MacBook Pro 13" with quad-core: has Apple ever offered this as an option?

[stagmeister]

I'm torn because I want a MacBook retina (not interested in cmbp) with a quad core processor and 16gb ram. However thus is only available in 15" when I think that's way too big. My hope is that the haswell retina will let me build this type of machine but I'm not holding my breath, either for the haswell retina or the BTO option.

My current thinking is that the current 13" retina and Haswell 13" MBA are actually very similar in their configurable options. They each can go to 8gb ram, and have dual core processors. Of course the retina has the screen and the MBA has the battery life. But the key is that you cannot currently get 8gb of ram or a quad core processor on ANY 13" Apple laptop.

Has Apple ever offered a quad core processor on a 13" laptop? I can't seem to find any historical data on specs offered so I figured I'd check in here. If Apple has never offered a quad core processor with a 13" model, that will go a long way towards my belief that Apple is highly unlikely to offer one with the (eventually available.... Whenever that might be) haswell retinas.

 

[newdeal]

I'm torn because I want a MacBook retina (not interested in cmbp) with a quad core processor and 16gb ram. However thus is only available in 15" when I think that's way too big. My hope is that the haswell retina will let me build this type of machine but I'm not holding my breath, either for the haswell retina or the BTO option.

My current thinking is that the current 13" retina and Haswell 13" MBA are actually very similar in their configurable options. They each can go to 8gb ram, and have dual core processors. Of course the retina has the screen and the MBA has the battery life. But the key is that you cannot currently get 8gb of ram or a quad core processor on ANY 13" Apple laptop.

Has Apple ever offered a quad core processor on a 13" laptop? I can't seem to find any historical data on specs offered so I figured I'd check in here. If Apple has never offered a quad core processor with a 13" model, that will go a long way towards my belief that Apple is highly unlikely to offer one with the (eventually available.... Whenever that might be) haswell retinas.

Nope no quad in a 13" before. The 15" has dual fans instead of single to deal with added heat and of course a larger battery for added power consumption. As far as ram goes the 13" doesnt have enough room on the board to put it apparently. I guess they will need higher density chips to get it

 

[Stetrain]

Nope, not in the past and most likely not with Haswell. The CPUs most likely to show up in the new 13" models are the 28 watt dual core version with Iris 5100.

Have you checked out the 15" retina models in person? They are actually lighter than the non-retina 13" MBP.

 

[pgiguere1]

It hasn't happened so far, but it could eventually come as a BTO option, probably not this year though.

Benchmark leaks have suggested the 2013 13" rMBP will have a U-class (ultrabook) Haswell processor with 28W TDP. Intel doesn't currently offer any 28W processor with 4 cores. It would be unlikely for Apple to have separate classes of processors in different configurations, so the likely candidates are the following:

Base model: Core i5 4258U (Dual-core, 2.4 GHz, 2.9 GHz TurboBoost, 3 MB L3 cache)
Better model: Core i5 4288U (Dual-core, 2.6 GHz, 3.1 GHz TurboBoost, 3 MB L3 cache)
BTO option: Core i7 4558U (Dual-core, 2.8 GHz, 3.3 Ghz TurboBoost, 4 MB L3 cache)