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rMBP - A Giant Step Backwards

john123 said:
You didn't ask me, but I'm going to chime in anyway. :) Yes, that would be pretty dumb for anyone except people who often use Boot Camp (since it defaults to the dGPU and doesn't switch dynamically). You can always use gfxCardStatus to keep the Iris Pro enabled if you don't like the dGPU for some reason, but at the end of the day, I would definitely love to have the option in my back pocket, no question.
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Thanks that seems to be what people have recommended. Would it make sense to always keep the dGPU off in order to save battery life and avoid excessive heat? What about if I'm working in Photoshop/Ableton/AutoCAD and the likes? Like I said I don't do any gaming, but I use my laptop mostly for design work, music production, and occassionally 2D modeling (hopefully 3D someday).


Regardless, I find it hard to believe Apple doesn't optimize their software to make this a no-brainer – that is make it so the automatic graphics switching actually does what it should do, and only when it needs to. It's great that there's this downloadable plugin but I'm kind of baffled it isn't just built into the OS...

I agree that it's an underwhelming update, but it's also pretty much exactly what was expected. The only disappointment (again, for base users) is the modest increase in advertised battery life, but some users are suggesting those claims are actually understated. Pending a more empirical analysis of that issue, it's tough to draw final conclusions.
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I really hope the 8 hour/9 hour advertised battery is really more like 10, maybe even 12 for the 13" rMBP. I mean, if the Air is reaching 15 hours... isn't that was Haswell was really (and I mean really) meant to improve?
 
Not That Future said:
Would it make sense to always keep the dGPU off in order to save battery life and avoid excessive heat? ...

Regardless, I find it hard to believe Apple doesn't optimize their software to make this a no-brainer – that is make it so the automatic graphics switching actually does what it should do, and only when it needs to. It's great that there's this downloadable plugin but I'm kind of baffled it isn't just built into the OS...
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Well, Apple does optimize the automatic graphics switching, which is why you don't really need to keep the dGPU off. I think people are overly harsh in their critiques of it. It's not perfect, but I agree with what the system does probably 90% of the time. The times when I use gfxCardStatus the most, actually, are when I'm not plugged in and I'm OK giving up better graphics for battery life.
 
john123 said:
Well, Apple does optimize the automatic graphics switching, which is why you don't really need to keep the dGPU off. I think people are overly harsh in their critiques of it. It's not perfect, but I agree with what the system does probably 90% of the time. The times when I use gfxCardStatus the most, actually, are when I'm not plugged in and I'm OK giving up better graphics for battery life.
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Adium started forcing the dGPU on after I upgraded to Mavericks. I'm so glad that I'm getting a rMBP that doesn't have a dGPU mainly because of stuff like that.
 
tmiw said:
Adium started forcing the dGPU on after I upgraded to Mavericks. I'm so glad that I'm getting a rMBP that doesn't have a dGPU mainly because of stuff like that.
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Uh, what version of Adium are you using? I've never had that problem, and it's the only IM client I use.

Edit: Also, using an Xtras? That seems like a more likely culprit than Adium itself, actually.
 
john123 said:
Uh, what version of Adium are you using? I've never had that problem, and it's the only IM client I use.

Edit: Also, using an Xtras? That seems like a more likely culprit than Adium itself, actually.
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1.5.8. And yeah, these are the Xtras I have installed (bold = currently using):

Contact list theme/layout: Aqualicious, Decay 2.0, HUD
Dock icon: CompanionCube, Eve_CED
Scripts: Last.fm Last Track, Now Playing in Pandora, speak lolcat

I've tried disabling each individually through Preferences with no change to GPU status.
 
tmiw said:
1.5.8. And yeah, these are the Xtras I have installed (bold = currently using):

Contact list theme/layout: Aqualicious, Decay 2.0, HUD
Dock icon: CompanionCube, Eve_CED
Scripts: Last.fm Last Track, Now Playing in Pandora, speak lolcat

I've tried disabling each individually through Preferences with no change to GPU status.
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Weird. I'd ask more follow-up questions to try to diagnose it, but I don't want to derail the thread. Still, that's very odd.
 
john123 said:
Well, Apple does optimize the automatic graphics switching, which is why you don't really need to keep the dGPU off. I think people are overly harsh in their critiques of it. It's not perfect, but I agree with what the system does probably 90% of the time. The times when I use gfxCardStatus the most, actually, are when I'm not plugged in and I'm OK giving up better graphics for battery life.
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So it's more to do with third-party software the GPU (Iris Pro or 750M)? Either way, would the dGPU offer any tangible performance benefits if I'm working in Photoshop/Ableton/AutoCAD and the likes? Or will the Iris Pro be able to tackle all that just fine?
 
In Some point OP is right.
CPU Performance increased at the same frequency by 5-10%.
Iris pro is at gaming 30% slower than the 650m and the 750m is just ca.6% faster than the 650m because they are the same cards. Same architecture same chip just 1gb more Vram which you wont notice and a slightly higher clock. You can OC your 650M to the same lvl's in windows and boom you have a 750m. But thats just gaming!! If you use CAD programms the iris pro performs pretty well and should be enough!
 
Not That Future said:
So it's more to do with third-party software the GPU (Iris Pro or 750M)? Either way, would the dGPU offer any tangible performance benefits if I'm working in Photoshop/Ableton/AutoCAD and the likes? Or will the Iris Pro be able to tackle all that just fine?
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Well, it's a combination of the types of tasks that the third-party program performs and Apple's algorithms. Apps that are known to be intensive in things like OpenGL, Core Graphics, etc. will trigger it. Photoshop is one example. To answer your second question, yeah, there are going to be tangible benefits, but it's really tough to say when and under what circumstances. Iris Pro will certainly be able to "tackle" those things, but on occasion it'll be slower (and on occasion it might be faster).
 
throAU said:
Confirmed by Arstechnica - they ran 24 GB of programs on a 16 GB machine before it hit swap at all. Given 16 GB dimms are unobtainable/expensive, I'll gladly take a "free' 8 GB due to memory compression thanks.
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Ain't that a ringing endorsement!
 
While the late 2013 rMBP's are clearly not a "A Giant Step Backwards" neither are they a giant step forward, IMO. I'm more excited by the OS X update and features in Mavericks like the return of integer mode for high quality audio applications, power savings to expand battery life and the memory utilization improvements.

After waiting for some time to see what the update would bring, I opted to save a lot of money and bought a slightly used mid 2012 machine with the 2.6GHz i7, 8GB RAM, 512GB flash storage, dGPU with 1GB SDRAM and the 15.4" Samsung display.

I'll install Mavericks, extend AppleCare and wait for the next big thing. :)
 
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