Late-2014 rMBP what will be new?

[koyoot]

I don't believe, that Apple would upgrade their Macbook line with old technology, if new architecture would be available in next few(2-3) months. That doesnt make ANY sence. This could mean that Intel gives Apple a big priority.

The guy from Chineese forum, that spread Rumor about the September upgrade MBP is very good source. I think we will end up again with the situation, when Apple updates a computer and we end up with preorders for them, cause it will be available "Later in October-November".

 

[UBS28]

There are 2 possibilities:
1) Broadwell is ready in 2014 Q4 and the new rMBP features the Broadwell CPU + 850m or 860m.
2) A 0.1 ghz Haswell CPU bump. History shows that no new GPU upgrades are featured with a spec bump.

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I would be very surprised if Apple were drop the discrete GPU from the 2.3GHz 15" MBP during the expected 2014 minor refresh. The engineering costs are already sunk. I can only think of two scenarios where it might make sense:
- if MBPs were suffering problems from bad 750M chips (we would already know if it were the case, so we can rule it out)
- if Intel were to release updated Haswell chips suitable to replace the 4850HQ in the 2.3GHZ MBP with a chip with much improved graphics. However, that is the one Haswell chip used in a MBP for which Intel have already released a replacement (the 2.4GHz 4860HQ) and there is no great improvement in the graphics.

So, I'm confident that any minor refresh of the 2.3GHz 15" MBP in 2014 would continue to use the 750M.

I'm pretty sure the 750m will be used also based on the history of Apple and their Macbook Pro's if it's only a minor refresh. It will not be normal if Apple doesn't do this

 

[827538]

There are 2 possibilities:
1) Broadwell is ready in 2014 Q4 and the new rMBP features the Broadwell CPU + 850m or 860m.
2) A 0.1 ghz Haswell CPU bump. History shows that no new GPU upgrades are featured with a spec bump.

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I'm pretty sure the 750m will be used also based on the history of Apple and their Macbook Pro's if it's only a minor refresh. It will not be normal if Apple doesn't do this

I agree if there's a tiny spec bump it will definitely not include the 850M. Although I doubt there will be a spec bump. Apple will wait for Broadwell and 20nm Maxwell - then I'll have a huge reason to upgrade.

 

[mcarling]

I agree if there's a tiny spec bump it will definitely not include the 850M. Although I doubt there will be a spec bump. Apple will wait for Broadwell and 20nm Maxwell - then I'll have a huge reason to upgrade.

I disagree. Apple likely will want to update the MBP line before the peak holiday shopping season. The improved Haswell chips make that very easy for Apple.

 

[Teuthos]

I'd just like to say that unless Apple puts in an 850M the rMBP will not be my next computer, for the simple reason that it would fail to meet my needs. I am sure there are many other customers who think the same way and then there are the majority who just simply dislike the idea of an early 2013 chip in a 2014 computer.

 

[nomanstool]

A minor refresh of the Haswell rMBPs could come as early as June or July but the rumors are pointing to September. One can always hope, but it would be unreasonable to expect any significant changes other than a 100MHz improvement in CPU speed at the same price points. There is a chance that Apple might drop the remaining cMBP and reduce the price of the entry-level 13" rMBP by $100. Changes in memory or storage options are unlikely. Other significant improvements, such a faster ports or a newer discrete GPU, are far-fetched.

It's nothing worth waiting for. If you need a MBP this year, buy one now.

In 2015, there will be more significant improvements when the Broadwell MBPs are introduced, but nothing earth-shattering.

I'm actually waiting for a macbook air retina, i have a late 2012 mbp retina, i just hate the battery life, less than 3hrs.

so by june/july and there'a still no retina air, i'm stuck waiting for the refresh

 

[HappyDude20]

I'm actually waiting for a macbook air retina, i have a late 2012 mbp retina, i just hate the battery life, less than 3hrs.

so by june/july and there'a still no retina air, i'm stuck waiting for the refresh

So would you consider a 2012 rMBP not a good purchase at this time? I remember hearing the 2013 were essentially minor updates with something about the 15inch losing it's dedicated gaming card and the 13inch going from 8gb to 4gb of RAM.

I mention this cause if that's the case then the 2012s seem still great. Of course all this under the assumption I may as well bite the bullet and it now and hope come fall I see only spec bumps and not something that distorts my reality field.

 

[Razeus]

I'm waiting on the 2014 versions of these when they go on refurb. Retina prices are way too high. When I see the current 2013 refurbs selling for $500-600 off, I just feel Apple is pricing these too high.

 

[Perilla]

So when the Broadwell/Maxwell update occurs (probably next year), does anyone believe we will also see DDR4 RAM with possible configurations as high as 32GB? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Intel still hasn't said whether the non-server Broadwells will support DDR4. However, Matt Margolis said a few weeks ago that he believes that Apple made a $250 million secret order to Micron last year to get first dibs on DDR4s for its hardware lineup this year (including macbooks). This makes sense to me as the most gains would be seen in mobile devices due to decreased power consumption with double the bandwidth.

