Is now a good time to buy a rMBP 13"?

[Liquinn]

I'm currently waiting for Skymount.

 

[sandylp]

Don't buy now. You'll kick yourself in June when the new processors come out. I buy a new computer every 2 years by following Intel's classic Tick-Tock strategy when a new architecture in introduced every other year. Haswell is a new microarchitecture with a tested manufacturing technology and is considered a Tock in the launch schedule and should come out in June of 2013, at the latest. The Tick is when the existing microarchitecture is enhanced, but the Tock is with a whole new micro architecture.

 

[KPOM]

No, It's never a good time to be a rev 1 product.

If no one ever bought a Rev 1 product, there would never be any Rev 2 products to buy.

Don't buy now. You'll kick yourself in June when the new processors come out. I buy a new computer every 2 years by following Intel's classic Tick-Tock strategy when a new architecture in introduced every other year. Haswell is a new microarchitecture with a tested manufacturing technology and is considered a Tock in the launch schedule and should come out in June of 2013, at the latest. The Tick is when the existing microarchitecture is enhanced, but the Tock is with a whole new micro architecture.

We already know what is coming with Haswell. The HD4600 will once again theoretically double GPU performance, much the way HD4000 did compared to HD3000. ULV chips will be 10W (I'm not sure if that's 10W in the same sense that the new Y-series Ivy Bridge chips are marketed as "7W" but are really 13W, but either way it will be less than 17W). The CPU microarchitecture will be improved, but it won't be as big a performance leap as it was from Core 2 to Nehalem, or even Nehalem to Sandy Bridge. The emphasis is on battery life.

 

[MTD's Mac]

Yes. Intel's release schedule. Haswell may or may not be ready in time. Apple won't update either MBP until the chips are ready to go.

J

What I mean is, what's to prevent the 13 and 15 rMBPs from getting (and staying) on the same release schedule as each other. Obviously Intel's chip availability, plus other components and supply chain issues, will impact that schedule, but one would think Apple would release updated rMBPs of both sizes together, as they always did with cMBPs and still do with iMacs (even with the long delays on the latest 27" model).