Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Do you think the base rMBP will last a good 4-5 years before becoming "outdated?"
- Thread starter Star Nuts
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I was thinking about this earlier, but I think that bumping the execution unit count from 16 to (whats predicted to be) 40 is going to scale the power draw and heat output at the same rate as the increase in processing power (at the same clock speeds). Haswell is still going to be 22nm, and if it does approach the power of the already very energy efficient kepler card, chances are that power draw will be higher. Add this to the suspected on-package DRAM and the fact that it's on the same die as the CPU; thats a huge amount of heat output under heavy gaming load, maybe leading to throttling.
I agree with you that if they do ditch the dGPU, it will be more of a side grade, with apple simply reducing the BOM and increasing their profit margins.
It depends on whether your purchase or not AC. If you purchase it, then it'll die before 3 years, else it'll die 3 days after AC expires... 
...
Joking aside, the quality of the components used to build computer parts will determine approximately when your computer lasts... ThiS is not something new, it is already happening with electrical appliances; they die on time...
...Joking aside, the quality of the components used to build computer parts will determine approximately when your computer lasts... ThiS is not something new, it is already happening with electrical appliances; they die on time...
If people need so much RAM then why isn't there a massive wave of people across the Internet complaining about their computers locking up and talking about a class action suit because they were sold a laptop with as little as three GB of RAM?
The so-called need for RAM is a myth created by a deluge of posts like yours.
We're not talking about the needs for right now but in 4-5 years time. RAM needs grow as developers expect more and more to be available. 4 GB was plenty a few years ago, it's just fine now, will be tight next year and so on. I'm not making it up, it's coming from first hand experience.
Of course, it all depends on what you do. Today, you could still be running a hand-optimized Linux kernel with a light graphical environment and get by with 128 MB but we're talking about the ever evolving OS X with your average Joe's array of mouse+GUI-based (read: memory hungry) apps.
So yes, 16 GB may be too much now depending on the usage, but it will surely be tight in 4 years.
