After checking some benchmarks of the RX 460 sister GPU, the Pro GPU is actually not that bad considering how thin the laptop is and the limited space.
The only bad thing here is the price for the MBP.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
AMD Details Radeon Pro Graphics in New 15-inch MacBook Pro Models
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
After checking some benchmarks of the RX 460 sister GPU, the Pro GPU is actually not that bad considering how thin the laptop is and the limited space.
The only bad thing here is the price for the MBP.
I like the idea of the External GPU... powerful graphics at home/work and a very portable laptop for the road.
But for the price you are paying for the Macbook Pro itself... it should have a fairly decent GPU inside. I think that's the issue people are having.
It sounds like Apple skimped on the GPU in order to fit it in such a thin and light laptop. And some people aren't happy with that considering how much these laptops cost.
It also sounds like Macbook Pro has never really had a great GPU inside... so I guess this continues this trend.
At least that's what I'm gathering from this thread.
As for your original discussion... if you're already paying an arm and a leg for somewhat-underpowered internal GPU... should you really have to pay more for an external GPU ?
AS much AS I'd like to see 1080 or whatever in there, from a thermal point of view it sounds pretty much impossible in such a thin machine.
Seems to make more sense to get a dedicated power desktop with state of the art graphics and then a cheap Mbp for mobile needs. Though I would have preferred one machine... it could even be thicker.
Seems to make more sense to get a dedicated power desktop with state of the art graphics and then a cheap Mbp for mobile needs. Though I would have preferred one machine... it could even be thicker.
The price to performance is nothing short of a joke. And the 460 really is the lowest offerings AMD has for their current chips ... except for the custom 450 which was specifically made to suck horribly on these MBPs. 1 teraflop ... woohoo ...
So, weird that Apple decided to put 3 different GPU configurations. And, all three are actually different classes in that they have different number of Compute Units in them. I feel like that is so not Apple-like. I mean, isn't Apple like one of those companies that can lead rather than follow? I mean to cater to the $2400 crowd (Radeon Pro 450), and the $2700 crowd (Radeon Pro 460) is so like what every other car company does, like, the Honda X, Honda XL, Honda, XE, Honda, XXL, etc... as an example.
There is also the $2800 crowd (Radeon Pro 455 with 512GB SSD)
Wouldn't less materials negate the price hike for that stupid OLED strip crap?
SIGH*
Good thing Apple didn't put a GTX 1060 in there. Or, the starting price of these new MBP's would be like $4000.
SIGH*
I knew I wouldn't be able to afford the new Macs this fall. That is why I decided to upgrade my Mid-2010 15" MBP with a mid-2010 Mac Pro. I slapped an RX 460 in there and it's like a giant 2016 MBP without the stupid OLED strip bar thing.
Apple should have stuck to the previous price structure of $2000 for intel HD and $2400 for Radeon Pro 460. So, much simpler. Isn't simpler what Apple strives to do? Or is Apple as greedy as every other company out there? I know it's a business. And profit is like king. But, isn't there a point where it's criminal?
There is also the $2800 crowd (Radeon Pro 455 with 512GB SSD)
Wouldn't less materials negate the price hike for that stupid OLED strip crap?
SIGH*
Good thing Apple didn't put a GTX 1060 in there. Or, the starting price of these new MBP's would be like $4000.
SIGH*
I knew I wouldn't be able to afford the new Macs this fall. That is why I decided to upgrade my Mid-2010 15" MBP with a mid-2010 Mac Pro. I slapped an RX 460 in there and it's like a giant 2016 MBP without the stupid OLED strip bar thing.
Apple should have stuck to the previous price structure of $2000 for intel HD and $2400 for Radeon Pro 460. So, much simpler. Isn't simpler what Apple strives to do? Or is Apple as greedy as every other company out there? I know it's a business. And profit is like king. But, isn't there a point where it's criminal?
Last edited:
Reality check? Apple always used a sub 50W GPUs in their laptops. Name me a sub 50W mobile GPU which is currently faster? What did you expect? A desktop-grade GTX 1080? You do realise that the mobile Nvidia 1060 draws more power than the entire 15" MBP? I really don't get whats happening in brains of some people. Apple gives you the fastest possible GPU given the form factor constraints and you are still not happy.
P.S. BTW, the mobile GTX 1050 which would be the closest contender is not released yet.
I agree that its weird. I think the reason behind this are GPU yields. The faster GPUs in the MBP are aggressively binned chips, which probably makes the yield fairly low and the price very high. To offset, they offer cheaper GPUs with some CUs disabled. If my speculation is right here, it could be mostly production efficiency thing.
