No price difference between 15" nMPB with dGPU and those without?

[Benk3350]

I've been debating whether to get the 15 inch macbook pro retina with the integrated GPU or not. I'm not sure how well the gtx 750 is for gaming and if it was worth the extra money.

But when I maxed out both models, the price was the same. The only difference was that one had the 750 and the other had just the iris pro. Both were $3300. That is with the 2.6 quad core i7, 16gb RAM and 1tb ssd. I didn't compare the prices of lower specc'd models because I'm planning on getting a fully loaded 15".

So, is there something I'm missing here? why are they the same price when maxed out?

 

[Quu]

Apple is holding a poll. See how many people buy the maxed out non-750m and how many buy the maxed out model with the 750m.

I fully expect the Broadwell update to not even offer a dGPU.

 

[Benk3350]

Apple is holding a poll. See how many people buy the maxed out non-750m and how many buy the maxed out model with the 750m.

I fully expect the Broadwell update to not even offer a dGPU.

Is that a joke or are you serious? Why would someone not get the extra GPU power? I don't understand.

 

[sarakn]

I'm confused about this part, too. Last week, someone contacted Apple and was told that maxing out the 15" 2.0 system changed the option to dGPU.

This needs to be confirmed because even when you configure the system, there's no summary showing it.

----------

Is that a joke or are you serious? Why would someone not get the extra GPU power? I don't understand.

Some people have stated they don't want dGPU and this causes switching - not sure what that really means, but I know they use a software to disable switching. Me, I don't care. I just selected the maxed out system and went all out.

Since you have money to burn, might as well do the same. People on here are a bit strange. In the waiting thread, they whined about not getting dGPU. When they got it, they're whining about getting it.

 

[dusk007]

In general a higher end config usually is more cost effective than max upgrading lower end ones. Just look at Dell.

Here though it also has to do with just what you want. Iris Pro makes for a cooler notebook, you get an integrated GPU while running an external screen or Windows. If you don't game the 750M is just annoying. If you do lots of presentations, the Iris Pro only notebook comes with better battery life.
It is just the crappy way Apple does grahics switching and that external screens are only wired to the 750M which makes the Intel only solutions much more attractive.
Obviously for gamers the 750M is still a big upgrade over Intel's GPU. For almost everything else 750M is just annoying (heat, fan noise, battery life).

Apple probably wants to know how many people take which deal.

 

[sarakn]

In general a higher end config usually is more cost effective than max upgrading lower end ones. Just look at Dell.

Here though it also has to do with just what you want. Iris Pro makes for a cooler notebook, you get an integrated GPU while running an external screen or Windows. If you don't game the 750M is just annoying. If you do lots of presentations, the Iris Pro only notebook comes with better battery life.
It is just the crappy way Apple does grahics switching and that external screens are only wired to the 750M which makes the Intel only solutions much more attractive.
Obviously for gamers the 750M is still a big upgrade over Intel's GPU. For almost everything else 750M is just annoying (heat, fan noise, battery life).

Apple probably wants to know how many people take which deal.

Hmm, I hope this has changed because I don't game. I plan on running parallels and wanted something for multimedia, but thought getting the max of the top model will exceed my needs. Getting a bit uneasy that I might have purchased the wrong unit.

 

[Benk3350]

In general a higher end config usually is more cost effective than max upgrading lower end ones. Just look at Dell.

Here though it also has to do with just what you want. Iris Pro makes for a cooler notebook, you get an integrated GPU while running an external screen or Windows. If you don't game the 750M is just annoying. If you do lots of presentations, the Iris Pro only notebook comes with better battery life.
It is just the crappy way Apple does grahics switching and that external screens are only wired to the 750M which makes the Intel only solutions much more attractive.
Obviously for gamers the 750M is still a big upgrade over Intel's GPU. For almost everything else 750M is just annoying (heat, fan noise, battery life).

Apple probably wants to know how many people take which deal.

That is all probably true, but shouldn't they still have the Intel only cheaper? Even if its by a little bit? They are charging the people without the GPU the same price as those that got it. That doesn't seem right. Even if a person with a maxed out nMPB doesn't want it, they should be paying less than someone who is getting it because it is costing Apple more to put in the GPUs and less to not put one in. It just seems very weird to me.

 

[Quu]

Is that a joke or are you serious? Why would someone not get the extra GPU power? I don't understand.

Power consumption, noise, heat. There are a lot of good reasons to only go with Iris Pro.

Next year with Broadwell intels iGPU will probably double performance over this years iGPU. If that does occur there will simply not be an NVIDIA or ATi GPU that Apple could use in the Retina MacBook Pro that would be any faster than the iGPU offered by Intel.

To put in basic terms, Intels iGPU's are getting so good they meet and soon will beat mid-range laptop graphics. The only place we will still see dedicated GPU's on Notebooks is in high end gaming laptops.

Apple is on the fence right now about whether this time is already upon us so they have provided us with the same laptop with and without the dedicated GPU to let us decide.

 

[ElderBrE]

Power consumption, noise, heat. There are a lot of good reasons to only go with Iris Pro.

Next year with Broadwell intels iGPU will probably double performance over this years iGPU. If that does occur there will simply not be an NVIDIA or ATi GPU that Apple could use in the Retina MacBook Pro that would be any faster than the iGPU offered by Intel.

To put in basic terms, Intels iGPU's are getting so good they meet and soon will beat mid-range laptop graphics. The only place we will still see dedicated GPU's on Notebooks is in high end gaming laptops.

