Intel to Supply Apple with Special High-End Haswell Processors for MacBook Pro

[Freyqq]

Sorry what? This is the first time I've commented on iGPU vs dGPU stuff, and I've certainly never been presented with Anandtech stuff. Guess you're the ignorant one, just assumed I was someone else.

However, I'd like to take the time to remind you that this particular Iris GPU has not yet been benchmarked, and as such it's performance relative to a 650M is currently unknown. Next argument plz.

iris pro vs 650m benchmarked over a month ago:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6993/intel-iris-pro-5200-graphics-review-core-i74950hq-tested

spoiler alert: Iris Pro loses by about 20% overall

 

[ThatGuyInLa]

Apple's using their muscle to try and get NVIDIA on-board with OpenCL. It's the same tactics they did with Adobe and Flash.

NVIDIA wants everyone running NVIDIA and CUDA. Yet INTEL and AMD have embraced OpenCL. Yes, CUDA is better, but that doesn't matter. OpenCL means less costs, open-source, and more hardware to run on. And hell, maybe with everyone on-board OpenCL can become a power-house.

NVIDIA...YOU ARE ON NOTICE....COMPLY! COMPLY! COMPLY!

 

[neutrino23]

Outside of gaming is there any use for the discrete graphics chip? Personally I'd be happy to live without the discrete graphics. I'm more interested in calculations that result in static images.

 

[gmanist1000]

Ah, no. Don't quite get the folks who start to feel inadequate when the next bit of shiny kit comes along.

Buy your girlfriend/wife/mother something special if you've got money burning in your pocket.



Re the prospect of dropping the dGPU altogether, put me in the sceptical boat. There just doesn't seem to be a big enough advantage here if battery life is the main factor.

Might we see a return of the 17" in a rMBP form as the flagship dGPU model..? That would be a nice surprise IMHO.

Definitely don't have the money burning a hole, haha. I would sell my current model to make up for most of the new one.

 

[Snowshiro]

I'm pretty confident they won't surpass the 650M with a Haswell based integrated GPU. What you'll have is the following choice:

Current rMBP: Better graphics, less battery life, slightly slower processor

New rMBP: Slightly less powerful graphics, better battery life, slightly faster processor.

If you're a gamer, the old rMBP is probably still the machine of choice.

 

[Slackula]

It began with the forging of the Great Processors. Three were given to the Workstations, immortal, wisest and fairest of all computers. Seven to the Desktops, great gamers and craftsmen of the office documents. And nine, nine processors were gifted to the race of Laptops, who above all else desire power.
For within these processors was bound the strength and the will to govern each system. But they were all of them deceived, for another processor was made. Deep in the land of Intel, in the Fires of Mount St. Helens, the Dark Lord Otellini forged a master processor in secret, and into this processor he poured his cache, his malware and his will to dominate all systems. One processor to rule them all....

God, I needed the good laugh that this gave me after a long week of work. Thanks!

 

[Mackan]

Sorry what? This is the first time I've commented on iGPU vs dGPU stuff, and I've certainly never been presented with Anandtech stuff. Guess you're the ignorant one, just assumed I was someone else.

However, I'd like to take the time to remind you that this particular Iris GPU has not yet been benchmarked, and as such it's performance relative to a 650M is currently unknown. Next argument plz.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6993/intel-iris-pro-5200-graphics-review-core-i74950hq-tested

Read.

----------

I'm pretty confident they won't surpass the 650M with a Haswell based integrated GPU. What you'll have is the following choice:

Not to mention that 650M is yesterday's GPU. Nvidia has moved on to the 700 series, which of course offers performance boost.

 

[jread]

It began with the forging of the Great Processors. Three were given to the Workstations, immortal, wisest and fairest of all computers. Seven to the Desktops, great gamers and craftsmen of the office documents. And nine, nine processors were gifted to the race of Laptops, who above all else desire power.
For within these processors was bound the strength and the will to govern each system. But they were all of them deceived, for another processor was made. Deep in the land of Intel, in the Fires of Mount St. Helens, the Dark Lord Otellini forged a master processor in secret, and into this processor he poured his cache, his malware and his will to dominate all systems. One processor to rule them all....

