The only thing MBP lacks from that list is the GPU. And that can change very quickly with addition of RX 480M.
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Intel's Mobile Processor Roadmap May Force Graphics Changes for Apple's 15-Inch MacBook Pro in 2017
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Yeah I know what IHS thinks it is but frankly I suspect they specialize in shoveling bull crap. Here is the thing, way back when Apple first started partnering with Samsung they did deals to establish the production lines. These plants are expensive and don't last long in the sense of producing product for flagship products. Combine that investment costs with the fact that anybody getting bleeding edge tech pays more and you can see where $25 just seems to be awfully low.
If this was a single wafer solution, built on 22nm tech, I might say $25 is reasonable or even a bit high. Instead we have a chip being built on one of the most advanced production systems available. To me this says premium pricing, especially with Apple at the head of the line.
The sad thing here is that we might never know!!!
That's a pretty slick machine. I still can't get behind gaming laptops myself (I don't really game on the go, and I can't get past how much cheaper a gaming desktop is for the same power), but if mobile gaming is what you're looking for, that would be a great option.
Basically YES, the race right now is to find solutions that can run much faster at lower power levels. We could see a move away from silicon to something that runs faster with less heat production. This might actually bring back the Mega HZ race (probably GHZ). If you can't go smaller then your performance options are more cores or faster cores.
For many user needs faster cores can deliver high satisfaction but a not so minor crowd of users could really benefit from more cores. Of course that is conventional thinking based on current hardware needs of the system software and the user.
What I think the future hold for us is that conventional cores will likely top out at around eight or so for mainstream uses. Instead specialized cores will be added to push AI technologies forward. I'm not even sure what the specialized cores will look like, neural nets maybe but I don't have a lot of hope for them.
It should be noted that eight cores aren't really a lot when you consider we have at least two good process shrinks ahead of us. If you look at current photomicrographs of the A10 you can see just how small the cores are with respect to the rest of the die. It is just a battle with space allocation and who wins. Drop the GPU from A10 and we could easily have an eight core design focused on performance on today's processes.
As of the Intel world they have hit a wall and are looking to stretch out the current processes instead of pushing forward. I suspect this has a lot to do with their business going to crap with the slow down in processor demand. What can Apple do here to change the dynamic? The could contact with Intel for Apple specific processors. This has potential and Intel has done a lot of custom XEONs so they could go this way for a Apple. Frankly though AMD seems to do custom better.
In a nut shell it looks pretty bleak for the next couple of years. I don't see substantial Tocks coming anytime soon.
The only thing....the only thing. ROFL.
That GPU is 60 watts!!!!!
You want to take a 90 watt machine, add a 60 watt device, and keep the total power under 90 watts. And if nobody can do that including Apple, Apple wins?
Do you not understand what you're saying?
And you made up that list from Apple's spec page. The Razer beats Apple in nearly every way including a > 100% improvement in CPU power. I see you conveniently left the CPU off your list. You also picked Apple's low-res screen which Razer beats.
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I actually put together a pretty nice gaming desktop last year, so I wouldn't buy a gaming laptop this year or next year anyway. My thing is that I'm still puttering along on my 2011 MBP which I'd love to replace with a new MBP. I just can't pull the trigger either when I see how crappy the current offerings from Apple are. I don't understand why Apple can't produce a machine like the Razer even with an Apple tax on top.
I only brought up the Razer because it satisfied every one of the other poster's criteria. And it's near the top of my list of what I'd buy if my MBP broke tomorrow.
Ya I do. I've worked on compilers before and even apple can't avoid certain obstacles. Whether they get creative or not is a different story. But nice try.
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Then you clearly don't remember the massive software issues that ensued. And back in the day the arsenal for mac software was kind of a joke compared to now.
But I will still agree with you, because a huge chunk of software that is written for mac is done through the App Store and it's not very difficult for them to release a new Xcode version that will compile for different platforms as well.
[doublepost=1474578355][/doublepost]So maybe you are right...
Guys, this is so sad. 
The Dell XPS that's been out for a year is so far ahead of Macbook Pros in almost every metric. How can Apple, with their manufacturing prowess, have fallen so far behind?
