Intel Announces Full Lineup of Kaby Lake Processors for iMac, MacBook Pro, and More

[KPOM]

The point being made was not that the original MacBook Air was amazing because of the collababoration with Intel to create a custom version of the processor. It was the fact that the collaboration happened.

My point was that the collaboration was apparently a one-off, and perhaps there was a good reason for it.

I also pointed out that for the 13" MacBook Pro, Apple essentially ignored the Nehalem generation of Core i5/i7 processors, continuing to ship the slower Core 2 Duo until July 2011.

 

[Wild-Bill]

Apple should scrap the current MacBook 'Pro's and design better ones around Kaby Lake.

 

[CWallace]

Apple should scrap the current MacBook 'Pro's and design better ones around Kaby Lake.

The're just going to put Kaby Lake into the current design.

 

[dantroline]

The bias in your post is all too obvious. You should be writing ads for Apple.

While you continue to be stuck with your underwhelming, overpriced 2016 MBP, I'm actually looking forward to the new Kaby Lake Dell XPS 15. The specs look phenomenal and while I can't enter into an argument about battery life on it, I can say that I don't need 10 hours of battery and that any powerful portable needs an AC outlet close by anyway. It's physics. No MBP with performance parts will last long on battery when performing at peak either. As far as reliability, I am a long time Dell owner and am very happy with quality of their XPS and Latitude products.

The competition is far from underperforming.

Everyone is biased, including you, might as well face up to it. Well I had to buy something in the end, so right now, this very minute, that was my decision - reluctantly - as it's really overpriced. The XPS 13 is the best laptop around, if you want 13 inches, but currently the Dell XPS 15 for me looked to be a bit unbalanced - touch screen and super hi res that chews power and unfortunately Windows still isn't ready for the amazing resolution, and Linux (which I prefer) is still not great with power management. I consider Dell XPS to be currently the best windows laptops on the market.

The thing is, some aspects of hardware have reached acceptable physical limits. I don't know about you but I don't need any more resolution than 'retina', but appreciate a bit more color accuracy perhaps. I don't need smaller than 15in, or lighter than whatever things weigh now, I hardly notice it. Top tier laptops now all perform about the same. When I am doing power user work I am plugged into a wall, but the difference for me was that the MBP 15 will last longer off the wall during light browsing, emailing and word processing, than the Dell XPS 15.

 

[HurryKayne]

If they update the Mini i think they will stay with dual cores.Putting the Tb3 would be great and MacPro could have a wide range starting from quad and going up.The fact is Imac.I would prefer to have both the solutions but maybe an headless mac is better imo.I don't know.
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Apple should scrap the current MacBook 'Pro's and design better ones around Kaby Lake.

better battery,more ram

 

[Steve121178]

Apple should scrap the current MacBook 'Pro's and design better ones around Kaby Lake.

The latest MacBook Pro's were designed with the next 2-3 generations of Core chips in mind. I'd expect to see higher capacity batteries in the Kaby Lake MacBook Pro's and nothing more.

 

[MplsP]

Re: availability, the chips have just been announced and are not even available yet. Given the fact that it takes time to design and implement things, I don't think people should be surprised or disappointed if they don't show up until 2018. On the contrary, I'd be surprised if they show up before then.

 

[Naimfan]

Apple should scrap the current MacBook 'Pro's and design better ones around Kaby Lake.

Agreed. Put a real keyboard back on it, shrink the trackpad to something usable, and put some muscle on it - thin is tired.

It'll never happen, but hey, we can hope . . .

 

[bodonnell202]

Ironically, exactly this information led me to finally buy a 15in MBP today. There will be nothing exciting being released for the next 18 months IMHO. I looked at the Dell XPS but it looks like battery life is a dog and reliability of electronic parts is sometimes disappointing despite the premium materials of the chassis - can't see that being a better machine in the end. Also my colleagues have found battery life to be fine on their MBP's - consistent between machines so any problems will be software related and therefore not a show stopper.

I am not happy by any means with having to fork out the big $$'s for this underwhelming update of a laptop, but the competition continues to underperform, so now I wait for my hip pocket to stop bleeding.

On the plus side, the slow down in x86 development means that if you bought a "high end" computer anytime in the last few years it will remain relevant (from a processor perspective) for years. Most of the recent advancements have been around mobility and graphics performance.

 

[fbraz50]

You could probably replace most of the trolls' comments with "I can't afford these high quality, but expensive Apple products so I better tear them down to make myself feel better about the lower quality competitor's product I was forced to buy. In fact, looking ahead, I am not going to be able to afford one anytime soon so i better attack a product that doesn't even exist yet because I am already feeling really bad! Not fair!"

You could say that or maybe some of us like Apple but chose not to spend our hard earned money on hardware that is way overpriced. The previous generation Macbook was very good and competitive but this new model is over priced. The Touchbar alone raised the price by $300-$350 across the board. If I were to buy a Macbook Pro right now, I would buy a top of the line Apple Refurbished last generation model.

