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How outdated will my rMBP be if I buy now?

EstebanLGJ

EstebanLGJ

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2014
29
0
Austin, Texas
I am looking at buying a 15' rMBP soon, mainly because of the display and my old 13' 2010 machine. I am thinking of getting a 2013 low end 15'. I would be using the computer for basic college tasks and some steam gaming maybe skyrim, GTAIV, portal1/2, dark souls ii, farcry 3, and maybe some CAD design next year. I am thinking of keeping this machine 3-4 years and my main concern about this computer is the unupgradable 8gb RAM and the Iris graphics. Do you guys think this RAM and iGPU will sufice for gaming and future applications for the next couple years? I am strongly thinking of getting the 16gb RAM/ 512gb with the dGPU just for those reasons, either a refurb 2012 or 2013? who knows

I know there's an update coming soon that might feature broadwell, which I've read will help with graphics performance. Would my machine be completely outdated with these new chips if I decide to get a 2013 or 2012 15'? I need to know if I can take my chances and buy these machines now and hopefully not be outdated by these new chips. I read that the change from the 2012 15' rMPBs to the 2013 models wasn't that big, so I'm wondering if that will happen again this year or early next year with the new update. I am aware that these are all predictions btw.

My current machine is 2010 MBP 2.66GHz intel core 2 duo with 256SSD and 4GB of RAM. I've been upgrading through out the years, something I won't be able to with these machines.
 
They will be utterly useless once the revolutionary broadwell chips are sold ;)
 
It's a great computer that should easily last you years. If something new comes out that's faster, so what? It doesn't make your computer any slower. You can still do exactly what you could always do with it.
 
TechZeke said:
Not to mention the new Broadwell will be an AMAZING, FANTASTIC, MIND BLOWING 10-15% faster. :eek:
Click to expand...

So I'm guessing not that much a change? I honestly thought broadwell was going to be a big change video game wise with all its new architecure and what not.
 
Broadwell will be better. So will the next gen and the next gen, and the one after that. Buy the machine now and enjoy it now. Unless you want to buy a new machine 1 or 2 times a year, your machine will be outdated as soon as you've used it a few months.
 
Cloudsurfer said:
Yes.
Click to expand...

capathy21 said:
Broadwell will be better. So will the next gen and the next gen, and the one after that. Buy the machine now and enjoy it now. Unless you want to buy a new machine 1 or 2 times a year, your machine will be outdated as soon as you've used it a few months.
Click to expand...

Yeah you're right. Hopefully the 8GB RAM wont bottleneck me in 2-3 years. That's kind of what happened to me with my 2010 machine that originally had 2GB of RAM
 
EstebanLGJ said:
Yeah you're right. Hopefully the 8GB RAM wont bottleneck me in 2-3 years. That's kind of what happened to me with my 2010 machine that originally had 2GB of RAM
Click to expand...

I needed my first laptop by this August, so I purchases the 15" rMBP now. Seems like it will last a very long time. The 750m isn't very good at all and will be even worse as time goes on but I only wanted it for some fun gaming on the windows side, not to max out any new games. (Most graphics intensive game I own are probably Metro 2033,Fallout 3, or the Bioshocks)

If you don't need a new laptop I'd definitely wait the 3-6 months for the new ones, but you'll still be getting a great machine with the late 2013 models.
 
Yoshi Yogurt said:
I purchases the 15" rMBP now....The 750m isn't very good at all and will be even worse as time goes on but I only wanted it for some fun gaming on the windows side, not to max out any new games.
Click to expand...

So would you say the dGPU isn't really necessary for casual gaming? If so, then I think I'm good with the low end 15'
 
I wouldn't buy any laptop with less than half a year or so on the market. It's the only way to avoid most of the hardware design problems. Buying a laptop as soon as it's launched is never a good idea.... it's not like a smartphone that you change every 2 years, at least for me, it has to last a lot more and that implies a solid quality from the beginning.
 
nando87 said:
I wouldn't buy any laptop with less than half a year or so on the market. It's the only way to avoid most of the hardware design problems. Buying a laptop as soon as it's launched is never a good idea.... it's not like a smartphone that you change every 2 years, at least for me, it has to last a lot more and that implies a solid quality from the beginning.
Click to expand...

That doesn't really apply to the rMBP, as the design is already a couple of years old. Any major problems usually with specific models only crop up years later (eg 2006 (?) and 2011 graphics cards issues on MBPs).
 
