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Do you think Apple will skip Broadwell and go straight for Skylake?

jamesjingyi

jamesjingyi

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 20, 2011
851
159
UK
I was reading a few articles and they said that Skylake processors were scheduled for 2H'15 (which I'm guessing is the second half of 2015?) therefore they would be out in time for the next MacBook Pro refresh. Skylake promises greatly increased performance and support for DDR4 RAM (which looks awesome :D). I'm wondering if there would be time for Apple to reengineer the laptop in time and if the machine would be reasonably priced (as DDR4 is so expensive at the moment).

I am thinking of getting a maxed MBP 15" in the next iteration but was just thinking if Skylake will be released in time (hope it is!)

What do you guys think?
 
Skylake is a mix of DDR3 and DDR4. DDR4 is supposed to match DDR3 prices around the middle of this year and going into 2016 so that will likely determine which one to go forth with. That and securable supplies at an agreeable price point.

Not so many details on Skylake but Broadwell seems to allow 1866MHz DDR3 so that can be a stop-gap until DDR4 settles. I wouldn't say memory choice is the crux that keeps buyers away.

Price-point probably the same. No reason to change the current base configuration targets.
 
jamesjingyi said:
I was reading a few articles and they said that Skylake processors were scheduled for 2H'15 (which I'm guessing is the second half of 2015?) therefore they would be out in time for the next MacBook Pro refresh. Skylake promises greatly increased performance and support for DDR4 RAM (which looks awesome :D). I'm wondering if there would be time for Apple to reengineer the laptop in time and if the machine would be reasonably priced (as DDR4 is so expensive at the moment).

I am thinking of getting a maxed MBP 15" in the next iteration but was just thinking if Skylake will be released in time (hope it is!)

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Simple answer no Apple will not skip broadwell. Apple is a company they will release Macbook with the broadwell chip then release "upgraded" MacBooks with the skylake chip to make more money from the dedicated Apple fan boys who upgrade every year
 
What makes you think the MBP skylake cpu is going to be available when they say it is?

Have Intel ever released on time?
 
Count Blah said:
What makes you think the MBP skylake cpu is going to be available when they say it is?

Have Intel ever released on time?
Click to expand...

Haha I get your argument but there were quite a few posts online saying that they are on schedule for the release of the chips..
 
Depends on Intel's timeframe for releasing the chips. No one is 100% sure, probably not even Intel.
 
Definitely not for portables. Broadwell is another power efficiency focused generation.

We'll most likely see Skylake in performance machines though, as Broadwell is 0% compelling compared to Haswell in performance. Also, Intel unveiled the Z107 chipset recently, paving the way for Skylake-K SKUs to be released in 2015.
 
plastictoy said:
Skylake is a mix of DDR3 and DDR4. DDR4 is supposed to match DDR3 prices around the middle of this year and going into 2016 so that will likely determine which one to go forth with. That and securable supplies at an agreeable price point.

Not so many details on Skylake but Broadwell seems to allow 1866MHz DDR3 so that can be a stop-gap until DDR4 settles. I wouldn't say memory choice is the crux that keeps buyers away.

Price-point probably the same. No reason to change the current base configuration targets.
Click to expand...

Skylake from what I believe will support both DDR3 and DDR4 simultaneously, the biggest advantages in DDR4 come with increased memory bandwidth - DDR4 basically takes off from the top end of DDR3, the other big advantage is in power consumption which also will effect iPhones etc with LPDDR4.

Asher133 said:
Simple answer no Apple will not skip broadwell. Apple is a company they will release Macbook with the broadwell chip then release "upgraded" MacBooks with the skylake chip to make more money from the dedicated Apple fan boys who upgrade every year
Click to expand...

Count Blah said:
What makes you think the MBP skylake cpu is going to be available when they say it is?

Have Intel ever released on time?
Click to expand...

There's actually a pretty good chance of Apple skipping Broadwell. Intel has already stated they intend to shorten the lifecycle of Broadwell in order to regain the momentum of tick/tock with Skylake. Broadwell was delayed due to unsatisfactory yields. Now that Intel has mostly sorted that we should see them quickly ramp up and then move onto Skylake so who knows, we may very well see Skylake MacBooks this year.

I really hope to see a Skylake/Maxwell based rMBP, would upgrade instantly!
 
No. That would mean Apple would not release an updated CPU this year. When Intel releases a CPU and when Apple adds its to its range, are two very different, and generally apart dates. Sometime in 2016 we should see Skylake Cpus in Apple products.

There is a rumoured CPU refresh in the next few month, Broadwell is coming, though nothing major, and will not even result in an event
 
MH01 said:
No. That would mean Apple would not release an updated CPU this year. When Intel releases a CPU and when Apple adds its to its range, are two very different, and generally apart dates. Sometime in 2016 we should see Skylake Cpus in Apple products.

There is a rumoured CPU refresh in the next few month, Broadwell is coming, though nothing major, and will not even result in an event
Click to expand...

