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MacBook Pro refresh

akash.nu

akash.nu

macrumors G4
Original poster
May 26, 2016
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I’m on an old late 2013 MacBook Air at present. The machine is in pristine condition but running some of the applications I need on a regular basis is becoming really long in my tooth . So I’m in the market for a more powerful machine right now. Has there been any rumours about a refresh this year? I’d rather hold out and get the latest one if it’s going to be sometime in the summer, going by the previous release cycles.
 
Here's where I see conflicting rumors. We had some rumors of a 16" laptop this year, but as @Audit13 mentioned does that make sense if Apple drops Intel the following year? Maybe we'll see the 16" laptop in 2020 with an ARM processor, or maybe we will see a 16" laptop this year. I think there's too many questions right now to discern how this will play out and we'll have to sit and wait.
 
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That’s exactly why I am getting confused. I definitely can’t wait until next year. I could possibly wait until wwdc but the slowness is really getting on my nerves.
 
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I agree with @maflynn in that there are too many unanswered questions. There are signs that point in different directions.

One thing I took notice of is the large number of models available in each line of Apple products in comparison to the past and the large number of refurbished models for sale. Introducing new models may make things even more confusing when trying to select a model for purchase.
 
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akash.nu said:
That’s exactly why I am getting confused. I definitely can’t wait until next year. I could possibly wait until wwdc but the slowness is really getting on my nerves.
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I would not get too worked up, but if you can wait until WWDC, then that might be your best bet.
 
Audit13 said:
If Apple moves to arm in 2020, I doubt we'll see a refresh of the Intel line anytime soon.
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I would think it would be a gradual transition to ARM. I can't see them suddenly putting ARM everywhere. I'd guess MB or MBA to move to ARM first, and MBPro in the following years.
 
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maflynn said:
I would not get too worked up, but if you can wait until WWDC, then that might be your best bet.
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That’s what I’m planning to do right now. I’ll get the top of the line either way.
 
What do you use your Air for? If you are a power user then I'm surprised you haven't felt as though the machine were slow before. What specs does it have? I would make do until you know there is is/not a refresh coming.
 
imho, Apple won't drop Intel anytime soon for the Pros machines.

THey gonna start it with the new lower class Macbooks where they always try the first experiments. Sadly, it seems they don't learn from their mistakes, like the Butterfly Keyboard before they moved it to the MBP.
 
crawfish963 said:
What do you use your Air for? If you are a power user then I'm surprised you haven't felt as though the machine were slow before. What specs does it have? I would make do until you know there is is/not a refresh coming.
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I am a power user but unless I’m in Xcode it generally works fine but for a recent project I need to use both Xcode and Android Studio. Android Studio is a killer. It spins up 2 different java instances alongside Android Studio itself, plus the simulator. Altogether it takes almost 6 GB to run everything.

When I bought the Mac originally, it was top of the line with 8GB RAM but now it’s just not enough with other applications open at the same time. The fan goes crazy when I try to build any project. I definitely need to upgrade. Just want to see how long I can hold out.
 
akash.nu said:
I am a power user but unless I’m in Xcode it generally works fine but for a recent project I need to use both Xcode and Android Studio. Android Studio is a killer. It spins up 2 different java instances alongside Android Studio itself, plus the simulator. Altogether it takes almost 6 GB to run everything.

When I bought the Mac originally, it was top of the line with 8GB RAM but now it’s just not enough with other applications open at the same time. The fan goes crazy when I try to build any project. I definitely need to upgrade. Just want to see how long I can hold out.
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Sounds like you are a programmer. Honestly, I wouldn't expect there to be enough power gains by waiting. There isn't a huge difference from 2017/2018, depending on which model you are looking at. It probably won't be worth it for you to wait. I would pull the trigger.
 
Audit13 said:
You may be right but it didn't seem too gradual when I went from PowerPC to Intel.
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Definitely And as a developer at the time on one the biggest effected products it create a huge effort for teams to port their applications over.

Hopefully there will be some sort of emulation layer and/or tool suite to make the work easier, but the code might be slower. But it could be pretty ugly.
 
akash.nu said:
I’m on an old late 2013 MacBook Air at present. The machine is in pristine condition but running some of the applications I need on a regular basis is becoming really long in my tooth . So I’m in the market for a more powerful machine right now. Has there been any rumours about a refresh this year? I’d rather hold out and get the latest one if it’s going to be sometime in the summer, going by the previous release cycles.
Click to expand...

If you haven't got an SSD it might be worth putting one of those in your current Macbook to speed it up for a few months while you wait. It's a lowcost upgrade. You might even decide that makes your laptop quick enough for another year or two.

I've got a 2018 MBP which is great. There may be some new machines in the next 6 months but I decided not to wait and I am happy I didn't. However, if you will be disappointed buying a 2018 model now and seeing a 2019 model come out in a few months the SSD may be a good temporary solution for you.
 
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PhilMacbook said:
If you haven't got an SSD it might be worth putting one of those in your current Macbook to speed it up for a few months while you wait. It's a lowcost upgrade. You might even decide that makes your laptop quick enough for another year or two.

I've got a 2018 MBP which is great. There may be some new machines in the next 6 months but I decided not to wait and I am happy I didn't. However, if you will be disappointed buying a 2018 model now and seeing a 2019 model come out in a few months the SSD may be a good temporary solution for you.
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I already have SSD on it. It was top of the range when I bought it. The processor is fine as well. It’s just struggling with RAM given my usage.
 
New Intel CPUs (with a new process and generation) are supposed to be released in summer, and new AMD GPU/CPUs will be our at the same time. I doubt that Apple will drop Intel for the performance computer line any time soon, but Air could see a transition to ARM which will run Intel code via a bytecode compiler. There are rumors that Apple will switch to 16” panels which I assume would happen by reducing the bezels of the current MBP. I doubt this will happen this year though.

At any rate, new Intel Ice Lake will come with a solid performance and feature boost
 
leman said:
New Intel CPUs (with a new process and generation) are supposed to be released in summer, and new AMD GPU/CPUs will be our at the same time. I doubt that Apple will drop Intel for the performance computer line any time soon, but Air could see a transition to ARM which will run Intel code via a bytecode compiler. There are rumors that Apple will switch to 16” panels which I assume would happen by reducing the bezels of the current MBP. I doubt this will happen this year though.

At any rate, new Intel Ice Lake will come with a solid performance and feature boost
Click to expand...
I though Intel said on CES 2019 that Ice Lake chips will hit by end of 2019 for holiday season, when they were showing prototype? Maybe I am wrong, just wondering.
 
igorpreston said:
I though Intel said on CES 2019 that Ice Lake chips will hit by end of 2019 for holiday season, when they were showing prototype? Maybe I am wrong, just wondering.
Click to expand...

There are some newer rumours that some laptops (like Dell XPS) will be shipping with Ice Lake in summer. But I am not sure whether they are just going to announce them in summer or to actually ship them. I guess we'll have to wait and see...
 
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