Apple Updates Retina MacBook Pros With New Processors and Faster PCIe Flash Storage

[jdiamond]

Didja know the GPU upgrade is free?

Disappointed that you have to get the top shelf rMBP in order to get a dGPU.

It's a shocker, but if you configure the second to highest option with identical features as the highest option with GPU, the prices are THE SAME! Anotherwards, if you're willing to buy a 15" laptop with 16GB DRAM, and at least a 500GB hard drive and mid range CPU speed, they will give you the GPU FOR FREE, but ONLY IF YOU ASK.

Personally, I think it's immoral that they are letting people buy the version with no GPU for the SAME PRICE.

----------

Apologies, for some reason I thought you were referring to the 13" RMBP. Kind of surprised that they took the dual graphics out of the base 15", but I guess Iris Pro is approaching mid-range DGPUs for most users' needs, at least if you believe what Intel and Apple are saying.

Yeah, while I agree Iris Pro is no replacement for a real GPU, it *IS* a significant upgrade from the Iris graphics in the 13". Most significantly, you get the "Side module" with 128MB eDRAM as an L4 cache. Not quite a GPU, but it is an extra piece of hardware relating to graphics.

BTW, you can look at this as the glass is half full: We all saw the writing on the wall and worried there'd be no GPU anymore, and that graphics would be actually less than in 2012. But Apple at least gave us a last option for a GPU - so they acknowledged that some people would care and catered to them one last time, much like they did with the 13" non retina pro.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

Yeah, while I agree Iris Pro is no replacement for a real GPU, it *IS* a significant upgrade from the Iris graphics in the 13". Most significantly, you get the "Side module" with 128MB eDRAM as an L4 cache. Not quite a GPU, but it is an extra piece of hardware relating to graphics.

Totally agree, for the 13" the update is a serious update compared to the previous model. From what I've heard it's a hell of a lot faster.

 

[gnasher729]

The 2.0GHz in the base model is slower. The ones at the same clocks are marginally faster (not substantially).

The benchmarks that have been published on another thread show the new 2.0 Ghz being faster than the old 2.3 GHz and just below old 2.4 GHz.

 

[grundoon]

ahead of schedule!

Oakland, CA, United States 10/24/2013 7:14 A.M. Out For Delivery

 

[salmankhan]

Apparently Sharp just came out with a IGZO 4K 15.6" display and Apple likely has some of these by now. But be prepared for a whole bunch of new problems like serious lag and such. Moving from 1K to 4K will most certainly be more than Broadwell can handle since there will likely be minor changes aside from its 14nm lithography. I would not want to be an early adopter. Better to buy now.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/4k-uhd-sharp-igzo-apple,24459.html

ahan.. thnx alot for sharing this article and giving me a heads up ...anyways like i said i own mid 2012 rmbp base model 2.3ghz so is it worth it if i should upgrade to the new rmbp base model ??

 

[loybond]

Do you have a link? Googled it and found "leaked" benchmarks for the 2.3 and 2.6 models, but not 2.0. BTW, the 15" Retina wasn't available in a 2.4 AFAIK.

My first gen retina 15 scored around 11,000 on Geekbench.

The benchmarks that have been published on another thread show the new 2.0 Ghz being faster than the old 2.3 GHz and just below old 2.4 GHz.

----------

I just found the following on this site. So basically, it IS marginally slower. Best case scenario is that it's the same, but it's definitely not faster. I totally consider the base model to be a complete scam.

15-inch with quad-core CPU:
- i7-4750HQ @ 2.0 GHz: Single-Core 2844, Multi-Core 10887
- i7-4850HQ @ 2.3 GHz: Single-Core 3100, Multi-Core 11771
- i7-4960HQ @ 2.6 GHz: Single-Core 3379, Multi-Core 12813

13-inch with dual-core CPU:
- i5-4258U @ 2.4 GHz: Single-Core 2613, Multi-Core 5248
- i5-4288U @ 2.6 GHz: Single-Core 2856, Multi-Core 5954
- i7-4558U @ 2.8 GHz: Single-Core 3000, Multi-Core 6189

The benchmarks that have been published on another thread show the new 2.0 Ghz being faster than the old 2.3 GHz and just below old 2.4 GHz.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Alas, today marks the discontinuation of the non-retina unibody 15" MacBook Pro; probably Apple's best Macintosh computer out there in terms of design and overall practicality. Still though, I knew this day would come; the writing was on the wall when the Mid 2012 models were first released and even moreso when they got rid of the higher-end SKU with the release of the Early 2013 Retinas. Still a bummer because this new design isn't superior in a few key practical respects. Glad I got one while I could. I'll be ready for this design in 4-5 years when it is naturally time for me to upgrade.

Apple has not updated its line of standard MacBook Pros, indicating that the non-Retina versions are likely to be discontinued in the future, though the company continues to offer the 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro.

This is sort of misleading; as lamented above, Apple discontinued the 15" non-retina MacBook Pro; the retina has obviously taken over the higher-end MacBook Pro space; the 13" non-retina MacBook Pro still being sold is the same Mid 2012 model that debuted in June of 2012. The only difference is that new models will come with Mavericks and free iLife/iWork in tow. And on top of it; they discontinued ITS higher-end SKU, despite giving customers the ability to custom configure their machine to it via a CTO order. I guess this article wanted to give hope to non-retina MacBook Pro fans.