Apple may very well do a Broadwell refresh. But I don't think they will wait so long for Skylake. Apple is a major customer and it will be a priority for Intel to start pumping out Skylake chips for Apple as soon as possible.

What people forget is Intel has spent billions building 14nm fabs, they are basically still yet to see any return after years of getting them up and running, believe me Intel wants to start seeing returns and clawing as much market share as possible in the face of a future encroachment by ARM based chips.
 
SCOLANATOR said:
Apple may very well do a Broadwell refresh. But I don't think they will wait so long for Skylake. Apple is a major customer and it will be a priority for Intel to start pumping out Skylake chips for Apple as soon as possible.

What people forget is Intel has spent billions building 14nm fabs, they are basically still yet to see any return after years of getting them up and running, believe me Intel wants to start seeing returns and clawing as much market share as possible in the face of a future encroachment by ARM based chips.
Click to expand...

Just basing it on experience, Apple is always one of the last to the party.
 
Not this year for skylake

I'm expecting abroadwell update on the pros in mid 2015 and skylake to hit the party in the spring 2016. No real evidence for that just a gut feeling...
 
I just want them to hurry up and update the rMBP 15".

Give me either a Broadwell or a Skylake based chip with the GTX 850M 2GB and they can have my money.

Would also like to see a 1080p Facetime camera, potentially DDR4.
 
I think under certain circumstances that tis possible, but I believe its unlikely. Still I believe Broadwell is a chipset that will have an abbreviated life, since Skylake is due out a few months after Broadwell hits the streets this summer.
 
No they weren't. That has always just been a rumor somebody just started, because oh holy Apple must get special treatment. They get the same treatment everyone else gets and if payed for. Apple needs a higher volume of the higher binned chips than any other manufacturer and it just takes time to produce that. That is why some other manufacturer always beats them to the punch.
They get chips the same time everyone else does, but because they entirely replace old products, they need to wait until they have enough product handle the demand. That puts them 2-3 months behind.
 
Once new Intel chips are available - I can't imagine Apple not doing a refresh to Broadwell. Afterall, Apple got burned waiting on Intel to release Broadwell, which seems to have hampered their plans for Mac releases, and I don't think they would be willing to take a chance on waiting for Skylake...

As for when Apple gets the Intel chips in relation to other manufacturers, I do seem to recall at least one instance where Apple did indeed receive a new line of Intel chips before anyone else. This doesn't seem to be the case, imho, anymore however. I guess we shall see.
 
Apple has waited for a long with Haswell with minor bumps and Mac sales have mantained meanwhile. I don't see why Apple couldn't wait a few more months and do a major upgrade to Skylake. It's been a long road, to now release a Broadwell MBP which wouldn't be anything else other than another minor bump: a few less power constumption, almost same CPU performance and just 15-16% more execution units in the Iris Pro GPU.

Maybe Apple goes Broadwell with the MBA with the last rumoured minor bump of late february (i5-4250U and HD6000), but highly doubt they will go Broadwell with Pro gamma if Skylake finally comes out in Q3-early Q4 of 2015.
 
cambookpro said:
Really? I thought, historically, Apple are one of the first manufacturers to use the new chipsets. They certainly were for Sandy and Ivy Bridge.
Click to expand...

Ivy bridge was one of the better rollouts, but came after wwdc, so June 2012, ivy bridge laptops from other manafactures were already available in April 2012. It can get real bad on some products though, such as the Mac mini and Mac pro, you want to buy just after a refresh, cause it can be a long time between updates :(
 
So is an updated macbook with broad well or sky lake likely to see a new exterior design or any new features?
 
That was a joke...

Samtb said:
What kind?
Click to expand...

There is unlikely to be any cosmetic changes this year to the MBP's the current form factor is only a couple of years old and apple like to get a good 4-5 out of their mac designs....
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
There is unlikely to be any cosmetic changes this year to the MBP's the current form factor is only a couple of years old and apple like to get a good 4-5 out of their mac designs....
Click to expand...

Let's see...

If they are updated in 2016, then that would mark the fifth year of the rMBP slim design (launch mid 2012). Unibody MacBooks were introduced in 2009, and were used up to the aforementioned mid 2012, for a total of four years or so.

Following both the 4 years of Unibody and your 4-5 years prediction, it is very likely that Skylake would bring a visual upgrade. DDR4, better battery, Skylake, etc could very well be put in a new package.
 
exizeo said:
Let's see...

If they are updated in 2016, then that would mark the fifth year of the rMBP slim design (launch mid 2012). Unibody MacBooks were introduced in 2009, and were used up to the aforementioned mid 2012, for a total of four years or so.

Following both the 4 years of Unibody and your 4-5 years prediction, it is very likely that Skylake would bring a visual upgrade. DDR4, better battery, Skylake, etc could very well be put in a new package.
Click to expand...


Yep but that isn't this year.
 
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