Just got 2.3 GHz 15 rmbp Haswell

[Kariya]

Just a wee update - I went into my local Apple Store today to take a look at the models on display. Of the three on display, two reported they had an LSN screen whereas the other just reported Color LCD which makes me think it's some other manufacturer - perhaps LG or maybe some other company entirely.

I ended up buying another 2.3GHz model in store and this one's screen is pretty much perfect - all screens have some level of uniformity variation but I can't detect any issues on this one with the naked eye. I checked and it's a Samsung display, but it looks significantly better than the 2.3GHz model I got online.

Good screens are out there!

Funny enough i went to the Apple store today too. Checked out display models 5 screens were perfect, 3 were my type of screen.

I'm gonna return this one and reorder. I can't buy in store because of the education discounts i get through my University network.

I simply can't accept my current screen knowing there are better displays out there. Even from the same manufacturer!

 

[raybies]

Can anyone say if their MagSafe adapter connection feels solid? People complained last year that the magnet was too weak.

I usually sit in a lazyboy recliner... the magsafe constantly gets disconnected.

 

[Blizzardman]

1TB (+512) for +$660 in Aus ($500 US), I can get a new PC, PS4, XBOX1, flight to another country... with that.

Who "really" needs 1TB in their lap?

I must really be weird because between my ~70GB music, tons of iTunes/ripped movies, podcasts, countless games, VMs, and years worth of videos/pictures I tend to fill up 1TB fairly quickly. I tend to take the "Pro" in Macbook Pro seriously and don't view this as an internet browsing machine....

 

[prestong]

I must really be weird because between my ~70GB music, tons of iTunes/ripped movies, podcasts, countless games, VMs, and years worth of videos/pictures I tend to fill up 1TB fairly quickly. I tend to take the "Pro" in Macbook Pro seriously and don't view this as an internet browsing machine....

Who needs 70GB of music with them everywhere they go, for that matter you couldn't listen to 70GB of music in your lifetime

 

[Scott7975]

Funny enough i went to the Apple store today too. Checked out display models 5 screens were perfect, 3 were my type of screen.

I'm gonna return this one and reorder. I can't buy in store because of the education discounts i get through my University network.

I simply can't accept my current screen knowing there are better displays out there. Even from the same manufacturer!

In my Apple store they still have all last editions on display.

 

[Diatribe]

Who needs 70GB of music with them everywhere they go, for that matter you couldn't listen to 70GB of music in your lifetime

I really don't get why this is so hard to understand for people. I don't know what I like to listen to at any given time. So I want all my music with me. It you only like one type of music ripped at a low bitrate then I guess you can live with a couple of GBs.

 

[prestong]

I really don't get why this is so hard to understand for people. I don't know what I like to listen to at any given time. So I want all my music with me. It you only like one type of music ripped at a low bitrate then I guess you can live with a couple of GBs.

Well if its worth spending an extra $500 for you to have every song known to man with you at all times, then great But i doubt your the typical person. All my music's in the cloud anyhow..

 

[iKrivetko]

I must really be weird because between my ~70GB music, tons of iTunes/ripped movies, podcasts, countless games, VMs, and years worth of videos/pictures I tend to fill up 1TB fairly quickly. I tend to take the "Pro" in Macbook Pro seriously and don't view this as an internet browsing machine....

Because "Pro" is all about being able to entertain oneself.

 

[ElderBrE]

I must really be weird because between my ~70GB music, tons of iTunes/ripped movies, podcasts, countless games, VMs, and years worth of videos/pictures I tend to fill up 1TB fairly quickly. I tend to take the "Pro" in Macbook Pro seriously and don't view this as an internet browsing machine....

Funny enough, no Pro people put their music or photo libraries in the SSD, low access/storage stuff goes on an external hard drive, not on the system SSD which you want to keep as free as possible to make sure it's still blazing fast. Heck, Pro's did this way before SSDs came along, since it's how most workflows go anyway...

 

[NathanA]

Thanks. 8460 mAh is the same as the 2012 rMBPs, too, so we're comparing apples to apples.

Actually, that was a pic of a 2012/Ivy Bridge 15" rMBP (age: 15 months; cycle count: 93; MacBookPro10,1).

So we still have yet to see a CoconutBattery report from a Haswell 15" rMBP.

-- Nathan

 

[thaifood]

Well if its worth spending an extra $500 for you to have every song known to man with you at all times, then great But i doubt your the typical person. All my music's in the cloud anyhow..

Each to their own I say. I can totally relate to carrying a ton of music around on my phone or laptop. I never know what I will feel like listening too.

 

[tmoerel]

Well if its worth spending an extra $500 for you to have every song known to man with you at all times, then great But i doubt your the typical person. All my music's in the cloud anyhow..

Ever spent a while in the bush in Africa without any internet??? Well I can tell you the only clouds there are of the in-the-sky variation!
You need all your data with you then.

