Any hint of a Maxwell 15"?

[consumeritis]

Since the rMB's Core M looks to be less powerful than I had hoped, and the Air still has a screen from 2010 (and no Force Touch), I am considering giving up on light and thin altogether.

But if I'm going to buy a relatively heavier laptop I want the power to justify it, which means a decent dGPU. The 750M is just not going to cut it now that Nvidia have upped the game so much with Maxwell.

Do we think they'll update the 15" dGPU (with or without Broadwell) this summer? A 980M? A 960M? Even a Maxwell 860M would do...

I am getting a bit frustrated that at the point where I am ready to spend a chunk of money on updating my aging laptop, and when Apple have just announced a bunch of updates, there are zero options available that don't require at least one huge compromise.

 

[MagicBoy]

Broadwell-H is due in the second half of the year. No chance of an update before then.

Patience...

 

[Samuelsan2001]

13 inch rMBP????

Since the rMB's Core M looks to be less powerful than I had hoped, and the Air still has a screen from 2010 (and no Force Touch), I am considering giving up on light and thin altogether.

But if I'm going to buy a relatively heavier laptop I want the power to justify it, which means a decent dGPU. The 750M is just not going to cut it now that Nvidia have upped the game so much with Maxwell.

Do we think they'll update the 15" dGPU (with or without Broadwell) this summer? A 980M? A 960M? Even a Maxwell 860M would do...

I am getting a bit frustrated that at the point where I am ready to spend a chunk of money on updating my aging laptop, and when Apple have just announced a bunch of updates, there are zero options available that don't require at least one huge compromise.

The 13 inch rMBP is exactly what you are asking for in this post!!! It's the best combination of size and weight (1/2 pound heavier and actually smaller than the air). Good specs , 28W i5 CPU's and IRIS 6100 GPU. Great port selection 2 x TB2, 2 x USB 3, HDMI, and SD slot. Retina screen (this is brilliant for everything and should not be compromised on) great battery life (up to 10 hours not to be sniffed at).

Will the 15 inch get updated when Broadwell is released for it (and probably with a Maxwell GPU in the higher end machine) ?? Of course it will.

Is the laptop you want from everything you have said the 13 inch rMBP I think it almost certainly is. Why not give one a try if it doesn't work out you have 14 days to take it back.

 

[dusk007]

The 15" should see an update as soon as the quad core broadwell are released and then either have no dGPU at all or a 950M.
960M or 970M dream on and a 850M is too old there'd be just no reason for it.

Why not go for the 13" rMBP? What kind of performance do you seek? The 13" has plenty of ports which I think is the biggest shortcoming of the Macbook. The 15" is just a completely different weight class. There are also a few decent windows notebooks with good displays which are still in the thin and light category.

Like this one
ASUS Zenbook UX303LB
It has the 13" rMBP beat in noise level under load and gaming performance with the 940M.
Test of the slightly older 840M model.

 

[consumeritis]

Thanks for the advice, guys - I think you're right and it's going to have to either be the 13" Pro, or hold off and spend another year with my Air, which has been the best, most reliable, and most future-proof computer of any kind I have ever owned.

A 13" Pro benchmarks nearly three times faster than my current machine, so it's a good upgrade and will likely handle everything I need it for for a good long while.

I do game development (and my day job uses GPU compute extensively), so a dGPU would be a bonus. The Intel GPUs have come a long way so on a 13" laptop it's not a requirement. But I figured if I can't get a super-light laptop, then why not go the other way?

The 15" is heavy, and in my mind the only justification for the weight would be the extra GPU power. A 15" with integrated graphics just isn't worth the lost portability, to me. But the current 15" with the 750M is ancient in GPU terms.

I've also been looking at things like the Razer Blade (though it runs hot and its battery life is bad), but they don't sell in the UK. Or the HP Omen, though its internals are already a little outdated.

I like OSX, though. Apple really have a monopoly there - imagine Windows only ran on Microsoft-approved hardware!

I just wish the 13" was a little thinner or at least tapered. I am too used to the wedge of my Air, and I don't know how I'll handle the blunt front end of the Pro.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Amazon...

Thanks for the advice, guys - I think you're right and it's going to have to either be the 13" Pro, or hold off and spend another year with my Air, which has been the best, most reliable, and most future-proof computer of any kind I have ever owned.

A 13" Pro benchmarks nearly three times faster than my current machine, so it's a good upgrade and will likely handle everything I need it for for a good long while.

I do game development (and my day job uses GPU compute extensively), so a dGPU would be a bonus. The Intel GPUs have come a long way so on a 13" laptop it's not a requirement. But I figured if I can't get a super-light laptop, then why not go the other way?

The 15" is heavy, and in my mind the only justification for the weight would be the extra GPU power. A 15" with integrated graphics just isn't worth the lost portability, to me. But the current 15" with the 750M is ancient in GPU terms.

I've also been looking at things like the Razer Blade (though it runs hot and its battery life is bad), but they don't sell in the UK. Or the HP Omen, though its internals are already a little outdated.

I like OSX, though. Apple really have a monopoly there - imagine Windows only ran on Microsoft-approved hardware!

I just wish the 13" was a little thinner or at least tapered. I am too used to the wedge of my Air, and I don't know how I'll handle the blunt front end of the Pro.

.... has almost every computer available worlwide...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Razer+Blade

But I still say give the 13 rMBP a try (just return if you don't like it).

I love mine and far prefer it to the airs I have used. I actually like that it's not tapered, 8 ounces is really not much weight wise and it's a massive boost over your current Air. To be honest though make sure whatever you get has a high quality screen the retina on the pro is it's best feature, for everything...

Wierdly Microsoft do dictate some hardware specs for certain designations (ie ultrabook). They have also produced (or comissioned) far more hardware in te last few years as Apples popularity has grown.