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Apple Updates Retina MacBook Pros With New Processors and Faster PCIe Flash Storage
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The CPUs are not slower. They changed to a newer generation of CPU (Haswell) that is substantially faster at the same clock speed.
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You have the choice between an expensive Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter for around £25 or a cheap USB Ethernet adapter for around £2.50 on eBay. The USB one will do 100 MBit just fine (I have one just in case; for example when you set up a WiFi router you really want an Ethernet cable handy).
15" non-Retina
Since they disappeared from the store, they had to turn up in the refurbished section. 15" MacBook Pro, non-Retina, RAM and hard drive user upgradeable, now £1189 on the UK refurbished store. With your own upgrade, I'd say less than £1500 for 16 GB RAM and either 2TB hard drive or 1 1/4 TB Fusion drive.
Of course it is big, heavy, and no Retina display, but on the other hand huge portable storage and processor power if that's what you want.
Since they disappeared from the store, they had to turn up in the refurbished section. 15" MacBook Pro, non-Retina, RAM and hard drive user upgradeable, now £1189 on the UK refurbished store. With your own upgrade, I'd say less than £1500 for 16 GB RAM and either 2TB hard drive or 1 1/4 TB Fusion drive.
Of course it is big, heavy, and no Retina display, but on the other hand huge portable storage and processor power if that's what you want.
Looking into it, the iris pro system is a pretty good mid-level graphics solution. Not sure why anyone here is complaining that the 750M is only offered in the top of the line rMBP. Just two days ago a similar config would have cost a lot more. So the price points are better and the options are better. What's to complain about?
If you are doing the kind of video and 3D work that will require the 750M, than ~3000USD is not a lot to spend. Again, compared to just two days ago, it is a bargain.
If you are doing the kind of video and 3D work that will require the 750M, than ~3000USD is not a lot to spend. Again, compared to just two days ago, it is a bargain.
I dare say a $USD1999 laptop without a discreet graphics card is not a professional system.
Disappointing really, as expected the 13" received the Iris Pro but the base level 15" without a discreet card I believe is really poor without dropping the price by $100-$200.
Disappointing really, as expected the 13" received the Iris Pro but the base level 15" without a discreet card I believe is really poor without dropping the price by $100-$200.
Professional system for what? You don't make any sense. Lot's of professionals can use a laptop without a discrete gpu. Even graphics pro's. There are many other features about this computer that make it attractive to professionals.
What is your definition of a professional? It's a vague descriptor, and sure, some "professionals" don't need anything more than discrete graphics. But, according to Apple, "Professionals" include Photo Studio owners, video producers, design & layout professionals, and science and engineering pros. For the price, these "pro's" expect dedicated graphics, not integrated.
Also, the nVidia 750M is no high end chip. A quick check on Dell's site shows it included with the very consumer-level Inspiron 7000 at the $1200 level. It might be on cheaper models also.
The fact that Apple has held back the discrete graphics chip for just their high end model is (to quote loybond) "scammy".
When I buy a $50,000 car, I expect a navigation system or at least the option to add one, without being forced to buy the car makers elite model for $70,000.
Running on a 5 year-old desktop here. Which costed $1500 nevertheless
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Still, great news!
Planning to buy my 15" rMBP next year, and, while this year it was pretty much an incremental upgrade, I can't wait for more slimness / lightness in next year's model! As well as improved battery life; really hope that iGPU is worth something.
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Totally agree with you.
SSDs arrived to Macs a short time ago and RAM will always be a limiting factor. Changing from HDD to SSD is indeed the best thing you can do to make your setup faster, immediately followed by RAM.
You're wrong. The previous base model homed a 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM. They've cut off the price of the base by $200 by providing the same 128GB SSD and only 4GB RAM.
In my opinion, the base 13" MBP is best avoided unless one doesn't have enough money for the next model. Apparently, the base 13" targets a different market.
Out of curiosity, 3 years ago $1300 would buy you a 13" MBA with 128GB SSD and 2GB RAM. We are getting much better technology for the same money now.
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Try using something like Viz or Weatherscape without a discreet card, it just won't run. These are professional graphics packages, for professional designers.
True there are many professionals (as specious as that sounds) who can get by with the Iris Pro though there are the ones who do need the extra gpu grunt an integrated chipset just won't give which means they'll need to pay a premium either for a Mac Pro or top of the line rMBP.
I am getting the feeling dropping the dGPU from the entry level 15" was a strategy to push the higher end of the professional graphics market to go for a cash splash with a Mac Pro.