Thank you for this.

 

[MikhailT]

So, Dell's top of the line laptops will have 11 hours battery life and discrete GPUs whilst MBPs will have 12 hours battery life and IGP. Which one is better? I'd say anything beyond 9 hours matters to very few people outside rural Africa.

Depends, how heavy will that laptop be? There's a balance being adjusted by both companies, Apple's focus on the most battery while being thin and light. They've been able to do this most consistently than any other companies.

Which Dell model are you referring to, I'd love to learn more about it and probably get one for a family member.

 

[tshrimp]

On any new MBP I hope they have the following:

Discrete graphics available
Upgradeability of RAM and HD


Other than that I am happy. Will stay with Apple even if they get rid of discrete graphics (not a big gamer), but if I get stuck without being able to update my RAM or HD on my own....then I have to switch back to Windows.

 

[ValSalva]

This is the most damning news for the next rMBP having a dGPU. Why would Apple be provided with a special version of Intel's highest-end GT3e (Iris Pro 5200) integrated graphics if it was also going to have a dGPU? Because it's not going to have a dGPU.

It also helps to explain the wait for the new rMBP's. It must take even longer to get adequate numbers of this special version if it is simply a top bin, cream-of-the-crop selection part.

Hopefully there will be more room for memory, 32GB BTO? And 16GB BTO for the 13" rMBP which I assume will not be getting the custom high-end Iris Pro.

 

[MikhailT]

They are very accurate. So much in-fact it costs $1,000 just to get access to their content for a year and they are still in business. They seem to have a lot of industry sources.

They're not very accurate, they miss about 50-75% of their *predictions*.

Remember Apple specifically told everybody that they use a very complex supply management that it is virtually impossible for one single company to get a glance of what the future will bring and so far, Apple have been right.

SemiAccurate have missed several major predictions in the last two years I saw.

I'm pretty confident they won't surpass the 650M with a Haswell based integrated GPU. What you'll have is the following choice:

Current rMBP: Better graphics, less battery life, slightly slower processor

New rMBP: Slightly less powerful graphics, better battery life, slightly faster processor.

If you're a gamer, the old rMBP is probably still the machine of choice.

They won't suppress it.

However, no gamers are going to get any Macs for gaming including cMBPs, that's just a sad fact. You can get the PC laptops 1/4th of the cost with more powerful GPUs.

However, if you look at the graph, notice why Apple's pushing for the iGPU. 47W iGPU that's twice as fast as the previous IGP that's at 77W. With dGPU 650M, it is at 90W. Half the power consumption for ~73% performance of 650M in one game? That's impressive but not for any gamers. For casual gamers, it's good enough.

Imagine what it'll be like a few years from now with iGPU's performance doubles each 1-2 years while also dropping the power consumption as well.

 

[locoroco]

If Apple drops Dedicated Graphics (with its own dedicated RAM) they should also drop the word 'Pro' from the name and call it Macbook Casual Consumer

 

[koppie644]

If they phase out the non-retina models, I'm very curious to see where the retina price point will end up.

Many people need more than 128gb of storage, and I think it would be very painful for most to have to pay $1700 for a 256gb retina (and only 13" !!!) vs. $1200 for a non-retina.

I'd be pretty thrilled if I could get a 13" retina, 256gb ssd msata version for around $1200-$1300 !!! That said, I don't expect this to happen. MAYBE we'll see a $100 price drop for retina, but more than likely it will stay the same.