By increasing speeds with 16GB by switching to DDR4, would this be a plausible way for Apple to delay trying to figure out how to effectively fit 32GB RAM in the current form?

I've worked on the late 2013 max config 15" MBP Retina recently and I was impressed. The 16GB RAM is definitely the major bottleneck for most NLEs and especially RAM hungry apps like After Effects.

I have to hope that Apple will keep the dGPU. I think this type of configuration has to be for a niche market, but what is the Mac Pro if not a niche product? And Apple fully supports that.

 

[827538]

So when the Broadwell/Maxwell update occurs (probably next year), does anyone believe we will also see DDR4 RAM with possible configurations as high as 32GB? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Intel still hasn't said whether the non-server Broadwells will support DDR4. However, Matt Margolis said a few weeks ago that he believes that Apple made a $250 million secret order to Micron last year to get first dibs on DDR4s for its hardware lineup this year (including macbooks). This makes sense to me as the most gains would be seen in mobile devices due to decreased power consumption with double the bandwidth.

By increasing speeds with 16GB by switching to DDR4, would this be a plausible way for Apple to delay trying to figure out how to effectively fit 32GB RAM in the current form?

I've worked on the late 2013 max config 15" MBP Retina recently and I was impressed. The 16GB RAM is definitely the major bottleneck for most NLEs and especially RAM hungry apps like After Effects.

I have to hope that Apple will keep the dGPU. I think this type of configuration has to be for a niche market, but what is the Mac Pro if not a niche product? And Apple fully supports that.

16GB is plenty, if you need more then I think the sort of application that you're running should be used on a desktop type system but that's just me.

DDR4 is a real possibility as the longer Broadwell takes the more viable this becomes. Although only Apple knows this for sure. 16GB will remain the max for the '2014' rMBP as DDR4 will cost considerably more, so Apple will be wanting to limit cost increases - atleast that's my reasoning.

You and me both, I do quite a lot of gaming on my Mac and so a dGPU is absolutely necessary and with the huge improvements in efficiency and performance that Maxwell brings then I see no reason why not to include it for the higher end versions.

 

[mcarling]

I'm actually waiting for a macbook air retina, i have a late 2012 mbp retina, i just hate the battery life, less than 3hrs.

so by june/july and there'a still no retina air, i'm stuck waiting for the refresh

There is a possibility that Apple might introduce a rMBA this year based on the updated Haswell chips, rather than waiting for Broadwell, in order to have them available for the peak holiday shopping season. If so, June or July would be a reasonable time frame.

 

[nomanstool]

So would you consider a 2012 rMBP not a good purchase at this time? I remember hearing the 2013 were essentially minor updates with something about the 15inch losing it's dedicated gaming card and the 13inch going from 8gb to 4gb of RAM.

I mention this cause if that's the case then the 2012s seem still great. Of course all this under the assumption I may as well bite the bullet and it now and hope come fall I see only spec bumps and not something that distorts my reality field.

Hmm, I already have a 2012 rMBP, why would I need to purchase? I agree that they still seem great to use, but as I mention the battery is a bit of a problem for me.

The only place I can work on remotely are the ones with power outlet, and I believe only Starbucks has it in my area. I really don't need that powerful machine though, so I'm leaning towards looking for a lighter / thinner replacement, but I just hate to move away from retina.

I am a web developer by profession and having seen text so sharp, I just can't imagine, using a screen less than what I have now.

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There is a possibility that Apple might introduce a rMBA this year based on the updated Haswell chips, rather than waiting for Broadwell, in order to have them available for the peak holiday shopping season. If so, June or July would be a reasonable time frame.

hoping they won't disappoint. :crossfingers:

 

[MrT-Man]

Intel came out and said on their quarterly conference call this week that Broadwell will start shipping to customers end of this quarter. May take time for supplies to build, etc, but it's extremely possible that we'll see Broadwell MacBooks before year end.

 

[koyoot]

Its two months before MBP's are shipping to customers. My mid 2012 was build on 12th April 2012. 2 Months before it was sold - 18th July.


September is more and more real, as a date of release new MBP's .

 

[scouser75]

Its two months before MBP's are shipping to customers. My mid 2012 was build on 12th April 2012. 2 Months before it was sold - 18th July.


September is more and more real, as a date of release new MBP's .

Maybe so! But will they be Broadwell? Or Haswell?

 

[Barney63]

Intel came out and said on their quarterly conference call this week that Broadwell will start shipping to customers end of this quarter. May take time for supplies to build, etc, but it's extremely possible that we'll see Broadwell MacBooks before year end.

The Broadwell's that will ship will be the desktop versions, the low power mobile variants will be months later. It will then be some month before Apple put them in a rMBP.

Barney

 

[MrT-Man]

The Broadwell's that will ship will be the desktop versions, the low power mobile variants will be months later. It will then be some month before Apple put them in a rMBP.

Barney

Last time it was four months from the time Haswell was released to the time the Haswell MacBooks were out... and Intel is saying that Broadwell will start to ship end of June. Other than rumors do we have a reason to believe that the Broadwell laptop variants will be that much later?

