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Buy Post-WWDC Macbook Pro 15 or wait for early 2018 one with Coffee Lake and new graphics?

KensaiMage

KensaiMage

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 25, 2017
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Should I buy Post-WWDC Macbook Pro 15 or wait for early 2018 one with Coffee Lake and new graphics?

I am going to need something for presentations and taking notes in 3 months. (I need a maxed out 15" for much more demanding stuff but I can wait a little)

There are two options:
1. Buy new iPad Pro 10.5" with apple pencil for note taking, drawing and making presentations and when a coffee lake (awesome processors) macbook pro 15 is released buy it with 32gb of DDR4 memory and new graphics chip.
2. Buy Post-WWDC maxed out Macbook Pro 15 and do not buy any iPad.

The times of DDR3 and 2-4 core processors lasted very long. Now, we can be almost sure that next year will open for us the era of DDR4 and more-cored processors and this is why I am bothered.

Which route should I take?
 
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This, is a question you will face every year. Buy now or wait... The answer is quite simple, do you need it or want it? If you need it, buy one!

If you can hold off if there are credible rumours of an immanent refresh then by all means wait. But you'll have this same argument again in 2018 when there's reports of a newer model coming soon after. As there will always be a newer model coming soon. Newer models however rarely offer a dramatic increase in anything other than just being newer.
 
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KensaiMage said:
Should I buy Post-WWDC Macbook Pro 15 or wait for early 2018 one with Coffee Lake and new graphics?

I am going to need something for presentations and taking notes in 3 months. (I need a maxed out 15" for much more demanding stuff but I can wait a little)

There are two options:
1. Buy new iPad Pro 10.5" with apple pencil for note taking, drawing and making presentations and when a coffee lake (awesome processors) macbook pro 15 is released buy it with 32gb of DDR4 memory and new graphics chip.
2. Buy Post-WWDC maxed out Macbook Pro 15 and do not buy any iPad.

Which route should I take?
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I would wait, new ones are coming very soon I think.
 
PortableLover said:
What do you mean by demanding stuff. In any case, wait til the wwdc event and see what happens.
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1.Using photoshop for developing my app and creating new content for forums/website.

2.Using photoshop for pictures needed to a book I am writing now.

3.Editing some videos (not much).

4. Playing FUTURE Blizzard titles on high/max settings (current maxed out mbp 15 runs decently diablo 3 on max settings but it is not future-proof regarding next blizzard titles, maybe it could play these on low settings). (I am Apple and Blizzard fan. But I HATE windows so... I will want to play Blizzard's games on Mac OS.)

5.The most important. -> Coding in swift and xcode.
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Mr. Dee said:
I personally am waiting until 2021 when Tigerlake gets released with DDR5.
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Thanks for reply, but it was not helpful :) The times of DDR3 and 2-4 core processors were very long. Now, we can be almost sure that next year will open for us the era of DDR4 and more-cored processors and this is why I am bothered.

What I mean is -> I am not rich enough to change mbp every 3 years or so... This is why I am looking for serious answer. I will want to use the MBP I buy for at least 6 years, this is why the decission to wait or not is very important to me.
[doublepost=1496326007][/doublepost]In general -> DDR3 was released in 2007 and we still use it (after 10 years). I think it would be nice to have a macbook which uses DDR4 and gets outdated much later thanks to newer processors.
 
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If you decide to wait, you'll never stop waiting. I thought I would get an iMac in 2015, but decided to wait. Then nothing happened in 2016, so I decided to order one, but I became convinced a new one was coming in March, so I decided to wait. Now it's June and we have no sign of an iMac until the end of the year, so I will have waited two years when I could've been using one this whole time. Waiting sucks.
 
you should wait and buy the one WWDC will be announced. The next big difference will be the one which it will use DDR5 and 32 gb RAM,so around 2019. that will be the next big step,and you will feel the difference between this one, and that one with 32gb ram DDR5
 
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I haven't been paying too much attention to these rumours as I remember a similar scenario this time last year... By all means wait until WWDC but I wouldn't hold my breath expecting anything significant, especially seeing as they just launched them 7 months ago.
 
When these questions pop up why do we always have to say, if you can wait then wait, if you need it now then buy now. This is common knowledge isn't it? I mean we are not in grade school right? I see so many of these replies and I don't understand how people who ask this don't already know. Lol
 
I own/run a small engineering company, need to buy new Win laptops and maybe new rMBPs but have been waiting for Computex and WWDC to run their courses. Meanwhile, I have some (very!) excitable vendors hitting me up to open my checkbook. Why I'm writing here is relative to two bits. First, my vendors with local Intel contacts are relating that the initial CL processors will likely target Air/Macbook-type laptops until mid-to-late summer. Second, I got an email about lunchtime from a vendor with a link to Dell's sales/configuration portal - the Precision 5520 has been revised to include Kaby Lake i5/i7 processors and option up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM (the v6 Xeon E3 option remains there as well). Kitted out with the fastest i7, an nVidia Quadro dGPU, 32GB RAM, and a 512GB M.2 PCIe plus a larger battery and secondary 2TB HHD gets out the door for about $3k with the 1080p screen.

I'm looking forward to what Apple brings to our desks next week. If it's just a speed bumped version of what I can buy today at Best Buy, that loud but muffled "pop" might be me blowing my top! I'm buying new rMBPs this year with an eye toward next year's DDR5 RAM plus CL processors.
 
KensaiMage said:
Should I buy Post-WWDC Macbook Pro 15 or wait for early 2018 one with Coffee Lake and new graphics?