What can I say, I've been holding out for Haswell and after doing the maths it makes more sense going the whole hog with a Mac Pro :\
if you need ethernet yes. Undoubtedly the world is moving towards wireless and especially the casual user (the vast majority) so having ethernet port or VGA is rather pointless.
I for one have a need for Ethernet for my LAN connection at work, and am happy to have a dongle for it so that when i travel, go to work, sit home I have a lighter, slimmer machine. Maybe that is just me, but that convenience is definitely worth 25£
Macbook Pro Vs. Macbook Air
I noticed that the high end 13" MBP is actually $50 cheaper than the maxed out 13" Air and it has retina as opposed to the Air's display.
I noticed that the high end 13" MBP is actually $50 cheaper than the maxed out 13" Air and it has retina as opposed to the Air's display.
Whats your opinion?
The 15" MBPr is missing the dedicated graphics. I am considering to get the 15" but I'm not sure if its going to be worth the money to get the better version... I do quite alot of photoshop and basic movie editing, but will I actually need the 2GB?? Im not a gamer or anything like that. I'd rather keep the £500/$600 and put it away for the next generation model.
On the other hand, how would you compare the new Iris pro Graphics with the old version of the MBPr which had 1GB dedicated graphics. Do you think its worth purchasing the new model of the MBPr???
The 15" MBPr is missing the dedicated graphics. I am considering to get the 15" but I'm not sure if its going to be worth the money to get the better version... I do quite alot of photoshop and basic movie editing, but will I actually need the 2GB?? Im not a gamer or anything like that. I'd rather keep the £500/$600 and put it away for the next generation model.
On the other hand, how would you compare the new Iris pro Graphics with the old version of the MBPr which had 1GB dedicated graphics. Do you think its worth purchasing the new model of the MBPr???
I'd love to have that MBP at that price - been thinking about it for a while instead of a Win based machine. Unfortunately I have to pay £2799 ($4526)
To be fair Apple aren't alone with this price gouging but still it's one of the worst I've seen.
That is a really arsey statement. One thing I like about Apple so much is the staying power their laptops have.
And it's not all about having hundreds of gigs of storage when you change out hard drives in a laptop. It's about speed. I don't want to pay Apple over the odds for their flash storage when I could pay just under £100 for an SSD which I then manually fit.
The performance boost of an SSD is for most people a much bigger bump than faster processor or graphics card.
Apple don't have much of a say in this unfortunately, Iris Pro requires a quad core processor, which simply cannot be fitted into a 13" machine, those restrictions are set by Intel, the 15" without discrete is due mainly to the fact that they already lowered the price, and the Iris Pro graphics achieves nearly the same performance as the previous dGPU. No point putting in a GPU where they can make more money on it on the high end model
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Does anyone know what gaming is going to be like on the high end Macbook Pro 15"? It's not my main concern but if I'm paying upwards of £1800 I want to know I can spend my time gaming half decently on the thing.
I am over the moon and completely jazzed. I am a somewhat price sensitive buyer, but I am more of the "I want what I want" variety. And I got what I wanted. Top of my list was 16GB RAM in a 13". I waited through several upgrades, and was ready to buy should this happen. It wasn't mentioned in the presentation and the moment it was over, and the store was reopened, I was there checking. Yippee! I also wanted retina display and a larger SSD, but those came in previous releases.
I am coming from the 2009 13" MBP w/ 250GB SSD. I bought top of the line then (except maybe processor, can't remember) and I did it again. If I can be happy with a computer for 4 years and not be tempted by anything else, that is a major win and saves lots of money in the long run. I am completely stoked by the 1TB drive; I did have to move my music off to my Time Capsule at least a year and a half ago.
Ordered and due to arrive next week!
I am coming from the 2009 13" MBP w/ 250GB SSD. I bought top of the line then (except maybe processor, can't remember) and I did it again. If I can be happy with a computer for 4 years and not be tempted by anything else, that is a major win and saves lots of money in the long run. I am completely stoked by the 1TB drive; I did have to move my music off to my Time Capsule at least a year and a half ago.
Ordered and due to arrive next week!
The 2.0GHz in the base model is slower. The ones at the same clocks are marginally faster (not substantially).
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.
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.
two camps, neither is wrong, but only one shall advance further into the future...
So Tankmaze, basically, within five months of originally buying your 2011 cMBP you dropped another $600 or so on upgrades, specifically to max out your RAM and bump up to an internal SSD storage drive, correct?
Now tell me, other than being able to stagger out these two particular component upgrades for a few months, what is the perceived "piece of mind" that you think you're actually gaining from this so-called "DIY" approach, when in fact Apple's latest MBP's BTO options effectively makes this area of consideration moot? That is what kenroberts83 I believe was trying to point out, and I personally agree with him on this.
