About the new MacBookPro's pricing and CPU's...

[zephonic]

I've been digging some, and it seems the new MBP's without the touchbar are actually fitted with 15W CPU's, which makes them more like MacBookAirs, not MacBookPros. I believe it comes with these two processors, the i5-6360U and i7-6660U: ARK | Compare Intel

As they are low-power CPU's, they are likely to throttle soon under sustained loads, which may not be suitable for professional use.

It follows, then, that these will end up replacing the MBA, and only the touch-bar models are real MBP's in the traditional sense of the word.

I believe the MBP's with touchbar to have these CPU's, the i5-6267U, i5-6287U and i7-6567U: ARK | Compare Intel


And finally, even the low-power CPU's are capable of supporting 32GB memory...


Now, about prices, Apple's product strategy is a mess right now. There is three different 13" MBP's for sale, the old 2015 model, and the new one with or without touch bar. Now get this:

the old 13" with 16GB memory and 512GB storage costs $1899

the touchbar-less new 13" with 16/512GB costs $1899

So the old model costs the same as an equivalent-specced new one...
And then:

the touchbar-less new 13" with the 2.4GHz CPU and 16/512GB costs $2199

the new touchbar 13" with base (2.9) CPU and 16/512GB costs $2199


So the touchbar-less model with an as-close-as-you-can-get CPU costs as much as the touchbar model.


Apple really needs to sort this out, it makes no sense. And to me it confirms their eyes are not on the ball.


As for me, I decided to go with a refurb 2015 13"/2.9/8GBRAM/512GBSSD. I thought about getting the non-touchbar 2016 model, but that one is more MacBookAir territory, and I found $1899 a little too much for a power-sipper. And no Magsafe....

 

[tubeexperience]

What were you expecting when Scrooge McDuck is the CEO of Apple?

 

[Domen151]

They should lower the price for the 2015 model, but lets say it’s somehow OK for them to cost the same because last years model has a bit more powerful processor and still has all the ports. But I really don't get it why Apple priced the MBP’s from your second comparison the same, unless the 2.4GHz i7 from the base MBP is somehow better than the 2.9GHz i5 from MBP with Touch Bar

 

[motime]

So just to confirm because there seem to be differing opinions, even though the new touch bar less mbp has a lower W CPU it seems to be slightly out performing last years 13 rmbp CPU even though that is of higher W? So basically these new chips with lower W offer the same performances as the older ones in the base models. I guess the only difference would be throttling as the OP suggested under higher workloads. Am I right about this?

 

[wchristian6]

I was playing around with which laptop and configuration I'm gonna buy and look at this. The non-touch 13 has an i7 processor and 16 GB RAM upgrades. The touch 13 has the 16GB RAM upgrade. I can pay $20 bucks less and get a faster processor, faster RAM, better graphics, plus the touch bar. (This is with education pricing)

 

[zephonic]

But I really don't get it why Apple priced the MBP’s from your second comparison the same, unless the 2.4GHz i7 from the base MBP is somehow better than the 2.9GHz i5 from MBP with Touch Bar

Exactly, it doesn't make any sense. For the same coin, you can buy a better CPU and the touch bar.

That's what I mean with "Apple's eyes are not on the ball".

And there have been a lot of little foul-ups like this...

 

[compuguy1088]

I've been digging some, and it seems the new MBP's without the touchbar are actually fitted with 15W CPU's, which makes them more like MacBookAirs, not MacBookPros. I believe it comes with these two processors, the i5-6360U and i7-6660U: ARK | Compare Intel

As they are low-power CPU's, they are likely to throttle soon under sustained loads, which may not be suitable for professional use.

It follows, then, that these will end up replacing the MBA, and only the touch-bar models are real MBP's in the traditional sense of the word.

I believe the MBP's with touchbar to have these CPU's, the i5-6267U, i5-6287U and i7-6567U: ARK | Compare Intel


And finally, even the low-power CPU's are capable of supporting 32GB memory...


Now, about prices, Apple's product strategy is a mess right now. There is three different 13" MBP's for sale, the old 2015 model, and the new one with or without touch bar. Now get this:

the old 13" with 16GB memory and 512GB storage costs $1899

the touchbar-less new 13" with 16/512GB costs $1899

So the old model costs the same as an equivalent-specced new one...
And then:

the touchbar-less new 13" with the 2.4GHz CPU and 16/512GB costs $2199

the new touchbar 13" with base (2.9) CPU and 16/512GB costs $2199


So the touchbar-less model with an as-close-as-you-can-get CPU costs as much as the touchbar model.


Apple really needs to sort this out, it makes no sense. And to me it confirms their eyes are not on the ball.


As for me, I decided to go with a refurb 2015 13"/2.9/8GBRAM/512GBSSD. I thought about getting the non-touchbar 2016 model, but that one is more MacBookAir territory, and I found $1899 a little too much for a power-sipper. And no Magsafe....

Since the broadwell generation of Intel processors (the one before skylake), the i5 and i7 processors have supported a max of 32 gb of memory.

 

[Ryan1524]

I see this as letting people choose what they want, at least for a short while. The fact that the price is the same is actually quite fair. The new one should cost more.

These older models will stop selling as soon as their stock disappears.

 

[Pugly]

Apple always has these pricing structures. Maybe not this blatant, but for the upgrades that make a low tier close to the higher configuration it is now in striking distance of the high end model. It's just what you have to do when buying a Mac computer, play the value game of upgrades vs. base models.

If the low end model has a feature you want, you just have to deal with Apple's game... and get gouged on the upgrades.

 

[zephonic]

But has a MacBookAir ever been the same price as a MacBookPro with identical memory/storage?

That is what's odd. It's an oversight from the Marketing dpt. and it leaves an impression of a company too big to pay attention to details like this. Or too preoccupied.

I like the design of the new MBP's, although the trackpad is a bit too large for my taste, but they have raised the price by about $300 across the board.

And if you think of the MBP with regular function keys as the new MacBookAir (which it is), that model just got a $500 price bump.

 

[Ryan1524]

I don't think it's an oversight, because they are retiring the MBA. They even stated that the bottom MBP was designed as a substitute for the 13" MBA.

As for it being more expensive than the old MBA, yes, because this now has much more power than an MBA. More than what would be sensible to put in an MBA successor.

 

[zephonic]

I wouldn't call a 400Mhz speed bump "much more power". Those CPU's are still the 15W kind, and throttle-happy.

I'm not saying they should have kept it at the same price, but $500 more for the base model is a 50% increase. That's a fairly large price hike.