What's up with all these people saying that removing dedicated graphics was a huge mistake. Integrated does not equal bad anymore... That Iris Pro is plenty of power. Also, those saying that making people pay a few extra hundred bucks for the better one is a huge mistake. How is it that someone can afford the $2000 version but not the $2600? Seriously, if you can put $2000 in a laptop no problem but not a few extra hundred bucks, you shouldn't consider putting the two grand in it in the first place. Another thing is then that if the only thing you want is performance, you should probably consider something like
this, sli 750m for $1200, and not the rMBP. Apple doesn't do most bang for buck, that's just how it is.
although i support your viewpoint in principle, in practice it ends up being rather short-sighted. Take myself for instance, atm I am on a £900/mnth salary , before tax) However, my wish, dream if you will is to do more music and such like. Replacing the non-unibody MBP that I got in 08 (which is quite frankly tired, and ragged round the edges-been round the world, logic board replaced, faulty display cables, dvd not working...you get the picture.)
What do i really need to do more music, in an ideal world? a macbook pro. so what have I been doing for the last 9 months. Saving moolah every month to put towards it. I am within reaching distance of getting the basic 15" which is going to fulfil my needs with BTO on the ram, and CPU. However, I really cannot be waiting for another month for me to get the money together for the extra GFX card. (this macbook pro im writing on, has a screen that wobbles, literally.)
So, yes people shouldn't complain...(I certainly won't be, the laptop i'm gonna be getting in 2 months time-all being well, will be the millennium falcon to my bicycle.) However you can't really make blanket statements like. "Also, those saying that making people pay a few extra hundred bucks for the better one is a huge mistake. How is it that someone can afford the $2000 version but not the $2600? Seriously, if you can put $2000 in a laptop no problem but not a few extra hundred bucks, you shouldn't consider putting the two grand in it in the first place."
I would happily pay if I could, but honestly, my situation doesn't currently support that, and I suspect i'm not the only one in a similar situation, as such I woulda seen the addition of a lower grade card to the 750m as a huge bonus on my side, even if it was only 1Gb of RAM.
However on the flipside of all that I have seen/heard pretty damned good things about the new Iris Pro, besides all that, I seriously doubt that Apple would take such a huge leap backwards in the performance of their biggest n baddest laptop.
(having written all this, i decided to check the UK prices on the 2 diff models avail. and the top of the range lappie (which has the 16gb of ram, 2.3 CPU that I need) w/ added applecare n the adaptors for all my legacy gear, comes to approx £2,600. Which is slightly eye watering, thats a further 300 above my price that I have for the specced out, lower machine already lol!)
At the end of the day, Apple know what they are doing, and know their customer requirements. I am confident that the Iris Pro will be more than sufficient for about 50-60% of people needing a new MBP this year!
(the 13" however, thats a different ball game, was mildly perplexed its a dual-core CPU in there!!)