Furthering this point, if you haven't noticed already, it's about $600 more from the current 2013 base stock rMBP to the high-end model, so compared to the "DIY upgrade" you did above this is effectively the same thing with the same cost, except in the present case of Apple's laptops it just requires you have available cash on hand to see through some future anticipated needs through those two components, and for now SSD is as fast as an internal storage drive is going to get regardless of it's capacity.
With all of that being said, please don't misunderstand, I'm not against DIY upgrades in spirit (where they're sensible to do so) but at this stage of things with the technology, outside of the CPU/GPU, there's really little incentive to bother with these type of upgrades in an Apple laptop anymore IMO, especially as the cost of buying 3rd party RAM and HDD/SSD are staring to not really make that much of a difference compared to Apple's pricing of these parts, generally speaking of course.
Traditionally I too would prefer to DIY those components if given the choice (especially the HD as larger capacities come online and general costs for these units fall over time) but I no longer see the OVERALL value in bothering to do this when, based on Apple's current BTO options, in which ultimately I can just do it up front (Apple tax be damned of course!) and be done with it!
If anything, the real issue I take with all of this is the soldering of components like RAM into the logic board as that makes servicing the system for any reason less practical for the layman. especially if it's out of Apple's initial warranty.
I've seen a lot of comments to this effect, and honestly, I don't understand the logic. What can you upgrade on a laptop? Not the processor, because that requires a new motherboard. Not the graphics card, because there's no room for it. Without those two, there goes about 95% of any potential performance upgrade.
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Anyway, that's my thinking on the topic. I understand the desire to tinker with things and want to make them better, but honestly guys, just buy a desktop for that. I agree with Apple on this, I don't want to buy a laptop that is 20% thicker/heavier just so a few guys can make upgrades that aren't going to do them any good anyway.
Me too. I have a 2007 Santa Rosa MacBook Pro which is positively ancient by today's standards but thanks to upgraded RAM and a new 750 GB hard drive it remains my daily-use machine. For regular basic tasks it runs just fine. I'll probably set up Mavericks this evening! The battery is shot and only holds maybe a 45 minute charge, but hey -- I can just replace it
I am torn. I really like the specs on this new 13" rMBP but my history tells me that I would probably enjoy the ability to upgrade the RAM and storage. Maybe the thing to do is buy the last gen 13" MBP as an Apple refurb.
So Tankmaze, basically, within five months of originally buying your 2011 cMBP you dropped another $600 or so on upgrades, specifically to max out your RAM and bump up to an internal SSD storage drive, correct?
Now tell me, other than being able to stagger out these two particular component upgrades for a few months, what is the perceived "piece of mind" that you think you're actually gaining from this so-called "DIY" approach, when in fact Apple's latest MBP's BTO options effectively makes this area of consideration moot? That is what kenroberts83 I believe was trying to point out, and I personally agree with him on this.
Furthering this point, if you haven't noticed already, it's about $600 more from the current 2013 base stock rMBP to the high-end model, so compared to the "DIY upgrade" you did above this is effectively the same thing with the same cost, except in the present case of Apple's laptops it just requires you have available cash on hand to see through some future anticipated needs through those two components, and for now SSD is as fast as an internal storage drive is going to get regardless of it's capacity.
With all of that being said, please don't misunderstand, I'm not against DIY upgrades in spirit (where they're sensible to do so) but at this stage of things with the technology, outside of the CPU/GPU, there's really little incentive to bother with these type of upgrades in an Apple laptop anymore IMO, especially as the cost of buying 3rd party RAM and HDD/SSD are staring to not really make that much of a difference compared to Apple's pricing of these parts, generally speaking of course.
Traditionally I too would prefer to DIY those components if given the choice (especially the HD as larger capacities come online and general costs for these units fall over time) but I no longer see the OVERALL value in bothering to do this when, based on Apple's current BTO options, in which ultimately I can just do it up front (Apple tax be damned of course!) and be done with it!
If anything, the real issue I take with all of this is the soldering of components like RAM into the logic board as that makes servicing the system for any reason less practical for the layman. especially if it's out of Apple's initial warranty.
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
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.
Sorry poor wording on my part, I was meaning to say that the 13" rMBP with an integrated gpu is understandable and expected, though I do believe for a $USD1999 15" rMBP without a discreet card and less performance that the previous generation graphically is just plain poor.
For the lower end systems integrated graphics is fine but for professional graphics or gaming then a half decent card is a must.