Buy 15" rMBP NOW or wait?

[N19h7m4r3]

Going by the way the Intel business development people talked, we would probably see the new Airs in May-June time frame as Intel is expected to launch Haswell in March-April.

On the other hand, contacts in intels testing centres in India, (where they test the haswell chips with successive firmware on mobos), say there are way too many issues compared to the state of ivybridge last december.

Sorry, I never take stock into anything "contacts" have to say.
Official news stories or press statements or nothing.

The technology world is full of fud and people always claiming to have contacts.
Even if what they happen to say is true, Engineering samples don't relate to released products. Too many times have Engineering samples shown problems and bad performance when bechmark results have been released. Why? They're engineering samples and not performance/review samples.

 

[di1in]

Sorry, I never take stock into anything "contacts" have to say.
Official news stories or press statements or nothing.

The technology world is full of fud and people always claiming to have contacts.
Even if what they happen to say is true, Engineering samples don't relate to released products. Too many times have Engineering samples shown problems and bad performance when bechmark results have been released. Why? They're engineering samples and not performance/review samples.

That's true, but these guys are just testers.. and three of them shared the same story. When we need to make forecasts, then we'll have to use whatever info is available right?

 

[N19h7m4r3]

That's true, but these guys are just testers.. and three of them shared the same story. When we need to make forecasts, then we'll have to use whatever info is available right?

No, three testers out of how many world wide?

India is not the only place parts are tested, and without a photo of the actual chips to see the manufacturing batch and revision numbers we have no idea of exactly what model and branch of the arch they're testing, let alone which revision.

In the case of Sandy-Bridge, all leaked engineering samples were Rev.A, which are early samples and all the leaked information and forecasts were pointless when the actual chip launched.

In a month or two we'll have a better idea of the actual release time, until we have the exact still official information

 

[di1in]

No, three testers out of how many world wide?

India is not the only place parts are tested, and without a photo of the actual chips to see the manufacturing batch and revision numbers we have no idea of exactly what model and branch of the arch they're testing, let alone which revision.

In the case of Sandy-Bridge, all leaked engineering samples were Rev.A, which are early samples and all the leaked information and forecasts were pointless when the actual chip launched.

In a month or two we'll have a better idea of the actual release time, until we have the exact still official information

You've got a good point..

 

[AirThis]

People have been throwing the Haswell term around a lot, but few have sat down to try and see exactly which iteration of Haswell might be included in the next rev. rMBP. The GT3 shaders - those which allegedly offer the quantum leap in performance - are only due for Q3 according to the latest reports. So how does a GT3 shader announced for Q3 find its ways into an rMBP which (supposedly) is also going to be marketed for Q3? If my memory serves me right, Ivy Bridge was introduced in mid-April 2012, but the 15" rMBP was only released in June 11th 2012.

In light of the above, it's not unreasonable to hypothesize that we have two possibilities here:

a) You will get an updated rMBP in June-July 2013 with a GT2 shader.

or

b) You will get an updated rMBP which will be shipped in Q4 2013 with a GT3 shader.

According to Softpedia and SemiAccurate, it appears that Intel will not be producing a 'GT3 graphics monster' as many had initially thought. Instead, it seems that a compromise will be made and the additional shaders (and memory) in GT3 will be used to lower power consumption. My impression, based on announcements made by Intel in previous years, is that GT3 will only offer a 30-40% performance gain over the current HD4000. If you're into gaming, the single most important part of the graphics system in the next iteration of the rMBP will be the dedicated GPU.

Of course, instead of blindly believing what I'm saying, you should always form your own opinion. So here are some references:

http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2012/2012121601_Specifications_of_mobile_Haswell_CPUs.html

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Haswell-s-GT3-Will-Work-40-Slower-Than-HD4000-291266.shtml

http://semiaccurate.com/2012/09/07/haswell-gt3-uses-shaders-to-save-power/#.UM7ukaVpsnU

 

[N19h7m4r3]

People have been throwing the Haswell term around a lot, but few have sat down to try and see exactly which iteration of Haswell might be included in the next rev. rMBP. The GT3 shaders - those which allegedly offer the quantum leap in performance - are only due for Q3 according to the latest reports. So how does a GT3 shader announced for Q3 find its ways into an rMBP which (supposedly) is also going to be marketed for Q3? If my memory serves me right, Ivy Bridge was introduced in mid-April 2012, but the 15" rMBP was only released in June 11th 2012.

In light of the above, it's not unreasonable to hypothesize that we have two possibilities here:

a) You will get an updated rMBP in June-July 2013 with a GT2 shader.

or

b) You will get an updated rMBP which will be shipped in Q4 2013 with a GT3 shader.