Apple is on the fence right now about whether this time is already upon us so they have provided us with the same laptop with and without the dedicated GPU to let us decide.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I'm not completely sure it's a "poll", but it sure looks like they're watching who gets what and if they could get away with it without too much tremor.

But unless Broadwell brings a significant boost to the iGPU and better drivers, I think we will still see a model with a dGPU next year. Nvidia and AMD aren't going to sit idle just watching.

 

[AzN1337c0d3r]

In bootcamp, you always get the discrete GPU only. So if you only have Iris Pro, you can get much better battery life in bootcamp. That's one of the main reasons to BTO a non-GT750M.

 

[sarakn]

In plain English, should I have purchased the iGPU as a non-gamer? I got the dGPU.

 

[thundersteele]

In plain English, should I have purchased the iGPU as a non-gamer? I got the dGPU.

Most of the time I'm annoyed on my 2011 MBP when some software (like Skype) triggers the switch to the dGPU. It makes the machine heat up more, the fans come on and are noisy, and if I'm on the road, it also hurts my battery life.

I will wait for benchmarks etc, but I would very much consider not getting the dGPU, even if the price is the same.

 

[Wuiffi]

Power consumption, noise, heat. There are a lot of good reasons to only go with Iris Pro.

This and one more thing. dGPU problems. The 2009 MBP had some, many 2010 had the brokeb chipset and on the appleforum (and here) there are a lot of reports of gpu problems on the 2011 model too.
Building a notebook without a part that often makes problems and is expensive to repair saves apple troubles and money and the UX is (imo) grtting better

 

[dusk007]

That is all probably true, but shouldn't they still have the Intel only cheaper? Even if its by a little bit? They are charging the people without the GPU the same price as those that got it. That doesn't seem right. Even if a person with a maxed out nMPB doesn't want it, they should be paying less than someone who is getting it because it is costing Apple more to put in the GPUs and less to not put one in. It just seems very weird to me.

Whether it is fair or not. It is how it is. Apple makes up their prices based on what they think they CAN charge so people still buy. The prices never really did represent how expensive the materials that go into it are. They try to get the highest margin and total profit (volume), they never bothered with how cheap can I sell this while still making a profit. Most upgrades had rather ridiculous price premiums. 8GB RAM cost next to nothing and look what they charge for it.

In plain English, should I have purchased the iGPU as a non-gamer? I got the dGPU.

Probably yes. It isn't the end of the world. Some more heat, much worse battery life when the dGPU is active.
There is gfxCardStatus which can help some when it is only software in OSX that triggers the dGPU but it won't help with Windows or external screens/projectors. I don't like it. Unfortunately I do play games and could use the 750M. I am wondering if I should just get an external GPU so I don't have to bother with that wonky setup. Or go for a Windows notebook again but most of the good ones are still waiting for upgrades (Samsung Ativ Book 8). Windows has Optimus and that has none of the problems Apple has.
My theory is that Apple botched their graphics switching and they don't try to fix it because they think, they will go Intel only soon enough anyway, and don't like to admit to mistakes.

 

[doubleaa]

Can you not disable the dGPU all together?

 

[froggyjo]

Can you not disable the dGPU all together?

Unfortunately not. dGPU is great for gamers but I assume that for the majority of "normal" users Iris Pro is good enough. Apple should have made Iris Pro as CTO and dGPU as BTO - or at least a high-end Iris Pro CTO version ...

 

[PDFierro]

I would totally go with Iris Pro, but that's just me. Cooler, better battery, and one less component to worry about failing.

Sure you can get both for the same price, but some people don't want that.

 

[Wuiffi]

I would totally go with Iris Pro, but that's just me. Cooler, better battery, and one less component to worry about failing.

I have to skip this generation as I can't decide ^^ (in fact I skip it cause I ser no reason to update my 3 year old machine).
For those not gaming on their mbp iris pro is rly good (for the exact reasons you named) but somehow I would feel stupid if I'd get a 2600$ notebook and could get a graphic chip "for free" but would go for integrated only. Hopefully next year they go igpu only, so the decision isn't that hard

 

[Hitch08]

In plain English, should I have purchased the iGPU as a non-gamer? I got the dGPU.

I don't think there is a clear "Yes" or "No" answer to your question. In addition, there is a lot of contradictory information in this thread.

I'm hardly the expert, but the consensus seems to be that you can download gfxGardStatus and that will keep your dGPU off with two exceptions. First, running Windows. Second, when your Mac is connected to an external monitor or projector. One other comment/concern is if gfxCardStatus will stop updating the app. It seems to me, if that were to occur, that someone else would step up to develop something similar.

I am also in the market for a new Mac and I'm about 90% certain that I am going to buy the same model as you. I will buy AppleCare, so the concern about the dGPU failing is not much of a concern for me. Also, my current MBP is over 5 years old (late-2008 Unibody). Since I keep my computers for a while, I want to future proof as much as possible.

If my MBP is connected to my external monitor - and that kicks on the dGPU, I really don't mind. When I am connected to the external, I am also connected to a power source.

I am trying to hold out for the benchmarks before ordering - that's my 10%. Maybe something will be disclosed to change my mind.

However, if you aren't running Windows, and you can use gfsCardStatus to turn off the dGPU, it seems like the free dGPU is the right answer.

Hope that helps.

 

[sarakn]

Thanks for your responses. The best thing I'll do is test it when it arrives and if I don't like it, I'll return for iGPU.