CPU comparison 15" MBP (May 2015 v.s. Oct 2016) Skylake v.s. Haswell

[CaliKW]

I've compiled CPU performance of the new(ish) skylake CPU's v.s. the 2014 Haswells...

WOW -- just wow. The new skylakes are in some cases SLOWER than the older Haswell CPUs. Maybe when more benchmarks come in on them they might do better, but Im shocked they do so POORLY considering they are 2-3 years newer. Intel performance gains have basically stopped.

Ive added in row for the intel NUC cpu which we all expected in the new rMBP for reference.

So then the question - buy a refurbed 2015 model, save 1000+ dollars, and get the same performance.
Loose the touchbar, bigger trackpad, and wide-gamut display...

Im seriously pissed that Apple decided to bump the price so much, considering performance (CPU wise) is nearly identical.

 

[Ries]

I've compiled CPU performance of the new(ish) skylake CPU's v.s. the 2014 Haswells...

View attachment 669171

WOW -- just wow. The new skylakes are in some cases SLOWER than the older Haswell CPUs. Maybe when more benchmarks come in on them they might do better, but Im shocked they do so POORLY considering they are 2-3 years newer. Intel performance gains have basically stopped.

Ive added in row for the intel NUC cpu which we all expected in the new rMBP for reference.

So then the question - buy a refurbed 2015 model, save 1000+ dollars, and get the same performance.
Loose the touchbar, bigger trackpad, and wide-gamut display...

Im seriously pissed that Apple decided to bump the price so much, considering performance (CPU wise) is nearly identical.

One of the thing skylake brings is improved power consumption and better media engine. However instead of Apple giving you better battery, they slashed the battery smaller so you still have about the same battery life. You're getting even less for more. The dGPU doesn't cost Apple more than the Iris HD580 would have, so that is a freebie for Apple. This thing is the Macbook Pro 15" Pure Greed Edition.

 

[CaliKW]

When more benchmarks come out for the GPU I'll add them in here.

I agree - PURE GREED EDITION... makes me sick. Im a huge apple fan, and am usually okay about paying the apple premium tax. I think that the equivalent surface book is in the same price range - made apple feel like a price hike of this magnitude would be 'accepted' by the buyers...

My dilemma... I don't want to go back to Windows... so that's out. Maybe try to pick up a used or refurb 2015 version. I can't believe I waited over a year for this...

 

[Kulfon]

Esentially if you do not need emoji bar and like your usb connectors, the May 2015 RMB 15" is as good as the updated one. Same performance.

 

[CaliKW]

I don't blame apple for lack of CPU performance gains... its all on Intel... (Cue Apple telling their kick-ass A-series guys to get with their OS guys to start the march to ARM based MACs...). Of course this is a ways off. Imagine a quad processor, 16+ core beast in 3-4 years... which will (hopefully) whip the latest intel proc. on performance AND power requirements...

 

[deadworlds]

I don't blame apple for lack of CPU performance gains... its all on Intel... (Cue Apple telling their kick-ass A-series guys to get with their OS guys to start the march to ARM based MACs...). Of course this is a ways off. Imagine a quad processor, 16+ core beast in 3-4 years... which will (hopefully) whip the latest intel proc. on performance AND power requirements...

I highly doubt we will ever see ARM processors in apples computers. Why? Because Apple nor ARM are allowed to use the x86 instruction set that intel and AMD CPUs use.

What does it mean? Not only would a full rewrite of macOS be necessary but this would also eliminate any chance of running boot camp as this would require Microsoft and all Linux variants to be rewritten using the ARM instruction set. This would also mean that every program ever compiled to utalize the x86 intruction set would also have to be rewritten and compiled. Talk about a big headache for all developers out there's. This transition would be like going back to the IMB PowerPC.

 

[TechZeke]

When more benchmarks come out for the GPU I'll add them in here.

I agree - PURE GREED EDITION... makes me sick. Im a huge apple fan, and am usually okay about paying the apple premium tax. I think that the equivalent surface book is in the same price range - made apple feel like a price hike of this magnitude would be 'accepted' by the buyers...

My dilemma... I don't want to go back to Windows... so that's out. Maybe try to pick up a used or refurb 2015 version. I can't believe I waited over a year for this...

If you don't need the OLED Bar or USB-C(Which, lets be honest, USB-C is probably more of an inconvenience for most people) then 2015 is a better value overall, even at full price. Probably why they didn't reduce the retail price of the 2015's. If they had, it'd be even harder to justify the price increase.

 

[CaliKW]

I highly doubt we will ever see ARM processors in apples computers. Why? Because Apple nor ARM are allowed to use the x86 instruction set that intel and AMD CPUs use.

What does it mean? Not only would a full rewrite of macOS be necessary but this would also eliminate any chance of running boot camp as this would require Microsoft and all Linux variants to be rewritten using the ARM instruction set. This would also mean that every program ever compiled to utalize the x86 intruction set would also have to be rewritten and compiled. Talk about a big headache for all developers out there's. This transition would be like going back to the IMB PowerPC.

I agree, it would be a re-write of everything to ARM, with emulation for x86 (like the switch from PPC to x86)... would be massive change. Maybe AMD Zen can help?