Returning My 2015 15in rMBP

[Cuniac]

I'm seriously thinking about returning my 15in 2015 Max Config MBP. The price I paid Vs the power it provides has been eating away at me. The CPU is very fast, The SSD is crazy fast, The screen is beautiful, but the GPU is garbage.

Yes, the GPU is faster than the last version by 80%, but the last one was very slow. 80% over very slow is still slow... I really didn't think this was going to bother me. I didn't by it as a gaming laptop, I have even debated with people on here that you don't get a MBP for games so this should not matter. But now that I have it, sitting down and looking at my $3,200 (After Tax) laptop and watching it struggle pulling 20FPS on BioShock Infinite bothers me to no end. Its like buying a Ferrari, that drives grate, is super conferrable, and looks amazing, but has no chance racing a Dodge Neon.

No, I didn't buy it for gaming. I wanted an amazing computer I could take with me that would do everything. And it does. And I know its not a gaming laptop. But at that price tag, $3,200 it should of had a much better chip. At least a 960m equivalent. Even taking the PICe SSD that I know is very pricy and that nice retina display, its WAY over priced, even for Apple. I don't remember my maxed 2011 17in MBP being this far off the mark.

 

[dk808]

If you aren't going to play games on it then what's the problem?

Btw what exactly did you need it for that made you decide to max everything out?

 

[Quu]

If you're not happy with it right now, you won't be happy with it in 3, 6 or 12 months from now either. Especially when it starts aging.

I'd advise you to return it and get a razer blade or the lower specced rMBP + Gaming desktop.

 

[Cuniac]

If you aren't going to play games on it then what's the problem?

Btw what exactly did you need it for that made you decide to max everything out?

I bought it to be an amazing everything computer. To run all my Mac apps, bootcamp it to run my windows apps. To be honest it runs everything very well. But when it comes to loading a game. And yes I will game on it from time to time I can really see how bad the m370x really is. My 2011 MBP still works pretty well, no where near the quickness of this machine, but I may just buy a laptop with a 980m for half the price and pull over 4x better graphical performance. I would have to lug two laptops which is kinda ridiculous, but I would have to right tool for the job per say, in a 20 pound backpack lol.

This is super hard as I Love MACS. Love them. And I will always have a working mac as my main computer. But this just bothers me so much. I really wanted this to not be a problem, maybe I was just lying to myself because I knew that it would.

 

[dk808]

I bought it to be an amazing everything computer. To run all my Mac apps, bootcamp it to run my windows apps. To be honest it runs everything very well. But when it comes to loading a game. And yes I will game on it from time to time I can really see how bad the m370x really is. My 2011 MBP still works pretty well, no where near the quickness of this machine, but I may just buy a laptop with a 980m for half the price and pull over 4x better graphical performance. I would have to lug two laptops which is kinda ridiculous, but I would have to right tool for the job per say, in a 20 pound backpack lol.

This is super hard as I Love MACS. Love them. And I will always have a working mac as my main computer. But this just bothers me so much. I really wanted this to not be a problem, maybe I was just lying to myself because I knew that it would.

Have you ever tried playing the game through bootcamp? For some reason games run better for me when I do that instead of playing it on the Mac partition

 

[Cuniac]

Have you ever tried playing the game through bootcamp? For some reason games run better for me when I do that instead of playing it on the Mac partition

Games definitely run better due to most games rune through wine in Mac OS. But it still pretty slow

 

[Budiosx]

i've played and finished Bioshock infinite on bootcamp with my macbook pro 15 inch mid 2012 with nvidia 650 gt ,it ran very well ,no slow or stuttering at all.

 

[gngan]

If you're not happy with it right now, you won't be happy with it in 3, 6 or 12 months from now either. Especially when it starts aging.

I'd advise you to return it and get a razer blade or the lower specced rMBP + Gaming desktop.

+1 with Quu.

Seriously, what's the point of this thread? You knew it's not a gaming machine. It runs great with everything else. Why are you even asking for advise? In fact, why are you even complaining? This doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Dark Void]

I would return it. You don't seem satisfied with your purchase.

This is Apple, in any case. You would expect a $2000-$3000+ computer to come standard with a dedicated GPU, but not here. Therefore, if you're going to bottleneck your entire system with graphically intensive usage, you need to reconsider.

 

[Acronyc]

How are you only getting 20FPS in Bioshock Infinite? I played through the entire game on my 2012 rMPB with the 650M - on OS X - and had no problems at all. No stuttering and averaged over 30FPS. At what resolution are you playing it? I played through it on an external monitor at 1920 x 1080, so if you're trying to play it at native resolution of your rMBP's display perhaps that's one problem.This game can run on the Intel HD3000 (granted slowly) so it doesn't really make sense that it isn't working on your 2015 rMBP.