 

[dantroline]

You could say that or maybe some of us like Apple but chose not to spend our hard earned money on hardware that is way overpriced. The previous generation Macbook was very good and competitive but this new model is over priced. The Touchbar alone raised the price by $300-$350 across the board. If I were to buy a Macbook Pro right now, I would buy a top of the line Apple Refurbished last generation model.

I considered that but I didn't. If you buy a refurbished top-spec model from Apple you will still pay as much or more than the top-spec and current XPS model from Dell. I have bought the latest MBP 15 this time, only because the 15 inch market is the way it is (next month it might be different), whereas for nearly anything else Apple is now significantly uncompetitive.

So you could say that Apple actually is entering into troubled waters with its product lineup and is vulnerable to being significantly out-competed in the coming year or two.

 

[fbraz50]

I considered that but I didn't. If you buy a refurbished top-spec model from Apple you will still pay as much or more than the top-spec and current XPS model from Dell. I have bought the latest MBP 15 this time, only because the 15 inch market is the way it is (next month it might be different), whereas for nearly anything else Apple is now significantly uncompetitive.

So you could say that Apple actually is entering into troubled waters with its product lineup and is vulnerable to being significantly out-competed in the coming year or two.

That keyboard though. Our department has had all 3 models go through it and I can't stand any one of them personally. 13" Escape/13" Touchbad/15" Touchpad.

 

[Immiddx]

I"m not the person you quoted.

Personally, I'm happy in life, but I'm annoyed at Apple's direction under Tim.

Why are you so miserable! Just answer!

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I had it with intel. Where the hell is XEON PROCESSOR?!!!

It's called the Mac Pro

 

[truthertech]

You could say that or maybe some of us like Apple but chose not to spend our hard earned money on hardware that is way overpriced. The previous generation Macbook was very good and competitive but this new model is over priced. The Touchbar alone raised the price by $300-$350 across the board. If I were to buy a Macbook Pro right now, I would buy a top of the line Apple Refurbished last generation model.

I said "troll comments," i.e., the silly and inane slams against Apple. Your comment is not trolling.

 

[stevet]

Why? The performance of skylake system is what one would expect. And you cannot get all the kabyLake chips Apple uses in it's product line until spring.

Because you can add more RAM, which nowadays is a real performance improvement. Getting them in the Macbook Pro lineup in the spring would be mid season, wouldn't it?

 

[Lankyman]

Yeah I've been using windows for 20 years too – and Windows is notorious for bloatware and viruses. What are you smoking?

But then again there are people who use computers and people who use computers but don't know what the hell they are doing.
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The problem is, on Windows, one mistake and you are done. I miss typed when wanting to get Filezilla a few years ago, I got sent to a page and got so many pieces of malware. Even with AV software, stuff was still around. Only a format and reinstall is the solution, and quickest too if you follow correct backup procedures.

There's AV and there's Malware detection applications. The two are not the same. I fail to see how what you describe could on its own get you into so much difficulty.

 

[Ethosik]

But then again there are people who use computers and people who use computers but don't know what the hell they are doing.
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There's AV and there's Malware detection applications. The two are not the same. I fail to see how what you describe could on its own get you into so much difficulty.

Um. Malware refers to viruses, trojans, root kits, spyware, and more. My AV caught 15 different Trojans just by going to a mistyped website.

 

[Lankyman]

Um. Malware refers to viruses, trojans, root kits, spyware, and more. My AV caught 15 different Trojans just by going to a mistyped website.

Malware is a collective name for all all sorts of nasties as you rightly say. However, I have always separated out a virus as it's more specific. See the explanation below.

• Virus: As discussed, Virus is a specific type of malware by itself. It is a contagious piece of code that infects the other software on the host system and spreads itself once it is run. It is mostly known to spread when software is shared between computers. This acts more like a parasite.

I have purposely gone to a couple of known rogue sites. Even before I got to the site Google flashed up a warning. I ignored this and carried on - at this point my AV started flashing warnings. However, none of these affected my computer as I didn't interact with the site so still unsure how your AV managed to catch all these nasties.

 

[thumbult]

Knowing Apple they are going to stick with skylake and cap RAM at 64GB for desktops.

I could see where we maybe went wrong with the internet, so I guess I can be forced to support capping that. But WTH, capping RAM? What if it's 9 years from now and there is some amazing AI software that requires 128GB, your just going to let your fancy expensive computer smile and talk about planned obsolescence because of software piracy? No thank you, please.

 

[Naimfan]

Apple's hardware has been absurdly locked down and regressing since the retina MBPs were introduced. The retina screen was/is terrific, but the processors, RAM limits, and obscene pricing on storage are ridiculous. My tipping point came with the October introduction of the 2016 Macbooks (impossible for me to call them "Pros"). The $2800 2016 15" takes longer than my Mid-2015 at most CPU tasks. That's absurd.

And to blame Intel is, plainly put, uninformed. Intel has been very upfront with its customers about timing and availability, so it's not like Apple hasn't known when their preferred chips would be available. The fact that other companies have already announced laptops with Kaby Lake, and will be shipping them within the month, makes Apple look nothing short of incompetent. Apple, through its own actions, now must compete against laptops with current and improved technology with laptops that are now using chips that have already been replaced. That is not a formula for success, particularly when Apple's laptops have received an unprecedented level of backlash (from a variety of factors).