 

[dalupus]

32 GB broadwell would be awesome. Really hope they hold out for this.

They already have the technology to offer 32gb of ram in the current form factor. I would happily pay an extra $750 or so to have 32gb.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I'm actually waiting for a macbook air retina, i have a late 2012 mbp retina, i just hate the battery life, less than 3hrs.

so by june/july and there'a still no retina air, i'm stuck waiting for the refresh

Look at getting your battery replaced. I'm a web developer - if you can call it that, it's more like web based applications including online test taking and web based video editors - and I can work unplugged for ~4 hours off of my 2009 MBP. The 2012 rMBP should be getting 2x that, easily.

 

[827538]

32 GB broadwell would be awesome. Really hope they hold out for this.

They already have the technology to offer 32gb of ram in the current form factor. I would happily pay an extra $750 or so to have 32gb.

Look at getting your battery replaced. I'm a web developer - if you can call it that, it's more like web based applications including online test taking and web based video editors - and I can work unplugged for ~4 hours off of my 2009 MBP. The 2012 rMBP should be getting 2x that, easily.

While more RAM is always good and the technology is definitely possible I imagine a tiny minority would choose to pay extra for it on their rMBP so I still don't see it happening... 16GB DDR4 is more likely as A, better battery life (slightly anyway) and B, much more memory bandwidth which is far more important! As 1600MHz is a bit low.

I can easily get over 8 hours on my late 2013 rMBP, I reckon if I was very careful I could hit 11 hours. Battery life is great and will improve even more so with Broadwell as 14nm is around 30% more power efficient than 22nm.

 

[dalupus]

Look at getting your battery replaced. I'm a web developer - if you can call it that, it's more like web based applications including online test taking and web based video editors - and I can work unplugged for ~4 hours off of my 2009 MBP. The 2012 rMBP should be getting 2x that, easily.

I assume he means mid 2012. I don't think there was a "late 2012". This would be the original rMBP. I can vouch that battery life is only about 3 or 4 hours max depending on what you are doing. My battery has 95% health and only 12 cycles on it. This and the heat issues with the original rMBP are why I will be upgrading to this years model.

edit-- actually he might meat the 13" model which was late 2012. I don't have any familiarity with that model.

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So would you consider a 2012 rMBP not a good purchase at this time? I remember hearing the 2013 were essentially minor updates with something about the 15inch losing it's dedicated gaming card and the 13inch going from 8gb to 4gb of RAM.

I mention this cause if that's the case then the 2012s seem still great. Of course all this under the assumption I may as well bite the bullet and it now and hope come fall I see only spec bumps and not something that distorts my reality field.

I think the heat issues were fixed in the early 2013 model.

I personally would definitely go with the late 2013 models as the battery life is going to be much better with those processors.

 

[xc0m]

if/when a new model is announced when is it available in store? is it the same day or ...

 

[nomanstool]

Look at getting your battery replaced. I'm a web developer - if you can call it that, it's more like web based applications including online test taking and web based video editors - and I can work unplugged for ~4 hours off of my 2009 MBP. The 2012 rMBP should be getting 2x that, easily.

Yeah its weird, I just got my battery replaced, my old was working fine, its just that my trackpad looks like it was sunken, and I had it replaced, for some reason they replaced the whole top part, which includes keyboard and battery.

With the new battery its like I'm getting 3hrs to borderline 4hrs. Please mind you mind is an ivy bridge version not the haswell version. So I don't think there would be a huge discrepancy between a 2009 and a 2012. Does the battery in your 2009, still the stock battery by the way? How many cycles?

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Yeah its weird, I just got my battery replaced, my old was working fine, its just that my trackpad looks like it was sunken, and I had it replaced, for some reason they replaced the whole top part, which includes keyboard and battery.

With the new battery its like I'm getting 3hrs to borderline 4hrs. Please mind you mind is an ivy bridge version not the haswell version. So I don't think there would be a huge discrepancy between a 2009 and a 2012. Does the battery in your 2009, still the stock battery by the way? How many cycles?

I have 616 cycles on my original 2009 battery (manufactured Feb 25, 2009). It's listed at 4.5 hours of runtime, so it's not doing too bad after 5 years. The original 2012 rMBP is listed as 7 hours of battery life, so you're getting around 50% of its stated battery life.

I would ask Apple to look at it if you can -- But only if you're not pushing it. If you use it with max brightness and a consistently high CPU load, you won't get the stated 7 hours of battery life.

 

[Alfonsomac]

Exclusive: Intel CEO promises Broadwell PCs on shelves for holidays

Exclusive: Intel CEO promises Broadwell PCs on shelves for holidays

Intel Corp's next-generation Broadwell processors will ship in time to be used in personal computers sold during the holiday season but probably won't be available for back-to-school shopping, Chief Executive Brian Krzanich said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/18/us-intel-chips-idUSBREA4H08P20140518

I found this, but he's referring to desktop PCs, or also notebook?