 

[raybies]

I must really be weird because between my ~70GB music, tons of iTunes/ripped movies, podcasts, countless games, VMs, and years worth of videos/pictures I tend to fill up 1TB fairly quickly. I tend to take the "Pro" in Macbook Pro seriously and don't view this as an internet browsing machine....

You're not weird... you just haven't thought out your storage strategy very well.
Do you listen to 70GB worth of music every week? Wait I already know the answer... there aren't enough hours.

People sync content with NAS, cloud, home servers, backup drives... laptops are portable so more likely to be "lost/stolen/broken"... so people don't keep their life on them (specially when you can't get it off a MBP if it dies). They need enough built in capacity to get them through ~ a month.

I don't need tons of iTunes/ripped movies, podcasts, countless games, VMs, and years worth of videos/pictures... in my lap, I've got it available to me on "cheaper" media.

Of course more capacity is nicer, but when you factor in Apple's price for proprietary storage?
Seagate HDD 4TB = A$160
Apple SSD +0.5TB = A$660

 

[UBS28]

The Haswell rMBP throttles due to a weak power brick of 85W?

 

[JD92]

Actually, that was a pic of a 2012/Ivy Bridge 15" rMBP (age: 15 months; cycle count: 93; MacBookPro10,1).

So we still have yet to see a CoconutBattery report from a Haswell 15" rMBP.

-- Nathan

Here you go

 

[briand05]

I just ran the Unigine Heaven benchmark on my base model Iris Pro and got this result.

 

[prestong]

Ever spent a while in the bush in Africa without any internet??? Well I can tell you the only clouds there are of the in-the-sky variation!
You need all your data with you then.

Heh well I doubt many macbook owners have, but granted if I was going someplace without internet I might want to rethink my strategy. But I personally carry external SSDs for any data i rarely use, but may need when I am out from the house.

 

[Mackan]

It's deceptive because as far as I can tell the 750m is 967mhz factory spec but we are getting less than this at about 920mhz. If apple is going to make the 750m worse than factory spec, they should be honest about it. If it just says 750m you should at least expect factory specs that's what I think. Right???

You never know what the OEMs decided to clock the video card at, unless you wait for some technical reviews from Anandtech, or what other buyers say.

There is not much honesty in these businesses.

An underclocked video card typically means Apple had problems to use the stock one without overheating or other problems. They have made their laptops so thin now so there isn't much margin.

I believe the first retina 15'' from last year was the first one to heavily throttle during load. OEMs typically introduce these thermal algorithms when they know the laptop's cooling system cannot handle the full load of CPU + GPU.

If you want to use the laptop for gaming, be on your guard and read up on some technical reviews first to avoid unpleasant surprises.

 

[Atomic Walrus]

The Haswell rMBP throttles due to a weak power brick of 85W?

Nope. It will use the battery to make up the difference if it exceeds 85W. Throttling only occurs if you draw more than 85W with a completely dead battery or if you hit thermal limits.

 

[NathanA]

Of the three on display, two reported they had an LSN screen whereas the other just reported Color LCD which makes me think it's some other manufacturer - perhaps LG or maybe some other company entirely.

The LCD command-line checker thingie only works on models that have the discrete graphics; see this and this.

-- Nathan

 

[JD92]

I believe the first retina 15'' from last year was the first one to heavily throttle during load. OEMs typically introduce these thermal algorithms when they know the laptop's cooling system cannot handle the full load of CPU + GPU.

I believe last year's retina was actually one of the first which didn't heavily throttle under load.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6023/the-nextgen-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-review/12

 

[aiom]

You're not weird... you just haven't thought out your storage strategy very well.
Do you listen to 70GB worth of music every week? Wait I already know the answer... there aren't enough hours.

70 GB sounds much, but maybe it isn't that much at all, especially if the one we are talking about is an "audiophile". When you want complete lossless then a file takes up 10 times the size of an average converted MP3.

A song of 5 minutes makes ~5mb having 128kbps. Now multiply x10 and you got 50mb. Now I have a small collection of 2000 songs and they already make up 6GB, even though most of them are low quality (lots of songs converted from youtube). But if I had hi-end versions it could already be 60GB.

 

[raybies]

70 GB sounds much, but maybe it isn't that much at all, especially if the one we are talking about is an "audiophile". When you want complete lossless then a file takes up 10 times the size of an average converted MP3.

A song of 5 minutes makes ~5mb having 128kbps. Now multiply x10 and you got 50mb. Now I have a small collection of 2000 songs and they already make up 6GB, even though most of them are low quality (lots of songs converted from youtube). But if I had hi-end versions it could already be 60GB.

I only listen to flac's.
TBH, 1TB is really nice to have... but at A$660 it's seriously a rip.

 

[Mackan]

I believe last year's retina was actually one of the first which didn't heavily throttle under load.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6023/the-nextgen-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-review/12

Could indeed be true. But I remember a very problematic thread here on MacRumors regarding throttling on the retina MBP.