beating Intel top to bottom.

As for USB 4.0, it actually is Thunderbolt 3. Look it up. It's really weird. That's why I was curious whether Thunderbolt was going to even stick around or if it would just morph into future, faster versions of USB 4.1 or 5.0 or whatever going forward.
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I certainly wouldn’t say AMD is beating Intel top to bottom, it’s been show across multiple benchmarks that Intel’s four year old architecture is still beating AMD in most tests. Furthermore, the AMD chips still run at 100c, so there’s no difference. If charging is that costly, then you will enjoy when Apple goes ARM and beats both Intel and AMD.

Also, with Thunderbolt. USB4 doesn’t automatically support Thunderbolt standards, it needs to be Thunderbolt 4 verifies which is an additional cost.
 
Zdigital2015 said:
This happens all the time (USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 anyone?). How can you possibly be surprised that it happened to Wi-Fi?
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Because the entire point of their switch to a completely different naming scheme was to clear up consumer confusion.

USB just doesn't care. WiFi looked like they were turning over a new leaf. Guess not.
 
Steve686 said:
I just made my 16” into a desktop station after using iMac and a Mini for a few years.
Felt like there was less trade-off with the current 16inch MBP.
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the difficult part is the first time you switch from desktop to laptop. Once you are already on laptop, updating every couple of years is usually an improvement. But that first step means a lot of compromise.
 
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PickUrPoison said:
Why not WiFi 6E? Don’t you want the 6GHz band?

1.2GHz of greenfield bandwidth is going to be sweet. Don’t get stuck with the soon-to-be-obsolete WiFi 6, that would be beyond tragic 😢
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One now has to wonder if that's one reason Apple held off on Wi-Fi 6 on the Mac, although I assume this means that 802.11AX iOS devices will not be able to take advantage of 6E either?
 
markaceto said:
  • Myself and most of my colleagues perpetually run macOS a full release cycle behind, so that's a must-have consideration for us in a hardware purchase
    • Furthermore, a lot of our apps play catchup for 3-6 months because of all the changes that Apple makes in each release that don't necessarily appear in the betas
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I never thought about that because I've only ever bought a Mac in the Spring or Summer out of sheer coincidence. Typically late winter/early spring is when I upgrade my OS after my apps are good and things seem relatively stable on the forums. I couldn't even imagine buying a Pro machine in autumn and having a broken workflow. It's kinda crazy that they don't give you the option when the OS is brand new, at least for the "Pro" Macs.
 
£700 for a jump up in gpu tier is a lot! I understand there’s a cost associated with implementing the component in the system but still...
At that price point wouldn’t it be more sensible to purchase an eGpu?
 
Zdigital2015 said:
One now has to wonder if that's one reason Apple held off on Wi-Fi 6 on the Mac, although I assume this means that 802.11AX iOS devices will not be able to take advantage of 6E either?
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Nope. To use the new stuff in 6E you need a new device with new radio and new antenna. Which is why it will be a long time before it matters (you need new wifi routers, etc.)
 
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ijbond said:
My rule of thumb: Always order the slowest CPU und the slowest graphics card, if you want a quiet laptop.

But you never have too much RAM or too much SSD space and should get as much as you can afford.
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Agree, especially CPU with Apple. They run into thermal throttling for nearly every small form factor device they have.
 
Holy moly I'm jelly of this new option. Mine has the 8GB 5500M. Primarily for color grading in DaVinci Resolve.

Though there is no way my employer could've agreed to buy a new macbook right now anyway, so glad I asked for one before all of this started.
 
I had a budget of $5,000, so bought the max model with 4TB SSD last week. I'm thinking I should return and get the 5600M graphics/2TB model for the same price.

I don't necessarily have a need for it, but I was thinking of running boot-camp for the occasional game. Is that going to be 75% on gaming, or specialized "Pro" applications?

Thoughts? I wonder what will hold up better for resale and longevity...I have to imagine graphics over some storage.
 
Kinotto said:
£700 for a jump up in gpu tier is a lot! I understand there’s a cost associated with implementing the component in the system but still...
At that price point wouldn’t it be more sensible to purchase an eGpu?
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An E-GPU would make sense only if you mainly do work at a fixed location, since it’s pretty much immobile.

If you are the sort who does plenty of graphics work on the go (eg: video editing on an airplane or at a remote location shoot without easy access to power), and absolutely need the extra graphics performance, then it makes sense to house it all within the laptop instead of relying on external peripherals.

The best GPU is the one you have on you when you absolutely need it.
 
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NickName99 said:
For $800 over the standard GPU, you could get an eGPU enclosure and a 5700 XT, which would be much faster than a 5600 and be upgradable.
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And this would also allow the CPU to run about 500MHz faster with an external display under sustained high load and the machine to run faster and quieter at medium load.
 
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koruki said:
a bit backwards, the CPU should be AMD not the GPU, the GPU should be Nvidia.
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Absolutely not...Intel is not my favorite company, but AMD still doesn’t have a complete product portfolio nor can they produce the volume Apple needs and NVIDIA is done on the Mac side, has been for 5 years. Don’t want to see them back, they’re a plague.
 
Am I the only one who, while I'm enjoying the fact that Apple has upgraded the capabilities of the macbook pro 16, is very happily content with the macbook pro 16 that I bought in Feb with the radeon pro 5500m, 2tb SSD and 32gb RAM? I love my mac just as it is!
 
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koruki said:
a bit backwards, the CPU should be AMD not the GPU, the GPU should be Nvidia.
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It doesn’t look like Apple will go back to Nvidia any time soon given their acrimonious history, and macOS is probably more optimised for Intel, plus with rumours of Apple moving to ARM, they probably feel it’s not worth their time to support a new processor.

NickName99 said:
For $800 over the standard GPU, you could get an eGPU enclosure and a 5700 XT, which would be much faster than a 5600 and be upgradable.
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I can’t bring an e-GPU onto the plane the same way I can with a 16” MBP with upgraded graphics card though. It’s really about portability here.
 
Abazigal said:
I can’t bring an e-GPU onto the plane the same way I can with a 16” MBP with upgraded graphics card though. It’s really about portability here.
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By the time you take a plane trip again, it’s going to be time for a new MacBook Pro
 
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