Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Question for early adopters of MBP 15 inch with 560X GPU

S

Scott Sherman

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 5, 2018
42
24
Washington State
I am curious if you will be

1) buying an external GPU (if so which one?)

2) sell your “old” MBP 15 INCH 560X To buy a new Vega model

3) keep your 560X model and accept it’s limitations

4). Spend endless hours complaining about how Apple screwed you by making your computer obsolete in just
3 months.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Trusteft and Ploki
I choose:

5) Ask Apple to swap out your 560X for a new Vega 20 and be very happy when they say yes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ldenning
I tried that twice with no luck. After about 75 days. Probably no longer an option for early adopters anymore. Unfortunately

I am considering the purchase of the Blackmagic Pro eGPU since I have a new LG 5K2K monitor. Hate that I need to spend $1200 to get what would have been enough with the Vega 20. I would get the first version of Blackmagic eGPU, but it has gotten such bad press and is already JUST incrementally better than the Vega 16 / 20 in the MBP and can not be upgraded.
 
Last edited:
Scott Sherman said:
I tried that twice with no luck. After about 75 days. Probably no longer an option for early adopters anymore. Unfortunately

I am considering the purchase of the Blackmagic Pro eGPU since I have a new LG 5K2K monitor. Hate that I need to spend $1200 to get what would have been enough with the Vega 20. I would get the first version of Blackmagic eGPU, but it has gotten such bad press and is already JUST incrementally better than the Vega 16 / 20 in the MBP and can not be upgraded.
Click to expand...

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/26865422/
 
I like the notion that Apple will take a computer back after what is now almost 4 months (after being denied last month), to upgrade to the next model but after speaking to Apple by phone last month they seemed pretty adamant that there was no way to make an exception this far from the original purchase. I fear that my hopes would be dashed yet again. I will admit being excited at the possibility when I red that post.
 
I tried politely asking Apple for "option 5" above, but they were quite clear that the only option they could offer me here (Japan) would be to let me trade in my current machine for a new one as a used laptop (not as a replacement). Happy for those who got them to listen, no luck for me I guess.

As for the other options:
1) A viable solution, a tradeoff where you'd spend more and give up on mobility but end up with a card much more powerful than whatever can fit into a laptop.
2) Definitely not worth it, imho. Specced-out MBPs have a terrible resale value drop compared to base models, I have an i9/32GB/1TB/560X and the money hit would be much larger than the cost/value of the Vega 20.
3) Depending on your use case, this might or might not be the best solution: do you really need the upgraded GPU? Or is it more a matter of being pissed off at not having the latest and greatest anymore after just a few months? (nothing wrong if the latter is the case, it's only human to feel that way!)
4) I was mildly miffed as well, but obviously this is not a solution :)

I guess my final solution, sometime in the next few months, will be option 1. I'm trying to figure out whether I should go for one of the current Vega options or, since I'm not in a hurry, wait and see what AMD will offer in 2019.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Trusteft and SDColorado
I sold my MBP and purchased the Vega Pro equipped model. Performance delta too high for me to pass on it.
 
#2 seems to make the most sense for those with the high end machines and needing a better GPU. Since I have the base model, and no need for such higher end GPUs, this doesn't pertain to me directly. It is a bummer that this update wasn't ready when they rolled out the MBPs this summer. I can understand people being upset but since its not applicable to me, I'm not upset.
 
I was doing no 4 first.
Then it went into service and i was willing to accept 3.
Because it had to many issues i got a refund and thought i’d do no2 and order a vega.

Then i figured the 2018 15” is a lost cause and will order a mac mini + 13” macbook for the money i got back.
 
maflynn said:
#2 seems to make the most sense for those with the high end machines and needing a better GPU. Since I have the base model, and no need for such higher end GPUs, this doesn't pertain to me directly. It is a bummer that this update wasn't ready when they rolled out the MBPs this summer. I can understand people being upset but since its not applicable to me, I'm not upset.
Click to expand...
+1 I went for the 2018 15 inch, 2.6, 512, 560X even after the annoucement of Vega. For my modest use (Lightroom, Photoshop, FCPX, Parallels/Windows 10 VM, etc...), I didn’t really have a need for a high end GPU. Plus the equivalent model with a Vega 20 was $525 more than the 560X equipped model that I got...when factoring in some of the better recent deals on both models seen on B&H/Adorama, etc... ($2,925 for the Vega 20 equipped model vs $2,399 I paid for the 560X equipped model). I’m happy with my decision, but can certainly understand how others with more substantial needs for a higher end GPU could be upset.
 