Reality check. Apple purposely gimps their own hardware with under-performing power supplies for the sake of thinness ... which actually doesn't even allow their own hardware to reach its full potential. Other laptops that are a bit thicker house GTX 1060s, such as the Razer Blade. I really don't get what's happening in the brains of people that are just simply okay with this no matter what logic or facts are thrown in their direction. If you think Apple is giving us the fastest possible GPU they can, you are delusional.
I'm seeing this laptop being harped a lot. Why don't you buy it? I mean it's exactly what you are looking for...
Edit: Well what do you know, you talk about it again right above my post. Razer employee?
Last edited:
Apple is so courageous that they will sell a new computer with a 3 year old processor in it for $2449.00....That's the base price.
http://www.apple.com/ca/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MJLQ2LL/A&step=config#
I am starting to wonder if they are jacking up the price of their computers to get people to buy iPads and iPad Pros as their primary computing device.
http://www.apple.com/ca/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MJLQ2LL/A&step=config#
I am starting to wonder if they are jacking up the price of their computers to get people to buy iPads and iPad Pros as their primary computing device.
Yeah I'm looking at the bottom model without the touch bar 400Mhz slower CPU, same amount of Ram, 3 less ports no Magsafe and a Partridge in a Pear tree, than my old 2014rMBP for $600 more than I paid. Merry Christmas folks.
But we are disputing this. Look at the Gigabyte AERO 14. It used a 970m last year with a bigger capacity battery to compensate. In a few weeks it will be a 1060m. Yes there are trade-offs and it's not perfect. So? It's nearly half the price for goodness sake... Buy from a store like GenTechPC or XoticPC and you can get a smaller machine which has 3x the power and 2x the storage and still save 500$.
Or I'm paying that for a magic-price increase touchbar?
Now you see where I was going with this. If you purchase a new 13" MacBook Pro (with or without the touch pad & touch ID) you can spend the difference otherwise wasted on the overpriced 15" version towards a fairly decent external GPU.
Thankfully there are ways around this limitation courtesy of Thunderbolt 3.
With the PC market continually shrinking year over year they steadily increase prices over the Mac lineup to keep this sector of their business profitable.
Last edited:
That was an answer to someone that claimed that Apple should have used an NVIDIA card. I agree that they could have gone higher with the AMD card.
By gimping the battery, sure. Its a really nice gaming laptop and certainly a terrific workstation for someone who works at a desk all the time. But I don't have a use of a laptop with less than 3 hours battery life.
Hey, sorry in advance but has anyone posted what the actual CPU models are on these machines? I think I owe some thread that I'd eat my shoe if it wasn't the 6770/6870/6970-HQ Iris Pro 580 chips in the MBP.
5 hours, but it's been tested at 5.5 hours. Can I ask you an honest question? What do you get out of making things up?
I can see an external GPU making sense for the 13" model. I fully agree there.
But it's the 15" that costs so much and yet the GPU doesn't seem very good. That's where the problem is.
If the 15" wasn't so expensive... then people wouldn't have a problem with a slightly underpowered GPU inside.
But those machines cost THOUSANDS of dollars... so the included GPU should reflect that.
It was to point out a similarly spec'd laptop with a better GPU. That's literally been the only purpose of bringing it up. God forbid anyone talk about a comparable product. They must be a shill for another company.Well what do you know, you talk about it again right above my post. Razer employee?
You could be right. I'd like to think that you're right, instead of the other thought that Apple purposely wanted to have three tiers of MBP's catering to different price points because that is lame.
So, to think that Apple had no choice but to be like every other company because of yielding issues is rather sad. But, also kind of normal. Still sad. Sucky. But, whatever. At least it's not like evil.
I had an old 17 inch MBP. I dropped it on my foot and damn near broke it. I did break the laptop.
I prefer lighter to power. Also my old Dell Inspiron was daintily less pleasant to carry around than any MacBook I've had. Except that 17 inch pro, it was a lump.
It was to point out a similarly spec'd laptop with a better GPU. That's literally been the only purpose of bringing it up. God forbid anyone talk about a comparable product. They must be a shill for another company.
"Comparable"
"Twice the weight and looking more like a bigtop tent than a laptop"
Pick one
On reflection of the event for me it shows that Intel is either struggling or purposefully slowing down introducing new chips. When the time is right Apple should just go it alone with pure cutom made cpu's etc.
It was to point out a similarly spec'd laptop with a better GPU. That's literally been the only purpose of bringing it up. God forbid anyone talk about a comparable product. They must be a shill for another company.
I like how you casually dodge my main question. Razer affiliate