 

[Cuniac]

+1 with Quu.

Seriously, what's the point of this thread? You knew it's not a gaming machine. It runs great with everything else. Why are you even asking for advise? In fact, why are you even complaining? This doesn't make sense to me.

LoL, well.. The point of the thread was to get peoples thoughts. I love the MBP I'm just super disappointed in its graphical performance. While yes I know its not a gaming machine, my thought processes went from, This is not a gaming machine, to why the heck is this not a gaming machine since I paid $3,200. I don't expect it to be a MSI titan class gaming laptop, but I did expect more at that price tag.

When Apple announced this new GPU no one knew anything about it. There were no benchmarks or anything to go off of. I ordered it thinking 80% better is huge this will be pretty good. Not expecting a 980m but at least 960m performance. Now that it has been thoroughly tested we can see that its about as powerful as the 850m. While that's not terrible, its not what you should be getting in a computer that expensive.

This computer has a beautiful retina display, at that resolution and screen size your not getting that for the real-estate, its because it will make things look amazing at 15.4in. Now, I didn't really expect to run GTA V at retina on ultra settings. But I did expect to run BioShock Infinite on Retina at high settings, and you cant. It will run at 15FPS. You have to go to some pretty old games to be able to play at retina and have settings that makes since to use at that resolution. Low + Retina at 15.4in is not as good as 720p + very high at 15.4, there is no gain. But very high + retina looks amazing. But you cant do it because the GPU is to slow.

I really just wanted a GPU that made it shine. And for the same reason I Built a gaming rig instead of getting a MacPro, I may just hold out longer till my 2011 MBP just doesn't cut it anymore and get a gaming laptop at half the price and a lot more power. I still have 4 days to decide, and I love the Mac OS a thousand times more than windows, and I wont be able to take my Apple apps with me. its just the price Vs Performance return is killing me.

 

[Dark Void]

Not expecting a 980m but at least 960m performance.

Sorry, but you won't be getting that even with any of the dedicated chips that Apple offers. They use a mid-range AMD GPU, the 960M is an upper mid-range that offers much better performance statistically.

960M and M370X.

 

[Cuniac]

How are you only getting 20FPS in Bioshock Infinite? I played through the entire game on my 2012 rMPB with the 650M - on OS X - and had no problems at all. No stuttering and averaged over 30FPS. At what resolution are you playing it? I played through it on an external monitor at 1920 x 1080, so if you're trying to play it at native resolution of your rMBP's display perhaps that's one problem.This game can run on the Intel HD3000 (granted slowly) so it doesn't really make sense that it isn't working on your 2015 rMBP.

Its not just the resolution its the settings themselves. Also did you play it on Mac or Bootcamp it? Windows as a lot more visual options than were offered on Mac. If I turn everything to ultra on 1080p I get around 25FPS. Even gpuboss.com shows the same results im getting. Go to that site and to a compare from the x370m to the 980m and see how much better it is. That's what we should have gotten or at least the 960m

 

[Cuniac]

Sorry, but you won't be getting that even with any of the dedicated chips that Apple offers. They use a mid-range AMD GPU, the 960M is an upper mid-range that offers much better performance statistically.

960M and M370X.

I know . It didn't seem like it was that big of a problem back on my 2011 MBP. That GPU seemed much better for the time.

 

[Dark Void]

Get a Sager. They come with no OS pre-installed through various resellers so you can avoid Windows 8 and they are excellently priced and will minimally come with a 960M.

This is assuming that you want a notebook to game with, of course. Not sure if you're opposed to two machines or what. It sounds like you want one almighty laptop, so if what Apple offers in the GFX department doesn't suit you (or doesn't suit what you believe your money is worth) then perhaps go an alternate route.

 

[Jinzen]

I'm seriously thinking about returning my 15in 2015 Max Config MBP. The price I paid Vs the power it provides has been eating away at me. The CPU is very fast, The SSD is crazy fast, The screen is beautiful, but the GPU is garbage.

Yes, the GPU is faster than the last version by 80%, but the last one was very slow. 80% over very slow is still slow... I really didn't think this was going to bother me. I didn't by it as a gaming laptop, I have even debated with people on here that you don't get a MBP for games so this should not matter. But now that I have it, sitting down and looking at my $3,200 (After Tax) laptop and watching it struggle pulling 20FPS on BioShock Infinite bothers me to no end. Its like buying a Ferrari, that drives grate, is super conferrable, and looks amazing, but has no chance racing a Dodge Neon.

No, I didn't buy it for gaming. I wanted an amazing computer I could take with me that would do everything. And it does. And I know its not a gaming laptop. But at that price tag, $3,200 it should of had a much better chip. At least a 960m equivalent. Even taking the PICe SSD that I know is very pricy and that nice retina display, its WAY over priced, even for Apple. I don't remember my maxed 2011 17in MBP being this far off the mark.