I just bought a rMBP this morning and couldn't be any happier. I got a very good offer and needed a new computer. I had a MBP a few years back and this display is something. Amazing how 13" look so much better than regular 15" windows laptop.
 
EstebanLGJ said:
So would you say the dGPU isn't really necessary for casual gaming? If so, then I think I'm good with the low end 15'
Click to expand...

Not sure exactly how good, but the non- dGPU 15" has Iris PRO which is better than the regular iris. The dGPU already sorta sucks compared to what I'm used to in my PC rig, but I wanted it anyway.

Depends on what you want to play. Anything 2D should be fine without the dGPU, even some 3D games should be good on low/medium.

Won't have a chance to try out any games until I get my Windows key from my college, so I'm not sure what to tell ya.
 
Retina MacBook Pros stop working the instant a new model is released. One minute you're posting to Facebook and the next it's just a black screen and there is no way to recover from it. I'd wait forever to buy the next version.
 
EstebanLGJ said:
This is good to know! I don't want to buy any extra RAM I won't be using, especially at apple's prices.
Probably nothing too intense aside from gaming every once in a while. Hopefully that gaming wont need 16GB :eek:
Click to expand...
it depends specifically on your use. You are too nebulous.
Everything from 4gb to 16gb(+) might be fine for you.
 
EstebanLGJ said:
This is good to know! I don't want to buy any extra RAM I won't be using, especially at apple's prices.

Probably nothing too intense aside from gaming every once in a while. Hopefully that gaming wont need 16GB :eek:
Click to expand...

Gaming is just fine even with 4GB, but anything recent from 2013-2014 should need 8GB. I should get new ram for my PC(only have 4GB) but I hardly game and it's always old stuff from like 2011 or earlier since I wait for games to get cheap on steam.
 
I expect a big performance jump when Skylake is released. DDR4 seems to bring a substantial performance advantage, and paired with the new CPU architecture will likely bring notable improvements as well. But your MBP will still work quite well. Its not that the demands of the software will double in a few years. Already now the hardware capabilities far outclass the average demands.

Yoshi Yogurt said:
Gaming is just fine even with 4GB, but anything recent from 2013-2014 should need 8GB.
Click to expand...

Most Windows games are not even 64-bit, so 8Gb RAM is quite pointless for them. There are few notable exceptions, like BF4
 
EstebanLGJ said:
So I'm guessing not that much a change? I honestly thought broadwell was going to be a big change video game wise with all its new architecure and what not.
Click to expand...

GPU performance should be 40% better, which is pretty significant.
ddr4 ram shouldn't be limited to 16gb in laptops

Broadwell should take a large slice out of power consumption. It also won't run as hot. There are some other things that Apple could do to drastically improve battery life (like 40% better) as well, such as using an IGZO display. I wouldn't be surprised there was a new physical redesign as well as a few hours more battery life.

If you don't need a new computer right now, I think it should be worth the wait.
 
EstebanLGJ said:
I am looking at buying a 15' rMBP soon, mainly because of the display and my old 13' 2010 machine. I am thinking of getting a 2013 low end 15'. I would be using the computer for basic college tasks and some steam gaming maybe skyrim, GTAIV, portal1/2, dark souls ii, farcry 3, and maybe some CAD design next year. I am thinking of keeping this machine 3-4 years and my main concern about this computer is the unupgradable 8gb RAM and the Iris graphics. Do you guys think this RAM and iGPU will sufice for gaming and future applications for the next couple years? I am strongly thinking of getting the 16gb RAM/ 512gb with the dGPU just for those reasons, either a refurb 2012 or 2013? who knows

I know there's an update coming soon that might feature broadwell, which I've read will help with graphics performance. Would my machine be completely outdated with these new chips if I decide to get a 2013 or 2012 15'? I need to know if I can take my chances and buy these machines now and hopefully not be outdated by these new chips. I read that the change from the 2012 15' rMPBs to the 2013 models wasn't that big, so I'm wondering if that will happen again this year or early next year with the new update. I am aware that these are all predictions btw.

My current machine is 2010 MBP 2.66GHz intel core 2 duo with 256SSD and 4GB of RAM. I've been upgrading through out the years, something I won't be able to with these machines.
Click to expand...

The 750m can play current games quite well, as evidence by this site: http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-750M.90245.0.html
If I remember, the Apple graphic cards have DDR5 not DDR3, not sure how much boost that is to gaming.
 
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