2015 Broadwell 15" Retina MBP Timeframe?

[dusk007]

It does not matter whether Broadwell could just slot in. Engineering samples of Skylake have been going around for a close to a year. Apple would have the logic board ready by this time already. They only need the chips to mass produce the boards. With what roadmap says chips should be readily available sometimes soon after september.
Of course there won't be a Broadwell MBP but a Skylake one. There is no question about it but it won't take till next year.

 

[HighRes15]

Purely from a logical perspective, Apple should could have updated to Broadwell this summer, rather than stick to Haswell and update the GPU (and unrelated bits like the trackpad). But they did not. That means Broadwell was not being fabricated in scale, at least not the components they want, to be worth it. Intel itself is not committing to Broadwell much.

As things stand, Broadwell absorbed all of the 22nm->14nm process yield related delays. Skylake is a tock and was not directly affected. Intel has already lifted NDAs making Skylake performance numbers available, from Arstechnica or Anandtech. Apple will have had access to early SKL samples long ago. It's now entirely a question of how soon SKL chips specifically meant for the MBPs, will be available.

That is something Intel has not been transparent about, but should be clearly in early September. The fact that mobo makers are already ready means that most of the industry expects SKL on time. Apple isn't the only company waiting on SKL chips. Everyone else is too. MS is waiting so that they can release the next Surface Pros with it, for example. The fact that multiple significant players are waiting for mobile SKL chips suggests they'll be out in time for holiday season updates.

 

[Mcmeowmers]

Purely from a logical perspective, Apple should could have updated to Broadwell this summer, rather than stick to Haswell and update the GPU (and unrelated bits like the trackpad). But they did not. That means Broadwell was not being fabricated in scale, at least not the components they want, to be worth it. Intel itself is not committing to Broadwell much.

Apple could have also chosen a more powerful GPU in the latest 15in but they did not. I know mac refreshes are typically tied to intel's schedule but broadwell was not a big upgrade. There are all sorts of economic reasons for staying with broadwell too - simpler supply chain, simpler manufacturing, not having to keep old inventory in stock/having to order a small amount of processors to fill previous orders, broadwell would likely cost most leading to lower profit per unit.

As well as marketing. Two updates with each having 5~% CPU increase or one with 10~% increase?

 

[HighRes15]

Apple could have also chosen a more powerful GPU in the latest 15in but they did not. I know mac refreshes are typically tied to intel's schedule but broadwell was not a big upgrade. There are all sorts of economic reasons for staying with broadwell too - simpler supply chain, simpler manufacturing, not having to keep old inventory in stock/having to order a small amount of processors to fill previous orders, broadwell would likely cost most leading to lower profit per unit.

I don't know about the TDP of the more powerful GPU candidates. Would you have those figures ? Unless the TDPs and prices per unit are compelling to Apple, the current choice makes sense to them.

They cannot 'stay with Broadwell' if Intel doesn't provide sufficient inventory. Broadwell bore the full brunt of the 22 to 14nm process shrink. Intel seems to have decided early not to commit to Broadwell, and instead moved to Skylake. To avoid the same problem next year, they pushed back Cannonlake a year, and slotted in Kaby Lake, which is a second tock at 14nm, after Skylake.

I know there are a few Broadwell mobiles out there, but that's not sufficient proof that Apple had access to enough inventory to refresh the 15" MBP with it. With the Skylake official reveal just days away, it would be pointless of them to have anything with Broadwell anymore.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Well today we get some of the roadmap and it looks like the 28W rMBP class chips won't be here until 2016, no shock for me there, and no sign of the 47W ones for the 15 inch at all.