I'm coming from a 650M (2013 Retina 15), and ordered mine maxed out with 512gb SSD.. only $2434 after tax.

I don't play much games but when I do, I drop it down to 1440x900 (or lower) and they usually run fine under Windoze.

Maybe you are expecting good frames running at native Retina resolution? That is impossible. Plus, running at lower resolution looks exactly the same especially if you run with any AA. Maybe try triple buffering with you're using VSYNC?

 

[QCassidy352]

I don't really understand why this bothers you so much, but the point is that it does. It's too much money to spend and not be happy, so I'd return it.

 

[joe-h2o]

Its not just the resolution its the settings themselves. Also did you play it on Mac or Bootcamp it? Windows as a lot more visual options than were offered on Mac. If I turn everything to ultra on 1080p I get around 25FPS. Even gpuboss.com shows the same results im getting. Go to that site and to a compare from the x370m to the 980m and see how much better it is. That's what we should have gotten or at least the 960m

There is no way Apple could put the 980M into the rMBP. The TDP of that GPU is 122W, which is the same as the 680MX and 780M in the 27" non-retina iMac - it's simply too hot and power hungry to go into the Macbook Pro. The prior Nvidia cards used in the MBP have a TDP of about 40 W. A GPU with three times that thermal load simply won't fly.

The 960M is closer, but still has a good 50% higher TDP than the x50M GPUs that have traditionally been used, and even with those, it's not like the MBP was particularly cool under load.

I'm not sure what you were expecting.

 

[JoelTheSuperior]

Genuinely if you want a gaming machine I wouldn't even bother with a laptop - build yourself a proper desktop and use that. You'll be much happier, you'll get a much better GPU for your money and it'll cost considerably less than a comparable laptop.

I've got my lovely desktop with a GTX 970 and my MacBook Pro for everything else - a very nice combination in my opinion.

 

[Acronyc]

Its not just the resolution its the settings themselves. Also did you play it on Mac or Bootcamp it? Windows as a lot more visual options than were offered on Mac. If I turn everything to ultra on 1080p I get around 25FPS. Even gpuboss.com shows the same results im getting. Go to that site and to a compare from the x370m to the 980m and see how much better it is. That's what we should have gotten or at least the 960m

I played it completely in OS X, though I've played lots of games on my rMBP in Bootcamp. I didn't have the settings on ultra or anything, if I recall correctly I played it on medium settings. I'm fine with around 30FPS though, but if you need more then I can understand being disappointed. It just seems to me the R9 M370X should do much better than the 680M in my rMBP.

If you want, as Dark Void mentioned, an "almighty laptop" that will do everything you throw at it including intense gaming, then I don't think the rMBP is the laptop for you. Personally games run fine enough for me on lower resolution (1440x1900 or 1920x1080) on my rMBP and it's been great for me for gaming. But then, I only game a few hours a week and don't need to use the highest resolutions and settings. If that's what you're after, perhaps a desktop is a better choice. If you want to stay with OS X exclusively, you don't have many options besides the high end rMBP, iMac, or perhaps Mac Pro.

 

[Quu]

Genuinely if you want a gaming machine I wouldn't even bother with a laptop - build yourself a proper desktop and use that. You'll be much happier, you'll get a much better GPU for your money and it'll cost considerably less than a comparable laptop.

I've got my lovely desktop with a GTX 970 and my MacBook Pro for everything else - a very nice combination in my opinion.

This is how I do it also, as you can see from my signature. I use my Mac laptop for everything but gaming.

 

[Cuniac]

This is how I do it also, as you can see from my signature. I use my Mac laptop for everything but gaming.

Ya that's how I've been doing it too. I just wanted a super well rounded laptop were I could do everything on the go. It's so close yet so far away.

 

[maflynn]

You paid a lot of money of a computer and now you're having some buyers remorse. If you're unhappy with the price and/or value for the money you paid for the computer, then by all means return it.

Personally, I cannot see spending over 2k on a computer that is using a 2 year old chipsets but that is me.

 

[556fmjoe]

I really don't understand the people who spend thousands and thousands maxing out a laptop knowing they will never use a fraction of the performance, then complain that it's too slow.

If you're not happy, by all means return it.

 

[ABC5S]

+1 with Quu.

Seriously, what's the point of this thread? You knew it's not a gaming machine. It runs great with everything else. Why are you even asking for advise? In fact, why are you even complaining? This doesn't make sense to me.

DITTO gngan: OP, why post at all? Are you a grown man who can make your own decisions, or too young that needs some hand holding ? You shouldn't have to ask strangers on a forum to do it for you. Everyone is different if you haven't notice by now.