I am going to need something for presentations and taking notes in 3 months. (I need a maxed out 15" for much more demanding stuff but I can wait a little)

There are two options:
1. Buy new iPad Pro 10.5" with apple pencil for note taking, drawing and making presentations and when a coffee lake (awesome processors) macbook pro 15 is released buy it with 32gb of DDR4 memory and new graphics chip.
2. Buy Post-WWDC maxed out Macbook Pro 15 and do not buy any iPad.

The times of DDR3 and 2-4 core processors lasted very long. Now, we can be almost sure that next year will open for us the era of DDR4 and more-cored processors and this is why I am bothered.

Which route should I take?
Click to expand...

First off, technology is always going to get better.

With that being said, kaby lake is a very very small deal, and coffee lake will be one of the biggest CPU updates for quite some time (with 6 core options available). Not to mention GPU options should be much better even if Apple sticks with AMD because of Vega.

Basically, you'll get much more bang for your buck if you buy the coffee lake MBP (which is what I'll be doing ;) ).
 
dallas112678 said:
First off, technology is always going to get better.

With that being said, kaby lake is a very very small deal, and coffee lake will be one of the biggest CPU updates for quite some time (with 6 core options available). Not to mention GPU options should be much better even if Apple sticks with AMD because of Vega.

Basically, you'll get much more bang for your buck if you buy the coffee lake MBP (which is what I'll be doing ;) ).
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But that's only any use if your current set up is not losing you money. 6 months on a machine that increases your productivity by 20% will probably be worth far more to you than waiting. Its that simple really work out whether it will cost you more to wait than you will gain by waiting.
 
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If you keep waiting, you'll never own one. If Apple does indeed refresh the model line next week, what would be the reason for you to wait?

Other then not needing it, I'd say get it.
 
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In my opinion, if you feel you need a new Mac and a new model has just been released, there is no reason to wait. If you think you can afford to wait, say, 1 or 2 years, then wait. But if a new computer is going to enhance your productivity, don't give up the opportunity in favor of a future awesome model that doesn't exist.

It's a given that newer and better machines will be always coming out, the point is that any conjecture on what will or will not be in future refreshes is nothing more than speculation at this point. Waiting sucks because you can't know in advance when and if Apple is going to offer what you want. Back in 2015, I was about to upgrade from my old 2009 MBP and then decided against it because I thought a newly redesigned model would come out reasonably soon. Yes, I would be much more productive with a new Mac, but maybe the model with 32GB of RAM and a good Nvidia GPU that I had always wished for was just around the corner! I ended up spending the next 1.5 years "Waiting for Skylake MBP", and in the end the 2016 model had none of this. In the meanwhile, my old trusty MBP had become a brick, hampering my work, and at that point I was forced to upgrade.

Lesson learned: working and getting things done faster/better gets you time and money, waiting doesn't get you anything you wouldn't be able to buy in the future anyway if you needed it.
 
Another "should I buy now or wait till next year?" thread. |-O

Dude, there will always be a next year's model (unless it's a Mini) for the MBP.

Buy it, you know you want it!
 
A 6-core MacBook Pro in the near future seems rather unlikely at this point.

If you need a computer in 3 months, and will need it daily from then on, it is worth assuming that Coffee Lake MacBook Pros could be as much as 2+ years away (as Intel delays have become common, and Apple doesn't necessarily update the MBP as soon as a new CPU becomes commercially available), and so you would need an intermediate solution for over a year and a half. That's a long time to spend just getting by...

One solution could be building a custom gaming PC (or buying a gaming laptop) where you get much more power for the money, and purchasing a 2016 (or 2017) 13-inch MacBook Pro base model. Then, when Coffee Lake MBPs come out, you could sell the 13-inch for a reasonable price and put that cash towards a 15-inch, and you've been able to enjoy having both a capable/portable MBP and a capable gaming system for 2+ years, rather than playing the waiting game for an update that might or might not fulfill your performance/pricing criteria.

Another solution could be buying a base-model 15-inch and investing in an external GPU. However, the price:performance ratio is going to be poor compared to a relatively mid-level PC with a desktop quad core and a 1080 Ti...

Another alternative could be purchasing a MacBook Pro 13-inch base, or a (possibly about-to-be-updated) MacBook Air and then purchasing a modular Mac Pro when it is released in 1-2 years.

A final alternative could be purchasing a MacBook Pro 13-inch base, and then purchasing a higher spec iMac (iMac Pro?) when updated. I think the odds of seeing a high-end iMac in the near future with a 6 core CPU and possibly desktop-class graphics, and more than 32 GB RAM seem more likely than a MacBook Pro, and may be more economical.
 
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Pro tip: Wait for the 2024 release with liquid hydrogen and 1pb NVMe++. Til then, pad and paper.
 
squeeks said:
That's a long wait unless you already have a new machine.
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I have an Early 2015 MBP. I care my machines very well I believe; I have a HP desktop and laptop from 2011, both going almost 7 years now. My MacBook Pro and Surface Pro 3 are both meeting my needs with what I do most of the time too. Considering my work ethic has changed and I have no need to do intense workloads like programming, graphics, video editing, I am sure I can get by with what I have until then. Not saying there might not be an impulse by along the way, but at the current state, I prefer to save up the money for something truly substantial.

Looking at Apples support strategy, hopefully, I can continue to get macOS updates for the next 5 years for this machine.
 
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CmdrLaForge said:
Why not Icelake? Just because you just got the last years and want to keep it for 6 years or because there is something special about Tigerlake?
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I'm waiting for Covfefelake. At least when the MBP's overheat, it'll start spouting colorful excuses as to why you're the problem the laptop is so steamed.
 
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