New MBP in Sept?

[BlargKing]

But what about a graphics update in Sept? I personally would wait a few months if I could get a rMBP with say a GeForce 850M with maybe 3-4GB of VRAM.

I'm hesitant to buy a rMBP right now purely because I'm not sure how useful 2GB of VRAM will be for doing 3D work.

 

[Epiphron]

But what about a graphics update in Sept? I personally would wait a few months if I could get a rMBP with say a GeForce 850M with maybe 3-4GB of VRAM.

I'm hesitant to buy a rMBP right now purely because I'm not sure how useful 2GB of VRAM will be for doing 3D work.

Yea the benchmarks for the 850m looks like it'll be a big upgrade compared to the 750m. Making me hesitant to buy now but not sure if Apple will even upgrade the GPU (or anything big at all) this fall

 

[FrankySavvy]

OP wrote above:
[[ Been holding off on buying a new one, but my mid 2010 is starting to show signs of fatigue. ]]

Put an SSD into it.
It breathed new life into my own mid-2010 MBPro.
Runs faster than new...

How much and what does it take to do this?

 

[thagomizer]

Yea the benchmarks for the 850m looks like it'll be a big upgrade compared to the 750m. Making me hesitant to buy now but not sure if Apple will even upgrade the GPU (or anything big at all) this fall

They should go for the 860M. The 860M (Maxwell version, not Kepler) has double the performance of the 750M, for the same wattage.

If nothing else, Apple needs to upgrade the GPU this year. The 750M is a joke for a laptop in the $2000 price range.

 

[T5BRICK]

How much and what does it take to do this?

Check out Amazon for pricing, there is a thread stickied about different SSDs.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1177020/

iFixit has plenty guides to tell you how to swap out the HDD in your Mac.

 

[Epiphron]

They should go for the 860M. The 860M (Maxwell version, not Kepler) has double the performance of the 750M, for the same wattage.

If nothing else, Apple needs to upgrade the GPU this year. The 750M is a joke for a laptop in the $2000 price range.

Hopefully Apple does this. Not sure what other upgrades they can actually do

 

[BlargKing]

Bump CPU clock a bit. Maybe they could introduce 1866 memory? (doubt it though) Larger SSDs? Price drop on current SSDs?

Perhaps some "under the hood" changes like an improved cooling system.

More USB 3.0 ports?

 

[SarcasticJoe]

Yea the benchmarks for the 850m looks like it'll be a big upgrade compared to the 750m. Making me hesitant to buy now but not sure if Apple will even upgrade the GPU (or anything big at all) this fall

I'm so certain that Apple will not touch the GPU until the Broadwell machines we'll be seeing next year that I'm practically ready to bet money on it. Apple doesn't do bigger stuff like swap out the GPU unless they also swap out the CPU for the one with Intel's next architecture.

The closest they've come to swapping out the GPU, but not the CPU, is the late 2011 refresh where they dropped the 6490M in the cheapest 15" Pro and made the 6750M, which they already had in the up-specced models, the standard.

 

[maflynn]

I'm so certain that Apple will not touch the GPU until the Broadwell machines we'll be seeing next year that I'm practically ready to bet money on it. Apple doesn't do bigger stuff like swap out the GPU unless they also swap out the CPU for the one with Intel's next architecture.

Agreed, its too much work, i.e., R&D, testing, re-tooling, on a chipset that is going away. If apple were to bump up the GPU, it would be when they roll out the broadwell machines.

I expect though they'll be embracing the iGPU more and more and using the dGPU less and less as time goes on. The Broadwell chipset reportedly has a much improved GPU. At some point when does the dGPU becomes superfluous?

 

[BlargKing]

Well if they can't be bothered to make a machine with decent graphics anymore then I guess I'll just stick with my PC. I was hoping to go back to mac, but if they hold out on updating the graphics for a silly CPU and/or focus more on integrated graphics (which are still years behind dedicated for high end tasks) then why should I or anyone else spend 2500$ on a Mac who's hardware is vastly inferior to a 2000$ PC?

 

[Steve121178]

Buy now and do not buy from Apple! Places like Amazon are selling the current computers for £100-£500 less (depending on configuration) than the Apple Store.

As an example, this is 20% off the Apple Store price:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-ME865...5515259&sr=8-1&keywords=macbook+pro+13+retina

A £316 saving (21%).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-ME866...5515300&sr=8-2&keywords=macbook+pro+13+retina

You would have to be out of your mind to pay Apple's Store prices. I'm sure Amazon US have similar discounts.

 

[iphnhelp]

Could someone summarize basically what advantage broadwell will bring vs what is currently offered. Just wondering if waiting for broadwell would even be worth it vs just getting a current model or possible minor spec bump later this year.

 

[GoneDrinkin]

Buy now and do not buy from Apple! Places like Amazon are selling the current computers for £100-£500 less (depending on configuration) than the Apple Store.