Scott Sherman said:
I am curious if you will be

1) buying an external GPU (if so which one?)

2) sell your “old” MBP 15 INCH 560X To buy a new Vega model

3) keep your 560X model and accept it’s limitations

4). Spend endless hours complaining about how Apple screwed you by making your computer obsolete in just
3 months.
Click to expand...

Are you using the machine for gaming or video work?
 
Thysanoptera said:
Do you have it already? Would you be willing to share some insights about wattage/temperatures?
Click to expand...

Not arrived yet. I'll certainly try to do some tests when its here since I am curious. That said, I am not sure that I trust iStats on all the wattages. I would like to know where it has the sensor data from.
 
leman said:
Not arrived yet. I'll certainly try to do some tests when its here since I am curious. That said, I am not sure that I trust iStats on all the wattages. I would like to know where it has the sensor data from.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I kind of think that there is something wrong with what is reported as 'radeon high side' on Vega, since I would expect wide uproar about the temperatures or fans if there was indeed 45-50W. The 'Radeon Memory proximity' temperature sensor is gone on Vega (which makes sense if you look at the new heatsink), but I think the DC IN should still read correct values and in steady state, below the power adapter limit will give some information about the power consumption of the chip. I'm not sure if the "System total" is a separate sensor or they just add all the individual ones together. You may want to verify it by indirect evidence, like the stress test on both CPU and GPU and see how much CPU headroom is lost.
 
Thysanoptera said:
You may want to verify it by indirect evidence, like the stress test on both CPU and GPU and see how much CPU headroom is lost.
Click to expand...

That was indeed my plan :) It is also possible that the system can now dedicate more power to the GPU if the CPU doesn't need that much. I will try to design an experiment that will allow me to go through different power draws and correlate that with performance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Thysanoptera
Got an open box 2.6 i7/32gb/512gb 560x at adorama for $2400. It's a $700 difference for me to get a same spec'd macbook pro with a vega20 with the $250 adorama discount.

I do fcpx and lightroom, used vega64s can be had for $350. With a an enclosure it'll be well under that $700
 
I got the Razer core x + Vega 64. I got the card for $500, which was only a little more than the Canadian price of $450 for the Vega 20 upgrade from apple. obviously also had to eat the cost of the core x enclosure, but I suppose if the logic is pay more to get more, it is what it is.

I'm pretty sure I'll push up against the limits of even the Vega 64 working with blender and unity/unreal, and if there's a miracle and apple starts playing friendlier with Nvidia down the line, I'll also have a path forwards with the core x.

one sorta disappointment is seeing how much faster the card performs doing the same things on a bootcamp windows 10 partition. in particular, OpenCL rendering in blender cycles is so unoptimized on macOS its unusable, while it flies on windows. I'm sure that's a case-by-case situation depending on what software a person wants to use, but it's something to be aware of.
 
None of the above. Buy the 2.6/32GB/1TB model with the 560 for $2400 brand new and walk away with a steal.
 
5) I'll sell my MBP after I'm done with this school semester and wait for the Surface Book 3 or buy an MSI GS65 with GTX 1070. I realized that I don't really even need MacOS and I can just make do with a Windows machine for my use cases (light gaming, software development, taking notes for school). I was originally planning on taking a hit and purchasing the Vega 20 MBP after selling my 560x, however, I can't seem to justify losing so much money just to get a similar laptop to the one I have right now with a GPU upgrade equivalent to a GTX 1050Ti.

After getting screwed over this hard with Apple on the first Apple laptop I've ever bought, I don't think I'll consider Apple products again in the future.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back