The change from Broadwell to Skylake will show some small improvements, and I believe the GPU will also show some improvements. You'll see a nice improvement on the battery life
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MacBook Pro today: barely better than one released 4 years ago
- Thread starter tubeexperience
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Well said. I have two windows desktop machines by my desk. Both with Nvidia 970s cards. One has a i7-4790K Haswell processor. The other has a i7-6700K Slylake processor. Unless you benchmark them they run the same. And even the benchmarks are within 10%. And most of the difference is the the Skylark processor runs at 4GHz, while the Haswell runs at 3.6 GHz. Overclocked to 4 Ghz the Haswell is slightly faster.
The biggest thing with the next macBook Pro will be USB-C, Thunderbolt 3, and GPU.
I can't speak for the 4 year ago model but my late 2013 2.6/8/256 is great.
I don't use anything demanding though.
iMessage, notes, firefox, youtube, google earth once in a blue moon, calendar, Beats 1, time machine, and that's pretty much it.
My MBPr is running so good right now I'm afraid I'll jinx it so touch wood.
I don't really need to upgrade, but I would if the new one has something revolutionary.
Trust me, I thought the same thing. I was wrong. Coming from a Macbook Pro with a SATA SSD and my work MBPr with the SATA blade SSD, the SM951 in my current Macbook Pro is so much faster it is almost laughable. I don't even do anything that puts the machine under any sort of stress, but simple things like booting up happen three to four times faster, everything opens much faster and it makes the whole machine feel faster overall. I can't stress how big a difference the SSD in the 2015 MBPr makes, even over older ones.
From when you press the power button, how many seconds to the login screen? Cold start
Look, it's not 3-4 times faster.
I think you need the two machines side by side, and you will see that it's not so one sided.
Last edited:
You are comparing a server CPU from 2010 to a desktop CPU from 2015.
Did you know that since the 6 core max CPU's of 2010, they have grown to 24 core max in 2016? Can you honestly say those same statements when comparing those two types of CPUs with multithreaded apps?
I could say them, but I would have a very hard time doing so while keeping a straight face.
depends on the application and if it supports multiple cores.
For gaming as an example, a 2010 6 core will beat a 2015 24 core. Many applications still use 1-4 cores only.
For many day to day tasks, bottlenecks have been removed from computers, and we are not seeing huge jumps, it's incremental 10-15% each generation.
The one area as the poster said, that gains are to be made still is GPUs.
What you do not want is less than 4 cores.......like the new Mac mini.
Mid 2012 64-bit Geekbench: 12,696
Mid 2015 64-bit Geekbench: 14,515
14.3% improvement.
Mid 2015 64-bit Geekbench: 14,515
14.3% improvement.
so the 15" 2015 retina macbook wont be much different if it had skylake?
[doublepost=1466659129][/doublepost]
ah so u recomend wait
Given the cost of these machines, yes. You're paying a premium for an older chipset, I don't think that's a good value in my book
No I do not think the difference will be worth it. People here seem to think that Skylake is the holy grail and it is a 300% performance increase. I don't really notice a difference on my desktop.
Skylake is likely to be another 5-10% improvement (the speed bump from the CTO CPU speed is likely to be in the same range as going from Haswell to Skylake - I fully expect the refurb 2.8 gHz Haswell 15" I have coming to beat all EXCEPT the CTO Skylake).
Polaris may be a more interesting upgrade, for things that like GPU performance. What people forget is that, outside of gaming, GPU performance isn't all that important for most things. There are certain functions in Photoshop and Lightroom that are GPU accelerated, but not all that many. There are a few more in video editing, and that's where it'll make the most difference in professional use. The user interface uses some GPU acceleration, but it's designed to work on relatively slow GPUs, because the majority of Macs have slow GPUs (the only real exceptions are certain top iMac configurations and the Mac Pro).
We aren't going to see a real change in disk speed on the new MBP - this one is NOT because Apple's being negligent, but because Apple is already using server-grade SSDs. The incredibly fast Samsung SSDs in the latest MBPs really don't ship as standard in much of anything else, short of some servers and workstations. There simply isn't anything faster than an SM951 that they could get their hands on.
The real question about the new machines is what we'll get OTHER than CPU/GPU specs? It seems certain that we'll get USB-C ports. If we get them as an ADDITION to other ports, they're a purely positive development. Even if we lose some ports, but not all of any single port type, they're probably mostly a positive. If we lose all of our regular USB ports, that makes the new machine a pain...
We may also get stuck with the MacBook keyboard, which, like USB-C only, is probably a "negative upgrade" for many people. To be fair, we could also get a variant on a butterfly keyboard with more travel, which would be a positive upgrade for many. I don't think anyone would turn down the OLED touch bar/Touch ID, if it came on an otherwise compelling upgrade, but I also think it's unlikely many people want it enough to put up with other annoyances to get it.
Other questions include storage capacity - it would be hard for Apple to exceed 1 TB with currently available drives, except by including an extra slot. Newegg simply doesn't show ANY PCI-E drive over 1 TB, except a few desktop cards (many or all of which are probably actually RAID configurations with two or more drive blades). The only sensible 2 TB configuration with what's shipping would be two of the same 1 TB blades they're currently using - and Apple almost never adds an extra slot!
32 GB RAM is much more likely - the chips exist, and it's easy if they want to do it. They've never made a soldered-RAM machine with >16GB, though - the 21.5" iMac, which is a Broadwell machine that would have easily supported 32 GB, is limited to 16. The 27" iMac is NOT limited to 16 GB, but that supports RAM expansion through standard SODIMMs.
