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No dedicated graphics in base rMBP?

pukifloyd

pukifloyd

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 25, 2008
994
93
Scottsdale
I was just checking the buy now page at the apple.com/store for the new MBPs and I saw that the base retina MBP announced today (the $2k model) doesn't have a dedicated graphics card. Even in the customization page, there is no option to upgrade the card. Only the $2600 model has dedicated graphics card, according to the page.

Did I miss anything? Am I the only one seeing this or did apple really screw it up here? First the discontinue the regular and upgradable MBPs and now they don't even offer dedicated graphics on the $2k model? What is wrong with them? :(
 
pukifloyd said:
I was just checking the buy now page at the apple.com/store for the new MBPs and I saw that the base retina MBP announced today (the $2k model) doesn't have a dedicated graphics card. Even in the customization page, there is no option to upgrade the card. Only the $2600 model has dedicated graphics card, according to the page.

Did I miss anything? Am I the only one seeing this or did apple really screw it up here? First the discontinue the regular and upgradable MBPs and now they don't even offer dedicated graphics on the $2k model? What is wrong with them? :(
Click to expand...

It is called profit margins and you are paying for it, LOL.
 
Indeed. If you customize the base 15" rMBP to match the CPU, RAM and SSD of the higher end one, the price difference becomes $0, but with no dGPU. Looks like they are limiting the customizations options available for all builds so that if you want certain upgrades, you have to get quite a few others as well.
 
Noticed this while comparing specs and thought it might have been an omission, but no. Disappointing to say the least. Looks like I might as well just get the 13" for half the price - or order the last model with the 650M. :mad:
 
skrilla said:
Noticed this while comparing specs and thought it might have been an omission, but no. Disappointing to say the least. Looks like I might as well just get the 13" for half the price - or order the last model with the 650M. :mad:
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I'm with you there :mad:
Maybe I'll buy an older one, or even a cMBP. It's not that Haswell or Retina have changed worlds. Despite I'm waiting for the first reviews and then eventually decide.
 
I was hoping for a middle level with 512GB SSD and aDGPU. Have thought it over and I just simply can't justify £2200 for a laptop. I'll stick with my 2010 iMac and my iPad 3 for travel.
For those wanting a 15" Apple laptop we are left with few options.
 
I'm thinking this is an oversight on the actual specs... I couldn't see this really being the case.
 
For the vast majority of users, Iris Pro graphics will suffice -- reality is, most workflows don't need a discrete card anymore, since Iris Pro seems to be able to push Core Animation and other frameworks along just fine. There's a certain negative "stigma" tied to Integrated GPUs, but it's one that really needs to fall away.

If you're a gamer, or do 3D modeling/design or similar work that is optimized specifically for nVidia chipsets, you'll probably want the GT750, because it's going to be better for those specific tasks.

In short -- If you have to ask if you "need" the GT750, you probably don't.

I know some folks are peeved at spending $2000+ and not necessarily getting a discrete card, but the GT3e/Iris Pro-enabled CPUs from Intel are far from cheap. They're quite a bit more expensive than the last Ivy Bridge CPUs in the same models.
 
justin216 said:
For the vast majority of users, Iris Pro graphics will suffice -- reality is, most workflows don't need a discrete card anymore, since Iris Pro seems to be able to push Core Animation and other frameworks along just fine. There's a certain negative "stigma" tied to Integrated GPUs, but it's one that really needs to fall away.

If you're a gamer, or do 3D modeling/design or similar work that is optimized specifically for nVidia chipsets, you'll probably want the GT750, because it's going to be better for those specific tasks.

In short -- If you have to ask if you "need" the GT750, you probably don't.

I know some folks are peeved at spending $2000+ and not necessarily getting a discrete card, but the GT3e/Iris Pro-enabled CPUs from Intel are far from cheap. They're quite a bit more expensive than the last Ivy Bridge CPUs in the same models.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I was wondering the same thing. I just wish that there was still an option to add one card instead of spending $600+ to upgrade everything. Choice is important and apple is not doing good in that department right now. Oh well at least they dropped the price by $200 on the base rMBP :eek:
 
pukifloyd said:
Thanks for the input. I was wondering the same thing. I just wish that there was still an option to add one card instead of spending $600+ to upgrade everything. Choice is important and apple is not doing good in that department right now. Oh well at least they dropped the price by $200 on the base rMBP :eek:
Click to expand...

Sounds great on paper, but the new base rMBP is significantly slower than the old base rMBP.
 
Freyqq said:
Sounds great on paper, but the new base rMBP is significantly slower than the old base rMBP.
Click to expand...

ha. I just got my base 15 rMBP last month. Looks like I won't be returning it for the refurb. The lack of a discrete GPU is a bit disappointing.
 
I almost pulled the trigger on getting the new base rMBP until I noticed as well it doesn't have a dGPU. I knew the Iris Pro 5200 was a significant jump from the older graphics chipsets but wanted to see how it compared against the 650m of the last rMBPs. I found this article from AnandTech:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6993/intel-iris-pro-5200-graphics-review-core-i74950hq-tested/20

While the Iris Pro 5200 performs well, it still isn't as good as the 650m. Based upon that I made the decision to just buy a refurbished February 2013 base rMBP and save a little money as well.
 
I too was very surprised. Only the $2600 model has a dedicated nvidia 750m. Very disappointing. Next summer when this 2011 reaches 3 years of age I'll find a used 2012 hi res classic (or refurb) and hold on to it for another 3 years before deciding what to do. May just stick with Windows on my laptop and move back to an iMac for my Mac work. This laptop basically just sits on my desk so an iMac would probably be fine.

I like the option to bootcamp for gaming and this new path is not acceptable to me. I'm sure they'll sell a bunch of them so Apple really doesn't care if a few folks drop their portables. They haven't had leading tech in their laptops for sometime. Style and OS X. That's really all there is in the MBP now.

Cheers,
 
Freyqq said:
Sounds great on paper, but the new base rMBP is significantly slower than the old base rMBP.
Click to expand...

True that. I agree with you on this point. In real world tests the new base rmbp is slower then the last year base rmbp.
 
This actually makes me feel better about grabbing a refurb 15" rmbp a couple months ago.
 
PCIe based SSD, Thunderbolt 2, and 802.11ac are nice upgrades but plenty happy with my baseline early 2013 15" rMBP. Honestly though those updates I listed should have been in the rMBP already. Just glad I have a discrete graphics card even if I don't have 2GB's of vRAM its still plenty powerful. the new baseline should at least offer an upgrade to add a discrete graphics unit but instead of the GT 750M with 2GB's of vRAM make it the GT 750M or 740M with 1GB. I know so many people that buy MacBooks and are basic users and only care about screen size and have no idea about specs and stuff so the baseline not having a dGPU by default sorta makes sense, although I'd like to see a price drop hopefully soon.
 
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