As an example, this is 20% off the Apple Store price:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-ME865...5515259&sr=8-1&keywords=macbook+pro+13+retina

A £316 saving (21%).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-ME866...5515300&sr=8-2&keywords=macbook+pro+13+retina

You would have to be out of your mind to pay Apple's Store prices. I'm sure Amazon US have similar discounts.

They're great prices in fairness!

I know the answer is probably no, but do they include an Apple Store voucher too, or is that only if you buy off Apple directly?

 

[BlargKing]

Could someone summarize basically what advantage broadwell will bring vs what is currently offered. Just wondering if waiting for broadwell would even be worth it vs just getting a current model or possible minor spec bump later this year.

I believe they will be more energy efficient and produce less heat while maintaining and possibly slightly improving performance. A worthy enough upgrade, but given that Haswell clearly works well enough, not something I think is worth delaying for.

Just my 2 cents on that.

 

[Steve121178]

They're great prices in fairness!

I know the answer is probably no, but do they include an Apple Store voucher too, or is that only if you buy off Apple directly?

Amazon wouldn't offer any in-house Apple promotion (I'm not sure what the voucher you are referring to is).

However, I don't think people can expect vouchers on top of some already amazing cost savings

As with purchases in the Apple Stores, I would still recommend that people purchase Apple Care as an extra option (you get 12 months to register).

 

[GoneDrinkin]

Amazon wouldn't offer any in-house Apple promotion (I'm not sure what the voucher you are referring to is).

However, I don't think people can expect vouchers on top of some already amazing cost savings

As with purchases in the Apple Stores, I would still recommend that people purchase Apple Care as an extra option (you get 12 months to register).

No problem. I'm not going to be greedy given the savings, I was just chancing my arm

I was referring to the BTS promotion and I know some 3rd party stores participate in it. In the US at least.

So this is brand new, sealed and everything?

That's pretty amazing how they can sell it so much cheaper than the RRP.

 

[Benny-]

No problem. I'm not going to be greedy given the savings, I was just chancing my arm

I was referring to the BTS promotion and I know some 3rd party stores participate in it. In the US at least.

So this is brand new, sealed and everything?

That's pretty amazing how they can sell it so much cheaper than the RRP.

Sometimes these machines can be grey imports. As such you may get one with a US keyboard. I looked in to this when I bought a rMBP last week. Ended up paying £1150 for the 13/8/256 as a family member gets £100 off due to working for the police.
For me it was an extra £150 over Amazon but I no it's a UK spec laptop and I feel more sure buying from Apple.

 

[Steve121178]

Sometimes these machines can be grey imports. As such you may get one with a US keyboard. I looked in to this when I bought a rMBP last week. Ended up paying £1150 for the 13/8/256 as a family member gets £100 off due to working for the police.
For me it was an extra £150 over Amazon but I no it's a UK spec laptop and I feel more sure buying from Apple.

Sometimes you get a seller on Amazon selling US machines to UK customers, but you just need to check the product description. I bought my 13" Retina Pro via Amazon & saved £400! I contacted the seller before ordering and he guaranteed they were UK machines. I couldn't be happier with my purchase, especially with such a huge saving. If you are buying from Amazon directly then they will of course be selling country specific machines (UK machines to UK customers).

You just need to apply common sense when making a purchase.

 

[GoneDrinkin]

Sometimes these machines can be grey imports. As such you may get one with a US keyboard. I looked in to this when I bought a rMBP last week. Ended up paying £1150 for the 13/8/256 as a family member gets £100 off due to working for the police.
For me it was an extra £150 over Amazon but I no it's a UK spec laptop and I feel more sure buying from Apple.

That's exactly why I'd be happier buying off of Apple directly.

I'll look into it, and I could get it considering it's a great saving, but if I could get the 13/8/256 for €1150-€1200 from Amazon, I'd jump on that because I need to keep some money for college too.

 

[OzyOly]

That's exactly why I'd be happier buying off of Apple directly.

I'll look into it, and I could get it considering it's a great saving, but if I could get the 13/8/256 for €1150-€1200 from Amazon, I'd jump on that because I need to keep some money for college too.

Also you get 3 years applecare direct from apple in the HE store.

 

[Epiphron]

Well if Apple doesn't refresh the GPU, what else could they refresh? Has Apple ever gone a whole year without updating the MacBook Pro?

 

[OzyOly]

Well if Apple doesn't refresh the GPU, what else could they refresh? Has Apple ever gone a whole year without updating the MacBook Pro?

It was before the switch to Intel if they have. A 100MHz increase in CPU clock speed would be my bet, maybe a few extra minutes in battery life. It will be a 2014 MBA style update if anything this year.

 

[Epiphron]

It was before the switch to Intel if they have. A 100MHz increase in CPU clock speed would be my bet, maybe a few extra minutes in battery life. It will be a 2014 MBA style update if anything this year.

Well the MBA didn't have a GPU needing upgrade, so hopefully Apple does something with it this year