The last real question is the screen - it could be the Retina Display we know (2.8k, very good sRGB but not wide gamut), it could be 4K, it could be wide-gamut (probably P3), or it could be both...
Polaris may be a more interesting upgrade, for things that like GPU performance. What people forget is that, outside of gaming, GPU performance isn't all that important for most things. There are certain functions in Photoshop and Lightroom that are GPU accelerated, but not all that many. There are a few more in video editing, and that's where it'll make the most difference in professional use. The user interface uses some GPU acceleration, but it's designed to work on relatively slow GPUs, because the majority of Macs have slow GPUs (the only real exceptions are certain top iMac configurations and the Mac Pro).
We aren't going to see a real change in disk speed on the new MBP - this one is NOT because Apple's being negligent, but because Apple is already using server-grade SSDs. The incredibly fast Samsung SSDs in the latest MBPs really don't ship as standard in much of anything else, short of some servers and workstations. There simply isn't anything faster than an SM951 that they could get their hands on.
The real question about the new machines is what we'll get OTHER than CPU/GPU specs? It seems certain that we'll get USB-C ports. If we get them as an ADDITION to other ports, they're a purely positive development. Even if we lose some ports, but not all of any single port type, they're probably mostly a positive. If we lose all of our regular USB ports, that makes the new machine a pain...
We may also get stuck with the MacBook keyboard, which, like USB-C only, is probably a "negative upgrade" for many people. To be fair, we could also get a variant on a butterfly keyboard with more travel, which would be a positive upgrade for many. I don't think anyone would turn down the OLED touch bar/Touch ID, if it came on an otherwise compelling upgrade, but I also think it's unlikely many people want it enough to put up with other annoyances to get it.
Other questions include storage capacity - it would be hard for Apple to exceed 1 TB with currently available drives, except by including an extra slot. Newegg simply doesn't show ANY PCI-E drive over 1 TB, except a few desktop cards (many or all of which are probably actually RAID configurations with two or more drive blades). The only sensible 2 TB configuration with what's shipping would be two of the same 1 TB blades they're currently using - and Apple almost never adds an extra slot!
32 GB RAM is much more likely - the chips exist, and it's easy if they want to do it. They've never made a soldered-RAM machine with >16GB, though - the 21.5" iMac, which is a Broadwell machine that would have easily supported 32 GB, is limited to 16. The 27" iMac is NOT limited to 16 GB, but that supports RAM expansion through standard SODIMMs.
The last real question is the screen - it could be the Retina Display we know (2.8k, very good sRGB but not wide gamut), it could be 4K, it could be wide-gamut (probably P3), or it could be both...
I just got my screen fixed and battery replaced on my 2012 Retina Macbook Pro 15" and its working like a charm now. Getting 7 hours of battery life and with El Capitan is flying. I'm gonna wait for the 2nd or 3rd revision of the new redesigned Macbook Pros before I upgrade this machine. I'm thinking that will be 2018 for me.
True on the GPU capabilities of Skylake - I've been thinking primarily about the 15" dGPU model, because that's what meets my particular needs. For an iGPU machine, the Iris Pro is significant... Is it worth losing standard ports? That's for individual users to decide - but it IS a real upgrade.
I don't know, I have a MacBook Pro 17 (early 2011) 16 GB 500 SSD
With the new Retina MacBook Pro 15 (delayed/late 2016) 16 GB 500 SSD
I am going to get:
New Old
USB-C/3 VS. USB-2 going to be great
TB3 VS. TB1 going to be insane, even with TB1 devices
M.2 SSD VS. SATA III going to be insane
Force Touch VS. Great Trackpad hope this is ok
New KeyB VS. Old Keyboard This will take getting used to.
no DVD VS. DVD meh, but seriously?
Retina! VS. 1920x1200 my eyes are going to love this, getting new glasses this year too
BT 4.x VS. BT 2.1 going to be amazing, continuity finally, and handoff
802.11ac VS. 802.11n going to be great!
Battery Life VS. Low Use Battery I don't get off the couch but in the times I do, I should get 6 hours!
Better dGPU VS. dGPU bugged I hope this freeze bug is fixed
PowerNap VS. (none) That'll be nice
16GB support VS. 16GB rigged Possibly why I have this freezing sometimes, maybe even 32GB RAM
Thats about all I can think of... (quite a bit!)
except "better Apple" Native tested Siri support, who knows
So a yeah! TIME TO GET A NEW MACBOOK!
I know you said 4 years ago rMBP but you gotta few things on this list too
Laters...
With the new Retina MacBook Pro 15 (delayed/late 2016) 16 GB 500 SSD
I am going to get:
New Old
USB-C/3 VS. USB-2 going to be great
TB3 VS. TB1 going to be insane, even with TB1 devices
M.2 SSD VS. SATA III going to be insane
Force Touch VS. Great Trackpad hope this is ok
New KeyB VS. Old Keyboard This will take getting used to.
no DVD VS. DVD meh, but seriously?
Retina! VS. 1920x1200 my eyes are going to love this, getting new glasses this year too
BT 4.x VS. BT 2.1 going to be amazing, continuity finally, and handoff
802.11ac VS. 802.11n going to be great!
Battery Life VS. Low Use Battery I don't get off the couch but in the times I do, I should get 6 hours!
Better dGPU VS. dGPU bugged I hope this freeze bug is fixed
PowerNap VS. (none) That'll be nice
16GB support VS. 16GB rigged Possibly why I have this freezing sometimes, maybe even 32GB RAM
Thats about all I can think of... (quite a bit!)
except "better Apple" Native tested Siri support, who knows
So a yeah! TIME TO GET A NEW MACBOOK!
I know you said 4 years ago rMBP but you gotta few things on this list too
Laters...