The XPS 15 has an aluminum and carbon fiber case, weighs the same as the Macbook Pro, and already has the Skylake i7-6700 CPU and Thunderbolt 3 ports, along with HDMI and SDXC, etc. And unlike Macbook Pros, it's user upgradable to 32GB DRAM and a 2 TB SSD. It also has a 4K retina screen and has back iit, real keys and even a Kensington lock!
I've been using Macs for a decade, and I've never thought this before, but if it weren't so difficult, I'd bre really tempted to Hackintosh the Dell XPS as a way to finally get a decent, modern laptop before the end of this century.
When Apple first switched to Intel chips, they had a special deal that saw them coming out with the latest Intel stuff first - now they lag so far behind. And it's not that the CPUs are such a big deal, but the PORTS, the protocols. And the ability to have high capacity memory and hard drives.
And it's even more frustrating because when Apple was a far smaller company, with far less resources, they had no problems keeping up with annual updates to their computers. Now they claim they don't have the resources to satisfy "power users".
The Dell XPS that's been out for a year is so far ahead of Macbook Pros in almost every metric. How can Apple, with their manufacturing prowess, have fallen so far behind?The XPS 15 has an aluminum and carbon fiber case, weighs the same as the Macbook Pro, and already has the Skylake i7-6700 CPU and Thunderbolt 3 ports, along with HDMI and SDXC, etc. And unlike Macbook Pros, it's user upgradable to 32GB DRAM and a 2 TB SSD. It also has a 4K retina screen and has back iit, real keys and even a Kensington lock!
I've been using Macs for a decade, and I've never thought this before, but if it weren't so difficult, I'd bre really tempted to Hackintosh the Dell XPS as a way to finally get a decent, modern laptop before the end of this century.
When Apple first switched to Intel chips, they had a special deal that saw them coming out with the latest Intel stuff first - now they lag so far behind. And it's not that the CPUs are such a big deal, but the PORTS, the protocols. And the ability to have high capacity memory and hard drives.
And it's even more frustrating because when Apple was a far smaller company, with far less resources, they had no problems keeping up with annual updates to their computers. Now they claim they don't have the resources to satisfy "power users".
The custom design from AMD for Apple isn't released yet. It'll be Polaris 11 and won't be 60W.
I can see your point and will agree. But the one big showstopper (if apple cares) is virtualization and windows support. Emulating intel is extremely slow so say goodbye to things like parallels and fusion. Bootcamp, I'm not sure as by theory win 10 should run on arm just fine minus ALL win32 apps will not work. We don't really know how many people use parallels and bootcamp but I can imagine a lot.
[doublepost=1474578661][/doublepost]I'm all intel and a huge Microsoft and apple developer. Weirdly I would actually love to see apple go arm or custom chip if it meant superior battery life and speed. Just sayin
So what's hilarious is that you basically just described my exact situation. Recently built a gaming rig, still using my 2011 MBP.
For me I have a ton of games that are lock-stepped to Windows anyhow, so a gaming Mac isn't really on my radar, and I just upgraded the HDD in my MacBook to an SSD, which makes it feel like a whole new machine again.The processor is still going strong, and with the upgrades to RAM and storage I've made I don't have any complaints aside from the graphics. But I really only need the oomph on my PC.
Apparently at some point somebody made an external PCIe enclosure for Thunderbolt 1, which should work with those 2011 MBPs... it's probably not worth it if it ever worked, but it piqued my interest.
And I checked, the RX 480m is available in a configuration that eats 35 watts. That's probably the one he's thinking of. Which is still way more than 100 watts when added to the 90, but maybe the other poster meant if you started with the 60 watt PSU and added the RX 480m you'd come up around 90? It's all wishful thinking anyhow, since such a machine doesn't exist.
Sucks because there are some of us that need powerhouse MacBooks and apple refuses to offer it.
The irony was precisely about how the jack's thing (and the ports in general) always comes out. Why are you that acid, did you eat the wrong yogurt today, kid?
Bit off topic now:
Chrome 53 (perhaps it was 52) had a massive refactoring on macOS and now uses 33% less power (or so Google claims, natch). Safari is a terrible browser technically—trust me (?), I'm a web developer, Safari is the "new Internet Explorer" of the world and lagging in internal features and fixes. I'm not talking the stuff you necessarily see as a user, but the hoops to jump and hack to apply to get Safari rendering fancy modern web properly by quite some way. Safari 10 is better, but it's no Chrome. FireFox, for all its charms, is rapidly losing traction. Too many iffy releases recently. Having said that, I prefer Safari as my default browser because... well Apple ecosystem is a pretty nice thing with all the iDevices talking to each other. I use Chrome for dev. I know practically nobody who uses FireFox now (and sadly the stats reflect this). Shame, it used to be my go-to browser. Lets not even talk about Edge.
