Is it worth waiting for Haswell refresh

[Count Blah]

Keep in mind that Haswell will be of most benefit to devices with low-voltage CPU's (like the Macbook Air). It's not really going to be much of a performance difference, except for the integrated GPU.

The system you've spec'd out is going to be quite snappy for several years!

It really depends on what the OP is willing to "sacrifice" in the meantime. The GPU will undoubtedly be an upgrade over current specs(650M with 1GB of GDDR5), when the haswell update comes.

So if the OP can "survive" with what they have now, then wait. If the OP is holding off jumping into something new(adobe cs6 for web developing) then there is no need to wait.

The OP needs to ask him/herself - If I bought the iPad3, would I have been pissed when the iPad4 was announced? IF the answer is YES!!! then wait, if the answer is "I don't care", then buy now.

There will always be something better around the corner.

 

[Still100]

What level of increased battery life will Haswell have? Is there any info on this?

If its 2 hours of use I'm not bothered, if it's standby I don't care, if it's double the battery life in use I am.

 

[scarred]

If you need a laptop just buy NOW, if not wait for the next one.

Simple advice, yet always true.

Need for work, for school, for some home project, etc.? Buy now.

Want for play, for an upgrade, for fun, etc.? Wait. If you are in this category, waiting lets you build up excitement for your new toy... forces you to make sure this is how you want to spend your disposable income... and gives you the longest amount of time with the "best in class".

 

[swerve147]

What level of increased battery life will Haswell have? Is there any info on this?

If its 2 hours of use I'm not bothered, if it's standby I don't care, if it's double the battery life in use I am.

This doesn't directly answer your question, but Intel hopes to double battery life with a certain set of its new Haswell processors meant for Ultrabook Convertibles:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/262156/intel_hopes_to_double_ultrabook_battery_life_with_haswell_chip.html

The battery life will be doubled on convertible ultrabooks with the sub-10-watt Haswell processors, which is an improvement over a minimum of 17 watts of power consumed by the current Ivy Bridge chips.

"We are going to nearly double the battery life," said Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of the PC client group, in a separate presentation at IDF.

PC makers have quoted ultrabooks with Ivy Bridge delivering battery life of between six and eight hours, and up to 10 hours in some cases. The new chips could give convertible ultrabooks battery life of more than 12 hours, and perhaps up to 20 hours.

However, this only applies to a certain set of Haswell processors:

Based on the different power requirements, Intel has also splintered future Haswell chips into two families, which will be available in ultrabooks starting next year. A new family of unnamed Haswell processors will draw under 10 watts of power and will be targeted at convertible ultrabooks. The company is also continuing the venerable Core processors that consume between 15 watts and 17 watts of power. Both the families of processors are based on the Core processor design, but some tweaks helped Intel drop power consumption in the sub-10-watt family.

So ultimately, depending on which Haswell processor Apple decides to use you could be looking at double battery life. No one knows for sure though, it's still too early.

 

[Liquinn]

It really depends on what the OP is willing to "sacrifice" in the meantime. The GPU will undoubtedly be an upgrade over current specs(650M with 1GB of GDDR5), when the haswell update comes.

So if the OP can "survive" with what they have now, then wait. If the OP is holding off jumping into something new(adobe cs6 for web developing) then there is no need to wait.

The OP needs to ask him/herself - If I bought the iPad3, would I have been pissed when the iPad4 was announced? IF the answer is YES!!! then wait, if the answer is "I don't care", then buy now.

There will always be something better around the corner.

Yeah I know that. Haswell's slated for a June 2 release I think, so give Apple one month to refresh; that's early July.

But how will anyone know if I buy now that I have an Ivy Bridge machine when the Haswell machines come out if I bought now instead?

 

[Count Blah]

Yeah I know that. Haswell's slated for a June 2 release I think, so give Apple one month to refresh; that's early July.

But how will anyone know if I buy now that I have an Ivy Bridge machine when the Haswell machines come out if I bought now instead?

There will be two main differences, IMHO
1) improved battery life due to the way Haswell works
2) Updated GPU

Other difference might be ...
1) increased bus speed(haven't looked into this)
2) other updated components - controllers, ports, etc...
3) increase in some other attributes for the same price(e.g. 500G SSD -> 700G SSD for the same upgrade price of today)

 

[redkamel]

Im looking to get a 15" rMBP with 16GB of ram and 512 SSD. but im reading up about this Haswell refresh how much of a difference will it be from this

2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
16GB 1600MHz memory
512GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory

I will be mainly using with adobe cs6 for web developing. How much of a price increase do you think there will be if any with this Haswell refresh

Thanks

Not much increase. If your computer is fine now or you need to save the cash, wait. If you computer now is not sufficient, or you have the cash, buy.

Theres no point in waiting for six months. Once they come out I am sure some will have minor problems and some will say to wait until that is ironed out, but then it will be only a few more months until the next refresh....

 

[mscice]

its worth waiting cause it will be the first macbook pro laptop with WiFi AC (5G) new wifi standard, currently mobiles are getting it (samsung galaxy s4)

The new standard uses less power, has bigger range and 1.3Gb/sec transfer if you have a AC (5g) router also. Full info http://www.5gwifi.org/

 

[xxcysxx]

i'm looking forward to the hashwell refresh, but its not all about the processor. since the processor performance could be just a side step, just like what happen to the sandy bridge to ivy bridge transition.
though, at the refresh of the hashwell chip is not like a processor bump, for example like what they did with the recent retina models, like from 3820qm to the 3840qm processor bump. the hashwell is a new chip, and to take advantage of its feature, some hardware redesign will be necessary.

there are other factor that are bound to happen at this refresh that i'm looking forward to, such as better cooling solution (absolute necessary if they decide to bump the GPU spec as well), better graphic card, better tactical keyboard feel (yeah, i'm typing this message on my filco cherry mx: blue through my retina), smoother overall user interface, improved retina display consistency (i hate rolling dices with samsung and lg screens. over with the image retention), non-glued batteries (i like to access under the track pad to adjust it and clean it from time to time), more ram for the 13" retina (i'm a gadget freak, i got everything!!), faster memory clock frequency, faster sata controller, and last of all.. longer battery life!!