 

[thumbult]

Apple's hardware has been absurdly locked down and regressing since the retina MBPs were introduced. The retina screen was/is terrific, but the processors, RAM limits, and obscene pricing on storage are ridiculous. My tipping point came with the October introduction of the 2016 Macbooks (impossible for me to call them "Pros"). The $2800 2016 15" takes longer than my Mid-2015 at most CPU tasks. That's absurd.

And to blame Intel is, plainly put, uninformed. Intel has been very upfront with its customers about timing and availability, so it's not like Apple hasn't known when their preferred chips would be available. The fact that other companies have already announced laptops with Kaby Lake, and will be shipping them within the month, makes Apple look nothing short of incompetent. Apple, through its own actions, now must compete against laptops with current and improved technology with laptops that are now using chips that have already been replaced. That is not a formula for success, particularly when Apple's laptops have received an unprecedented level of backlash (from a variety of factors).

I would wonder if there is some kind of nostalgia going on that is causing this. Possibly some guys linked to Big Blue (IBM) still just wanting to ensure the technology comes out succesful, you know, like the old days?

I don't what it is...

I think it's just them being passive aggressive because of the attitude of the culture or something.

 

[CWallace]

I would wonder if there is some kind of nostalgia going on that is causing this. Possibly some guys linked to Big Blue (IBM) still just wanting to ensure the technology comes out succesful, you know, like the old days?

I expect it's more the Windows PC OEMs constantly churn their product line because their customers mostly buy either on spec (personal) or on three-year replacement cycles (business) so they need "new" product to appeal to the former market. They also discount and mark-down their older product on a regular basis (with the accompanying financial hit) to move it to make way for the new product.

Apple hardware generally has a longer usable shelf-life then Windows PCs so while there is a small subset who would buy on spec on an annual or bi-annual basis if the product was refreshed that often, overall the purchasing cycles probably more closely follow the three-year program.

And as Apple can and does sell their old product for the same price, they have no incentive to constantly churn their product. In the PowerPC days, they had no choice due to the long product cycles and they've somewhat carried that mindset into the Intel days (especially as Intel has lengthened their product cycles). And while the Mac sells well in comparison to individual Windows PC OEMs, compared to the overall Windows PC OEM market, the Mac - as always - sells in comparatively small numbers. So that also probably disincentives Apple from constantly churning their product line as if a new model is viewed as "not a good value", then everyone buys the old model at a discount and Apple takes two financial hits (one for the marked-down discounted models it does sell, and another for the expensive of the new models it doesn't).

 

[Ethosik]

Malware is a collective name for all all sorts of nasties as you rightly say. However, I have always separated out a virus as it's more specific. See the explanation below.

• Virus: As discussed, Virus is a specific type of malware by itself. It is a contagious piece of code that infects the other software on the host system and spreads itself once it is run. It is mostly known to spread when software is shared between computers. This acts more like a parasite.

I have purposely gone to a couple of known rogue sites. Even before I got to the site Google flashed up a warning. I ignored this and carried on - at this point my AV started flashing warnings. However, none of these affected my computer as I didn't interact with the site so still unsure how your AV managed to catch all these nasties.

That was before Google was doing that kind of thing. It was back when Windows 7 was the latest OS.

And I never specifically said viruses in my post. I have not seen a "virus" in 15 years or so. I have seen trojans, rootkits, and things like that. But no viruses anymore.

I always hate it when people use "virus" for the generalized term instead of malware. And a virus, as you mentioned, is still part of the malware definition. Why are you arguing this?

 

[thumbult]

I expect it's more the Windows PC OEMs constantly churn their product line because their customers mostly buy either on spec (personal) or on three-year replacement cycles (business) so they need "new" product to appeal to the former market. They also discount and mark-down their older product on a regular basis (with the accompanying financial hit) to move it to make way for the new product.

Apple hardware generally has a longer usable shelf-life then Windows PCs so while there is a small subset who would buy on spec on an annual or bi-annual basis if the product was refreshed that often, overall the purchasing cycles probably more closely follow the three-year program.

And as Apple can and does sell their old product for the same price, they have no incentive to constantly churn their product. In the PowerPC days, they had no choice due to the long product cycles and they've somewhat carried that mindset into the Intel days (especially as Intel has lengthened their product cycles). And while the Mac sells well in comparison to individual Windows PC OEMs, compared to the overall Windows PC OEM market, the Mac - as always - sells in comparatively small numbers. So that also probably disincentives Apple from constantly churning their product line as if a new model is viewed as "not a good value", then everyone buys the old model at a discount and Apple takes two financial hits (one for the marked-down discounted models it does sell, and another for the expensive of the new models it doesn't).

Right, you make it very clear that apple is in the market for discounted prices and a large profit margin. Got it! They are just cool because they have a neat Unix based OS that appeals to a niche market. I have and always will think since they switched to Intel they could make an absolute killing on software licenses if they went out to the PC market, maybe a few OEM's would pick them up.