Hate to say it, but they're only keeping this 13" model around because (a) it's a top seller and (b) they want to be REALLY REALLY careful with the retina transition when it comes to the 13" MacBook Pro as it is their best selling Mac and they do not want to lose customers from that customer base. Of interesting note though, it is now the only Mac sold with an internal optical drive. As someone who fancied the non-retina MacBook Pro for its retention of FireWire 800, Ethernet, and the optical drive; the only one of those three that I see being a problem going forward is the Ethernet; Apple never included Blu-Rays, standard definition video sucks, all retina-compatible software (i.e. that doesn't look like crap on retina) is either download-only or comes in either option, and while I hate having to rely on the Internet for software retrieval, I appear to have lost that battle.

Of interesting note, given the discontinuation of the 15" non-retina, it's interesting that these new 15" MacBook Pros bear the designation "MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2013, Retina)" rather than simply "MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2013). I can see why they didn't do that with the 13" models...sorta, but 15" models are retina only.

Also of a disappointing note, anyone know why there's no 8MB L3 Cache option on the new 15" models?

Still though, someone wake me up when these MacBook Pros have USB 3.1 in tow, because that can't be THAT far off.

 

[kennylukman]

Question

Hi this might sound stupid but i have few questions,

1. The new spec of the macbook pro 15” is 2.0 GHz i7, I found it confusing since isn’t that means a downgrade from my macbook pro 2010 model that has 2.66 Ghz i7?

2. Actually what is the need to have 2 graphic cards? My current macbook pro (2010 model) has 2 graphic cards, and the discrete one (NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M) currently always giving me a problem when I open graphic driven apps like photoshop, indesign, etc. Just wondering if I only have only the integrated graphic card, is it actually going to be better or slower for me to do graphic driven stuffs?

I’m running OS X Mountain Lion, and recently I always get GPU kernel panic every time I run graphic driven apps. Brought it to apple service centre in my town and they said that my logic board is spoilt, repairing can cost me a brand new macbook pro, so I’m considering on getting the new retina macs. But I’m totally confused about the specs since first it runs 2.0 Ghz, and it only has one graphic card (15” model the lower spec, the higher one is kinda too expensive for me :/)

Would be really helpful if you guys can help me out in explaining my questions! Thank you so much!

 

[NutsNGum]

Hi this might sound stupid but i have few questions,

1. The new spec of the macbook pro 15” is 2.0 GHz i7, I found it confusing since isn’t that means a downgrade from my macbook pro 2010 model that has 2.66 Ghz i7?

2. Actually what is the need to have 2 graphic cards? My current macbook pro (2010 model) has 2 graphic cards, and the discrete one (NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M) currently always giving me a problem when I open graphic driven apps like photoshop, indesign, etc. Just wondering if I only have only the integrated graphic card, is it actually going to be better or slower for me to do graphic driven stuffs?

I’m running OS X Mountain Lion, and recently I always get GPU kernel panic every time I run graphic driven apps. Brought it to apple service centre in my town and they said that my logic board is spoilt, repairing can cost me a brand new macbook pro, so I’m considering on getting the new retina macs. But I’m totally confused about the specs since first it runs 2.0 Ghz, and it only has one graphic card (15” model the lower spec, the higher one is kinda too expensive for me :/)

Would be really helpful if you guys can help me out in explaining my questions! Thank you so much!

1. Your 2010 is only a dual core. Also, clock speed doesn't count for as much when you factor in architectural differences in the processors. Despite the new model only being 2.0, it'll be a great deal faster. Especially in your case, as the 2.0 is a quad core.

2. The Iris Pro will be faster than your 330M in all instances including games (if you care about gaming), regardless of it being integrated. It will, in your case, always be faster.

3. Upgrade to Mavericks. In all areas, performance-wise especially, it's a vast improvement over Mountain Lion.

 

[Bahroo]

i need to get a macbook pro retina...

 

[luffytubby]

Well, goodbye Macbook Pro I guess. There is no way I'm buying a glued-together computer that I can't upgrade. I don't think you should have to get your Macbook serviced at an Apple store just to replace a faulty hard drive or memory stick. That's ridiculous. I should also mention, Apple's upgrades are usually 10x more than what you can get from the third-party suppliers.

The iMacs are also starting to be glued together...the only access to the hard drive is through the screen, and I don't think you can even do that on the newer ones.

At this rate my next computer will probably be a Hackintosh since there is no way I can afford even the starting price point of the Mac Pro.

This crap again?


it's too thin. It's all flash storage because the PCB is so small and is glued together on the mobo. same with ram. its densely packed the ram is soldered on. there is no user replaceable modules you could buy to do it yourself. there is no user standard. it's like that on other ultra thin devices.

jesus christ. of all the crap to complain about. the only thing we can really talk about is the battery. technically, they could have made slots for user replaceable cell batteries, but who knows why they dont allow people to do that themselves.

 

[clibinarius]

What took so long? Can't innovate anymore my fact.

If this came out months ago, like it should have, I would've gotten one instead of this macbook air I bought.

Which...I think I like better than the specs on the pro due to battery life. Sigh. Disapprove.

But the Macbook Air is certainly a great machine!

 

[bruceleeroy]

Need your help guys should I upgrade?

Hey everyone. I currently have a mid 2012 15" MBPr - 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB, GT 650M.

I can get a pretty good price for it should I upgrade to the new MBPr. I do a lot of video work and photoshop design with my current system and play a occasional game(SC2). Is there a significant enough leap with the new laptops to warrant upgrading?