There's a lot of speculation about what might be out in the future. There's been years of that as Apple falls farther and farther behind. I'm looking forward to what Apple comes up with, but nobody is standing still, and I'm also looking forward to what Intel/Nvidia come up with.
And the reality is the 90W total power requirement is really meaningless, it's just something the other poster came up with because the other machines are superior in ever way. He's pretending somehow Apple and 90W with no GPU is better than someone else at 140W with a 60W GPU. It doesn't really matter because the battery can handle it. He's just screwing around.
Why can't they improve the "top end" GPU option with something that is actually decent and can run demanding programs without any hiccups. The M370X isn't going to cut it. I need more performance in a macbook and am willing to pay for it, but apple wont take my money.
85W requirement is for the Apple Macbook Pro PSU. And RX 480M is 35W GPU, that is able to fit in that thermal envelope.
That would be true if it were only Apple using the facilities... but TSMC (and Samsung) will work with anyone and that spreads the cost for the foundry out quite quickly.
Everyone here should keep in mind that Apple is not the biggest customer of intel. While Apple is desperate for GT4e iGP's, the wider market consolidation has pulled the rug under that segment of the market.
Sacrificing such an unholy amount of transistors for an iGP depresses yields and makes the transition to 10nm even more painful. Therefore, intel is phasing out the high-end iGP's - Laptop integrators in the market for H-type CPU's buy a lot less than Y and U-type customers. As intel is refocussing, those H-customers will have to move to dGPU's and merge the workstation and gamer segment.
For the most integrators, that's not a problem, but Apple is livid and trying to salvage Iris Pro. That's not going to happen, so Apple in 2017/2018 will have to convince their customers that KBL's GT2 is a better choice than SKL's Iris Pro. The bitchfest is going to be epic, but it seems Apple is steadfast and will simply declare that Pro's don't need dGPU's any more. Oh, and for those asking, yes, the 2016 MBP will be SKL, not KBL.
Wait for it.
Sacrificing such an unholy amount of transistors for an iGP depresses yields and makes the transition to 10nm even more painful. Therefore, intel is phasing out the high-end iGP's - Laptop integrators in the market for H-type CPU's buy a lot less than Y and U-type customers. As intel is refocussing, those H-customers will have to move to dGPU's and merge the workstation and gamer segment.
For the most integrators, that's not a problem, but Apple is livid and trying to salvage Iris Pro. That's not going to happen, so Apple in 2017/2018 will have to convince their customers that KBL's GT2 is a better choice than SKL's Iris Pro. The bitchfest is going to be epic, but it seems Apple is steadfast and will simply declare that Pro's don't need dGPU's any more. Oh, and for those asking, yes, the 2016 MBP will be SKL, not KBL.
Wait for it.
I'll never read all of that cr*p. Relax, it was a joke. And I just meant you took the thing too seriously. Go insulting people for a joke somewhere else.
Exactly!!
Apple has referred to Macs as trucks in a world where cars, motorbikes and scooters are more plentiful.
Truck buyers want very different things than buyers of hybrid cars or electric scooters. Apple seems to be targeting people who buy trucks, but never use them as trucks. Such people will never notice that the bed is too short to carry a sheet of plywood or drywall, never notice that has insufficient ground clearance for anything but asphalt roads and have no idea how much a boat weighs let alone whether or not their truck could tow one.
Real truck (Macintosh) buyers demand their trucks do real work. We need things like bed liners, rails, trailer hitches and high torque engines with heavy duty transmissions.
Hopefully Apple decides to start making trucks again soon.
Or, at least in the 15" MBP models, they can bite the bullet and use dGPUs (and drop the iGPU-only model) when / if they shift to KL. The new GPUs by AMD (& Nvidia) are very power efficient and perform very well.
It feels like the years prior to the PPC to x86 transition where the PPC was stagnant. If they do ever decide to move off of x86 it's times like this that makes it seem to be the right move.