According to Softpedia and SemiAccurate, it appears that Intel will not be producing a 'GT3 graphics monster' as many had initially thought. Instead, it seems that a compromise will be made and the additional shaders (and memory) in GT3 will be used to lower power consumption. My impression, based on announcements made by Intel in previous years, is that GT3 will only offer a 30-40% performance gain over the current HD4000. If you're into gaming, the single most important part of the graphics system in the next iteration of the rMBP will be the dedicated GPU.

Of course, instead of blindly believing what I'm saying, you should always form your own opinion. So here are some references:

http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2012/2012121601_Specifications_of_mobile_Haswell_CPUs.html

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Haswell-s-GT3-Will-Work-40-Slower-Than-HD4000-291266.shtml

http://semiaccurate.com/2012/09/07/haswell-gt3-uses-shaders-to-save-power/#.UM7ukaVpsnU

Quite right, we also have to look at Nvidia and AMD for possible dedicated GPU's.

What's coming out next summer in the mobile front? NVIDIA won't be releasing something based on Kepler that quickly.
We already have the 650M which is overclocked to match and slightly beat the 660M, what else can they put in by next summer ( if looking at an early release ).

There's more to the package than just the CPU and iGPU. If Haswell comes out early but is missing the extra performance needed to make big difference, we might only be looking at updates for the MBA's and 13" r/MBP's at best.

This is all just my speculation though, and nothing is set in stone.

 

[AppleWarMachine]

You should wait, I heard Apple say that the new one is going to be "our Best MacBook Pro ever"

 

[luffytubby]

Quite right, we also have to look at Nvidia and AMD for possible dedicated GPU's.

What's coming out next summer in the mobile front? NVIDIA won't be releasing something based on Kepler that quickly.
We already have the 650M which is overclocked to match and slightly beat the 660M, what else can they put in by next summer ( if looking at an early release ).

There's more to the package than just the CPU and iGPU. If Haswell comes out early but is missing the extra performance needed to make big difference, we might only be looking at updates for the MBA's and 13" r/MBP's at best.

This is all just my speculation though, and nothing is set in stone.

I read somewhere that the 700 series from Nvidia will be Kepler based too. They won't go to a new architecture for a while. Maybe it's because of all the problems they had with Kepler and getting it released.

Anandtech said that improved wifi, with the new 802.11ac standard should be a sure fit for the next revision.

Thanks to everyone who has responded... it has been great!

The real reason I want to upgrade my 2009 MBP is for the quad-core processor and SSD. I ran a filter in Photoshop and it took 62 seconds on my current MBP. I put the same TIFF image on an SD card and brought it to my local Apple store, plugged in the card to a non-retina MBP with 2.6Ghz quad-core processor, launched Photoshop (which was installed on the demo) and it took only 14 seconds to apply the same filter. That is pretty amazing.

The rMBP with current specs will, I'm sure, do everything I need it to do. My goal is to keep the machine for at least 6 years (unless something goes wrong with it) which I think is realistic given the investment. I can also sell my existing MBP to put toward the purchase.

What is scaring me is really the retina screen. I read some reviews over on Amazon and there are many complaints of IR (ghosting) and Apple is apparently now refusing exchanges - stating the screen is operating within specs. I know some of you are loving it and have no reported issues, but it seems to be it's like a gamble. Some are fine, others are not. This is what has me a bit worried.

I could just go with the cMBP but because I want it to be a long-term purchase, I'm thinking the retina will be the way forward. Still deciding but am very tempted.

I don't think it will last you five years. Just because Retina MBP is overpriced now, doesn't mean it will last you any longer than your current 2009 machine...


Broadwell is out in 2004. That will be a quantum leap in performance and efficiency. That will leave your ivybridge in the dust, and by then it might begin to feel slow again, and so it goes.

 

[Orlandoech]

Perhaps, it is to see if the OP has missed something while he considered the two machines. He just wants to check if someone has a better idea before he moves in and buys the bomb.

I too am in a similar dilemma: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/16506087/

Still doesn't make ANY sense. How is he going to see if he "missed" something on a machine that doesn't even exist yet?

Literally, makes 0 logical sense.

 

[that1guyy]

I say wait. The second gen will solve a lot of problems so there won't be a need to worry if your computer has screen issues. I'm sure they'll get those solved. Also, Haswell should be very good for battery life and the integrated gpu is supposed to be a lot better so unlike the current rMBPs, the dedicated gpu won't kick in for the smallest of tasks.

Who knows, maybe they'll add an additional USB port as well.
I am definitely waiting.