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Haswell Chips

B

blast87

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 18, 2012
77
14
I keep reading about the future intel Haswell chips. And now with today's rumor that the new macbook airs will use them. I was wondering if someone could explain the big deal. Are they going to be that much faster than current intel chips or just another spec bump?

I was thinking of buying a new rMBP soon, but if these chips are as good as theyre hyped up to be I think I'll probably wait than
 
They're supposed to increase battery life and graphical performance on the integrated GPU. Nothing major.
 
Crystal balls reports, roughly 5-10% increased performance for CPU while lower energy consumption/heat generation.

GPU performance goes up by around 50%. Basically the same as we saw going from Sandy to Ivy bridge.
 
50% GPU increase sounds like a lot. And probably mandatory for a retina display macbook air.
 
blast87 said:
50% GPU increase sounds like a lot. And probably mandatory for a retina display macbook air.
Click to expand...

It sounds like a lot but 50% doesn't equal out all the time. It won't be the end all be all like some on this board seem to make it out to be. It's still a integrated video card and will likely in real world applications net far less than 50% increases.

If you wait for Haswell then the same people will be screaming to wait for Broadwell, then Skywell, its never ending. If you went by their logic you would never buy a device and be in a constant state of "which one is next".

I don't see Haswell as being that much of a increase in real world usage over Ivy Bridge, its more of a stop gap for Broadwell when they go 14nm. Broadwell is when we will see significant gains, but thats maybe 2014 and quite honestly if you need a laptop now you'd be daft to keep waiting.
 
blast87 said:
50% GPU increase sounds like a lot. And probably mandatory for a retina display macbook air.
Click to expand...

Yeah but it wont have much effect on the performance of the 15in rMBP because of the discreet graphics card.

At most it will save battery because the need to switch to the discreet graphics wont be as much.
 
e²Studios said:
If you wait for Haswell then the same people will be screaming to wait for Broadwell, then Skywell, its never ending. If you went by their logic you would never buy a device and be in a constant state of "which one is next".
Click to expand...

Isnt that the truth, sad really.
 
A lot of people keep asking about the next rMBP launch day because they think the current rMBP have an immature technology and think the hardware is not really ready or they think the rMBP is plagued with issues, graphic cards in fact have been capable to handle lots of pixels since few times ago (just check the specs sheet nvidia provides in its website about it), the futures GPUs will be faster that's for sure as happens with CPUs, we only need more software that catches up with rMBP, not only compatible but optimized, and this can take more than one year to happen...
 
blast87 said:
I keep reading about the future intel Haswell chips. And now with today's rumor that the new macbook airs will use them. I was wondering if someone could explain the big deal. Are they going to be that much faster than current intel chips or just another spec bump?

I was thinking of buying a new rMBP soon, but if these chips are as good as theyre hyped up to be I think I'll probably wait than
Click to expand...

Well, on my rmbp, 15" base model, I do occasionally see some UI lag and some web pages don't scroll perfectly well. Nevertheless, this is the best machine I have ever owned. My sister asked me recently if she should get one. I told her to wait for Haswell if she can, because if it fixes these problems while adding a tiny bit better battery and overall speed, why the heck not? Plus, with h265 rolling out soon, having a gpu that does hardware acceleration of it would be huge. Will Ivy Bridge or Haswell do that? I don't know but I'd bet Haswell has a really good chance of doing so.
 
e²Studios said:
If you wait for Haswell then the same people will be screaming to wait for Broadwell, then Skywell, its never ending. If you went by their logic you would never buy a device and be in a constant state of "which one is next".
Click to expand...

This is true of course, but if you want the best bang for your buck it doesn't hurt to keep an eye on the refresh cycle. June is only a few months away, so if the OP doesn't need a new computer right now then it's probably a good idea to wait IMO. I have a feeling Haswell's significant power savings and improved GPU will cause a bit of a shakeup in Apple's notebook lineup. We could possssibly see retina Airs, the discontinuation of the cMBP's, and perhaps cheaper prices for the rMBP's. it's hard to say, but since it isn't very far away I've decided to wait (I'm not in dire need of a new MBP just yet, although my AppleCare had run out which makes me anxious.
 
The way people talk about Haswell, it's as if there is some type of new Alien technology in it that Intel obtained last year from a crashed spaceship, and will make Crysis run on ultra on the Air 11".
 
blast87 said:
50% GPU increase sounds like a lot. And probably mandatory for a retina display macbook air.
Click to expand...

It is for a Macbook Air/Ultrabook.

The GPU is going to be a major deal for these smaller notebooks (including the 13' Macbook Pro)

CPU wise it's not a big jump just the typical speed bump (unless you're coming from something from pre-2010).

It won't matter that much for the 15' due to the fact that it has it's own separate GPU from the integrated graphics card.
 
e²Studios said:
It sounds like a lot but 50% doesn't equal out all the time. It won't be the end all be all like some on this board seem to make it out to be. It's still a integrated video card and will likely in real world applications net far less than 50% increases.

If you wait for Haswell then the same people will be screaming to wait for Broadwell, then Skywell, its never ending. If you went by their logic you would never buy a device and be in a constant state of "which one is next".

I don't see Haswell as being that much of a increase in real world usage over Ivy Bridge, its more of a stop gap for Broadwell when they go 14nm. Broadwell is when we will see significant gains, but thats maybe 2014 and quite honestly if you need a laptop now you'd be daft to keep waiting.
Click to expand...


Yes, well, I'm one of those people screaming about waiting for the next one. But it has less to do with Haswell as it is that I will never buy first generation anything. Especially when I'll be spending $2,600. I've been waiting since June and I'm not going to give in now. I'm sure the first gen retina is great, I've been playing with it in the store, but I prefere to take the one without the freshman kinks
 
Last edited:
adjeff8 said:
Yes, well, I'm one of those people screaming about waiting for the next one. But it has less to do with Haswell as it is that I will never buy first generation anything. Especially when I'll be spending $2,600. I've been waiting since June and I'm not going to give in now. I'm sure the first gen retina is great, I've been playing with it in the store, but I prefere to take the one without the freshman kinks
Click to expand...

Same. With the SMU graphics issue, image retention, and a glued in battery, there is plenty to wait for in a new revision.
 
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