October Hardware Refresh?

[scottct1]

Greetings,

I have a Mid 2012 15 Inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display - 2.6 Ghz i7 - 16 GB Ram - 500 GB SSD

Over the years I have had the keyboard and trackpad replace twice... each time they replaced it I also got a new battery. Now my Macbook Pro is telling me to Service the Battery. I have not brought my laptop to the Apple store but suspect they will tell me they need to ship it out and get it replaced and charge me $299 to do it.

Now this laptop is getting old and the screen now has about 30 bad pixels on it. Not sure what thats going to cost to fix... or if I should get a new one.

While my wife don't know I am leaning towards a new one.

But looking at the new models other than getting the Touchbar and Touch ID I am not really getting much more... in fact with the move to the USB C all my wires and adapters will no longer work. $3,000 seems like a lot for not really getting much new.

Now my question is, normally in October Apple Apple does a hardware refresh, has anyone heard anything about a hardware refresh this month? I don't want to buy a new laptop only for them to have a new one come out a week or two later.

If you were me what would you do? Get it fixed or buy new?

 

[leman]

There is no hardware (CPUs or GPUs) released that could be used for a refresh right now. Intel has released Coffee Lake for desktop yesterday, but its yet unknown (AFAIK) when the mobile CPUs are coming. If Intel releases them within the next two months, plus AMD gets mobile Vega shipped, there is a certain possibility for an update around this November/December.

 

[jerryk]

There is no hardware (CPUs or GPUs) released that could be used for a refresh right now. Intel has released Coffee Lake for desktop yesterday, but its yet unknown (AFAIK) when the mobile CPUs are coming. If Intel releases them within the next two months, plus AMD gets mobile Vega shipped, there is a certain possibility for an update around this November/December.

I think it is more that while Intel has release a few low-end SKUs with mobile quad cores, the ones used as MacBook Pro upgrades are not available yet. But other companies are releasing low end laptops with these new mobile quad-cores, so if people hear about them they should know that the not the processor that would used in the MacBook Pro upgrade.

 

[Falhófnir]

If they do anything at all, and I think it’s unlikely, it will probably be introducing a low end 15” to replace the lingering 2015 model. As intel no longer offer H series chips with iris pro graphics, it will likely drop down to a 28W U series with iris plus (same as the touch bar 13” model) - for that reason they might want to wait until Intel launch the quad core versions so they can still say it’s still a quad core chip.

 

[jerryk]

If they do anything at all, and I think it’s unlikely, it will probably be introducing a low end 15” to replace the lingering 2015 model. As intel no longer offer H series chips with iris pro graphics, it will likely drop down to a 28W U series with iris plus (same as the touch bar 13” model) - for that reason they might want to wait until Intel launch the quad core versions so they can still say it’s still a quad core chip.

I would be surprised if they do that. Many of the buyers of that system are companies that have thousands of them and have standardized equipment setups (docks, external drives, power supplies, etc) and spares on that platform. It was the same way with the 13 MBP from 2012 that hung on until 2016.

With that said, I think a 2017 15" non-touch MBP could sell well. Especially if they added a couple of USB-A ports

 

[leman]

If they do anything at all, and I think it’s unlikely, it will probably be introducing a low end 15” to replace the lingering 2015 model. As intel no longer offer H series chips with iris pro graphics, it will likely drop down to a 28W U series with iris plus (same as the touch bar 13” model) - for that reason they might want to wait until Intel launch the quad core versions so they can still say it’s still a quad core chip.

If they do this, then we can truly claim that Apple has lots its way One thing that Apple's laptops always stood for is no compromise in CPU specs. They kept by it even if it meant attracting heavy criticism or losing sales.

 

[scottct1]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I just returned from my Apple store where I left a happy man.

I went in and they checked my battery and it came up as needing replacement. The Genious punched it in his iPad and it came up that they had no batteries in stock, so as he was going through it a notice popped up they would have no batteries until November 15th and to notify the customer that because of the delay the battery (and top cover) would be replaced for FREE.

That should keep me going for awhile until something better comes out.

 

[sublunar]

Iris parts for 13" MacBook Pros probably won't be out until Q2 2018 - March-June - I'd have thought. Assuming Apple will do all notebooks at the same event the 45w parts for the 15" MacBook Pro could have 6 cores.

For that reason alone the 2018 notebooks could be worth waiting for, especially if Apple choose to do something unexpected like bring a 17" model back with a nice keyboard (very unlikely).

 

[jerryk]

Iris parts for 13" MacBook Pros probably won't be out until Q2 2018 - March-June - I'd have thought. Assuming Apple will do all notebooks at the same event the 45w parts for the 15" MacBook Pro could have 6 cores.

For that reason alone the 2018 notebooks could be worth waiting for, especially if Apple choose to do something unexpected like bring a 17" model back with a nice keyboard (very unlikely).

I am thinking at WWDC (June 2018) or fall 2018 with a 6 core processor in the 15" and all 13" being 4 core processor. Should be nice.

But I don't see a 17 inch happening.

 

[davidg4781]

Ohhh! A Space Black MacBook that’ll be a shade off of the space black Apple Watch?

I don’t think they get the color thing. I was bored waiting for my repair at an Apple Store yesterday. I was looking at a dock and a guy came up and asked if I needed help. I said only if you have a Space Grey dock that matches the SG AW, MB, and iPhone. He said oh yeah we have that. I had to remind him they’re all different shades, and he didn’t understand.

 

[Falhófnir]

If they do this, then we can truly claim that Apple has lots its way One thing that Apple's laptops always stood for is no compromise in CPU specs. They kept by it even if it meant attracting heavy criticism or losing sales.

TBH I’d quite like it, but only if it came with a corresponding price drop - I make good use of extra screen space but I don’t need that much power so I’m paying through the nose for stuff I don’t need if I want a 15” laptop from Apple. The gains in battery life and cooler temperatures would also be welcome...

I think the current 13” touchbar is close enough in CPU (and even better in GPU) to the 15” haswell machine that’s still on offer that it’s a better deal getting a more power efficient, newer chip than an older one, especially if they do pass on the lower cost of said chip to the consumer rather than pocketing it. For those who do need the power, there would always still be the touch bar 15” using the standard H series chips...