13inch, 256SSD, retina for 1300? Then who will buy MBA13?
I think they may keep the price at 1499 but bump the storage to 256GB

 

[HerrSturmgewher]

Apple really should just give us a Dgpu with an igpu on th hgh end models and an igpu only for the low end models. This strategy would make everyone happy

 

[KPOM]

And this is exactly why I tell people to not buy the 13 inch rMBP. It's sad that integrated Intel graphics are considered Pro.

As opposed to the 13" cMBP, which uses... Intel integrated graphics and always has? They were selling a Core 2 Duo in May 2011 as. "Pro."

 

[mavere]

If Apple drops Dedicated Graphics (with its own dedicated RAM) they should also drop the word 'Pro' from the name and call it Macbook Casual Consumer

They could just keep around one version with a 650M and call it the Macbook Nerdrage Gamer.

 

[eltaurus]

Where's your source on this? I've had a shot of the 13" RMBP and it's a very capable machine. Sure, it doesn't have the discreet GPU, but it still operates very smooth, and can handle FCPX quite happily.

I wouldn't expect it to run any major games, but it's a 13" laptop, not exactly your gaming/pro category. 15" is where the space becomes available for beefier hardware.

I myself have opinion. I didn't buy it (i go for 15" rMBP) & people who ask me which mac they should buy I didn't recommended rMBP 13"..

& Please don't ask for source .. I read it & don't bookmark every thing .. i have other things to do in life..

+ i am a Graphic designer /animator /programmer / tech .. so if you spend 1500+ $ and didn't get powerful PC .. then whats the point .. i am not stupid to buy what ever apple release

 

[KPOM]

Will be interesting to see how Apple will spin this, if they present these new MacBook Pros at an event. They'll likely handpick a few artificial benchmarks where their Iris Pro barely matches a GT 650 DDR3 version. Then claim that integrated graphics is as good as dedicated. It's going to be a blatant lie, since there's so much more to the picture. I can already see Phil Schiller doing it, with his smile...

Or another possibility is that they offer a version of the 15" without a dGPU to keep the price down as they did a few years ago but keep a version available with a dGPU. For most people an IGP is fine, but they might want the 15" for the screen size or quad-core CPU.

 

[DaveN]

I've done a CS degree in England, and trust me, the coding you do at that level (barring an optional module or two that you might or might not take, e. g. 3d, or game programming) will not require anything more powerful than an Atom... Better to save your money for something else...

I'd suggest getting a large second screen.

 

[TMay]

Hmm...how does this affect things like the Adobe suites that use Nvidia for some of their plug-ins and also the Video Co-Pilot plug-ins?

Adobe has gone all in for OpenCL, including full membership to the OpenCL group. That doesn't mean much right away, probably just Premiere and AfterEffects first, then Photoshop, but OpenCL is the future. AMD, Nvidia and Intel all support OpenCL.

 

[eltaurus]

Do you have proof? I doubt it.

oh.. DO you have a proof its amazing & must buy & people are dying to buy it ? fanboy

and yes i have a proof i buy rMBP 15 instead of 13 hahahaa chill

DO you want receipt ? hahahah

 

[bbapps]

Which Dell model are you referring to, I'd love to learn more about it and probably get one for a family member.

Guessing lilo777 is talking about the Dell m3800

 

[TMay]

The only x86 chipset that has the right to be Pro with a GPGPU coming up will be the APU direction AMD has with the Excavator APU that includes a big leap over the upcoming Steamroller and housing a 9000/10000 series GPGPU.

Problem is, I haven't seen any of the mobile GPU's from Nvidia or AMD supporting 4K, but Intel does. That's a big deal, and doubles down on TB2, so Apple does in fact get the pro's.

 

[i.mac]

According to the latest rumor, it's sometime in October, which definitely sucks. That's pretty much after the first midterms are done.

On the other hand, the analyst Kuo said somewhere around Mid September which would be pretty great since that's only about one month away after the semester starts for me.

And no way I'm spending $2000 on Ivy Bridge with potential display problems and scrolling lag. So I'm holding out, even if I do have to work with a broken display.

You could rent a Mac for two months?