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Haswell vs non-Haswell

B

Breitling65

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 3, 2011
320
3
My friend got latest mcbpr/13"/8gb ram/256ssd with Haswell and I own exact same model purchased 3 month ago before Haswell.
We compared one to one using any possible functionality a front of us with both and can't find any noticeable difference. Where can I see the difference besides battery longevity? I could sell mine and get Haswell, but why?
 
Graphics performance is really the only other place you'd find a noticeable difference. Actual CPU increases weren't too dramatic between Ivy Bridge and Haswell.
 
Agent-P said:
Graphics performance is really the only other place you'd find a noticeable difference. Actual CPU increases weren't too dramatic between Ivy Bridge and Haswell.
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Games? Because playing Netflix on both is about same in quality.
 
Breitling65 said:
Games? Because playing Netflix on both is about same in quality.
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Netflix is limited by the resolution at their end and the broadband connection you have. Any Macbook from the last 5 years could max out Netflix no problem.
 
qawsed said:
Netflix is limited by the resolution at their end and the broadband connection you have. Any Macbook from the last 5 years could max out Netflix no problem.
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Video/QuickTime player? Same result, both retina screens are great. Netflix allow HD playback on faster FIOS connections which I am.
 
There is only a tiny tiny difference between your machine and haswell, mainly reduced power consumption. Do not upgrade, there is no need!
 
You guys forgot about the wireless AC and Pcie card upgrade. One may not avail the wireless AC speed ATM, but this will be the standard soon enough. Though the Ssd speed may not be relevant in normal use but they are more than twice than fast in tests.

And lastly, the Haswell version is noticeably thinner and now has only one fan which is bigger. I have both versions and find the earlier version a bit too thick.
 
ducatiti said:
And lastly, the Haswell version is noticeably thinner and now has only one fan which is bigger. I have both versions and find the earlier version a bit too thick.
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The new one is 0.04 inches thinner. I'm not sure in what world that counts as noticeable. It's 1.0mm, which isn't something you'll notice in real life without breaking out the caliper.
 
Breitling65 said:
I could sell mine and get Haswell, but why?
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To feed the materialistic hunger in you that covets things based on how new and shiny they are?

The new 13" rmbp (late 2013) is slightly thinner, has a more energy efficient cpu and some upgraded hardware features like thunderbolt 2. If you have no use for these things and use it primarily as a netflix machine you will see no advantage over your current laptop.
 
qawsed said:
There is only a tiny tiny difference between your machine and haswell, mainly reduced power consumption. Do not upgrade, there is no need!
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That is what I desided, I could get $1200 for my current mcbpr and I would need to waste another $300 for haswell, I guess I will wait for next magical super-haswell :)
 
sabbyp said:
To feed the materialistic hunger in you that covets things based on how new and shiny they are?

The new 13" rmbp (late 2013) is slightly thinner, has a more energy efficient cpu and some upgraded hardware features like thunderbolt 2. If you have no use for these things and use it primarily as a netflix machine you will see no advantage over your current laptop.
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Exactly. What would be the point?
 
Out of interest is their any noticeable difference just using the OS interface speed wise on best for retina or 1440 by 900 setting? Or difference in any supposed lag when browsing the internet?

Thanks
 
so is a little bit lighter, a little bit thinner, wifi ac, PCIe, better battery life,better graphics card(almost no lag in the native-best for retina resolution), thunderbolt 2. So for me,that i am using almost everything listed above i use ..i would upgrade.Because there are little changes if you take step by step BUt if you count overall is a better laptop and next year you will be getting better value on resale than ivy
 
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neverhadanewton said:
Out of interest is their any noticeable difference just using the OS interface speed wise on best for retina or 1440 by 900 setting? Or difference in any supposed lag when browsing the internet?

Thanks
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Again, no noticeable difference in anything we compared side by side. Battery also not that bad on 3 month older model. I like wifi ac and slight difference in size weight but it is OK for now. I am getting max wifi speed based on my current FIOS plan (50mps download) even without ac. I am sure wifi ac could get higher speeds but I have to get more expensive plan from FIOS to notice this.
 
Many of the differences are under the hood. If I had a choice, I would never go for last year's rMBP, even at a significant discount.
 
PDFierro said:
Yeah, I am talking about Haswell and non-Haswell. There was an early-2013 extremely minor refresh, and then the Haswell refresh just last month.
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And Haswell is large update? :) What can't I do you can with this model? Seat on battery for two more hours and connect wifi ac? Funny, it is gimmick as for me ...
 
Breitling65 said:
And Haswell is major? :) What can't I do you can with this model? Seat on battery for two more hour and connect wifi ac? Funny, it is gimmick as for me ...
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It's major for me. But you certainly don't need anybody to convince you to upgrade your laptop, which seems like was the intent of the OP. Yours will continue to run fine and is a great machine. Unless you really want that battery life.
 
the battery is major if you go places where you can't charge - or if you don't want to ever carry a charger around, it gives you just that little bit extra to get you through the day (i have never moved my charger from my desk and it can last a full day of usage at uni for me)

the ac wifi speed can be major if you are transferring lots of data between a nas
the ac wifi beamforming will give you stronger signal strength further from the router
the ac wifi speed can be major if you have a gigabit internet connection

the ssd improvements could be useful if you are doing specific things on it often, unzipping (it's now cpu bound again for me) or if you have a certain workflow that accesses disk a lot

iris pro beats ivy bridge on opencl

750m beats 650m on cuda

thunderbolt 2 could be useful if you have a ssd raid array

so it all depends on workflow and usage - many of the changes will only be noticed by pros
 
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