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Skip the updated 15" MBP and wait for Skylake

Kulfon

Kulfon

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 4, 2013
910
1,374
I was waiting for the updated MBP 15" and was a bit surprised that it was renewed yesterday with no new chip. Strange move from Apple. Maybe they were in a rush to release something for the back to school season as they knew Broadwell will not be available. Have no clue.

I am reading that Skylake will be available in the 2 quarter of 2015 and this will be a much bigger update for the MBP. Granted, it will not come sooner than the end of 2015.

It looks like this refresh is more like fine-tuning and the real update is yet to come with Skylake. I would feel silly to purchase the refreshed MBP now only to see a major update coming a couple of month later.

Thoughts?
 
I don't need the iGPU Skylake will bring because I'm getting the dGPU model, and I won't honestly notice any nominal ~10% CPU bump that Skylake might bring (or I can just buy that bump by upgrading my processor).

I will notice the (probable) big GPU bump in OpenCL applications from the Radeon. I will notice the much faster SSD interface. I will notice that extra hour of battery life at the end of the day.

I think many people don't need to wait for Skylake. I also don't think waiting for 8 months for an updated laptop is a great tradeoff, especially if you have a very old laptop. Go buy what's available and enjoy it. If you can afford to wait because you've got a modern laptop and don't want to spend the cash, that's fine too.
 
Cookies! is right...
I thought the same for a while (concerning Skylake) but I was thinking about it, and I like the updated SSD, dGPU, and Trackpad they just announced. Skylake will be nice... still I don't feel it will blow the current MBPs out of the water (not even a little.) The iGPU will be better no doubt, but other than that... what will Skylake truly bring to CPU perfomance (5-10%?) Then sure it has DDR4 and TB3 capabilities but how many people will notice and or care about that aside from us here? ;) And also, what will that really do in the day to day tasks for most users?
The only way I would upgrade is if there's a re-design of the MBP and a BIG jump in specs... like 15-20% better CPU and 50-60% better GPU, USB-C ports instead of standard USB, TB3, etc etc... I feel that won't happen for another year or until Cannonlake.



K.
 
A lot of people believe that a new MBP could be announced on October. I don't think so. I think Apple will wait until next year, but probably Q1.

From what I've been reading Skylake will allow Apple to make a redesign. It will allow the MBP to be thinner. Logically, it makes sense. Everyone is making Notebooks thinner, and Apple just introduced the Macbook with the new keyboard. That keyboard is the key, though. Apple will certainly use it in every Mac in the future, so it is clear that a redesign is coming.

If you're not in a hurry to buy one right now, you totally can wait for the next upgrade. Whether it's a redesign or not, it will certainly be much better than this new 15" MBP, so it a win situation anyways.
 
The thing is....the refreshed MBP is really not such a big difference compared to 2013 or 2014 versions. I do not say it is bad, but this is definitely the end of the cycle and something much better will be released with Skylake. This update is such a minor refresh.
 
"Update: Apple tells us that Intel's Broadwell CPUs and GPUs are not included in the new MacBook Pros, which means that we're still looking at Haswell-based CPUs and Intel Iris Pro 5200 GPUs. That CPU and GPU performance in the base model isn't improving after a year-and-a-half is disappointing, especially given that the quad-core Broadwell launch is supposedly happening soon."

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/0...book-pro-with-force-touch-and-other-upgrades/

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eastamherstbias said:
We say this every time. The next version will be better.... it never ends.
Click to expand...

I do not know about the rest, but I typically try to buy things that are not at the end of their cycle, like face lifting. Ideally it is something more radical that will offer a bigger difference.

This update is just a minor refresh, same chip as 1,5 years ago.
 
Kulfon said:
The thing is....the refreshed MBP is really not such a big difference compared to 2013 or 2014 versions. I do not say it is bad, but this is definitely the end of the cycle and something much better will be released with Skylake. This update is such a minor refresh.
Click to expand...

Actually, this update probably provides many users with as much of an upgrade as Skylake will for the reasons I mentioned above.

Despite the fanaticism on these forums surrounding CPU lineups, SSDs and GPUs matter just as much.

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Essentially, the Skylake refresh probably won't double SSD big file performance and probably won't have such a huge GPU improvement because updating from the newer Radeon will not have as large of an effect as updating from the years-old 750M. All of this matters more on the dGPU model than a CPU bump of ~10% and a better iGPU.
 
cookies! said:
I don't need the iGPU Skylake will bring because I'm getting the dGPU model.
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To each their own, But I will never trust Apple again with dGPU in macbook pro so I will wait the iGPU in Skylake. Which will bring significant improvement for an integrated graphic.
 
Also, if they end up making battery life 3+ hours better, I'll just sell my new Macbook Pro and buy the new one, and I'll eat the depreciation and call it a day.

I'm a working professional and I can afford to not worry about a few hundred dollars extra spent over the life of a laptop that will probably last me ~3+ years. And honestly, most purchasers of $2,000 laptops should have a similar mindset and probably, for their financial health, be making enough to have it as well— if you can't afford that extra few hundred every few years, you don't need to be thinking about such frequent upgrades to your machine.

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Tankmaze said:
To each their own, But I will never trust Apple again with dGPU in macbook pro so I will wait the iGPU in Skylake. Which will bring significant improvement for an integrated graphic.
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Unfortunately, some of us have jobs that won't afford us this mindset :eek:

I can't sit around waiting for stuff to render, but I also can't have a desktop. ;)
 
Last edited:
From a business POV, it was a sound move. Two major reasons:

1. Broadwell chips aren't ready yet and Apple was sick of waiting. Besides...

2. They want the Force Trackpad to be standard on all their new notebooks to encourage app developers to utilize the API. If they would have waited longer for Intel to possibly cancel mobile Broadwell in favor of Skylake, they'd be sitting ducks for months. The GPU upgrade is merely a bonus...
 
You don't need to wait for reviews showing that the SSD gains are huge and that the battery gains quoted by Apple are almost always underestimations . And I don't have any reason to believe that the dGPU will provide less than a ~10% upgrade in OpenCL applications.

I think that's plenty of justification to pull the trigger for many people.
 
I can only guess that Apples choice is based on the priority shift that's been in progress for some time now. That's the elevation of iOS devices above all. It's obvious given Apples preference for profits over every other consideration. Devotees argue "that's what corporations do".

Conversely there's plenty of very successful corporations that value a balance of customer satisfaction, profits and functionality. It's this type of operation that will never have the massive cash reserves of Apple, nor their ultra fat profits, but will maintain a very strong and loyal customer base. Not that Apple doesn't enjoy a mind boggling amount of customers, but as some report , there's a level of pushback that didn't exist a few short years ago.
 
cookies! said:
You don't need to wait for reviews showing that the SSD gains are huge and that the battery gains quoted by Apple are almost always underestimations . And I don't have any reason to believe that the dGPU will provide less than a ~10% upgrade in OpenCL applications.

I think that's plenty of justification to pull the trigger for many people.
Click to expand...

I want to see what photographers are saying. The reason why I am thinking about it Photoshop.
 
whatos said:
I can only guess that Apples choice is based on the priority shift that's been in progress for some time now. That's the elevation of iOS devices above all. It's obvious given Apples preference for profits over every other consideration. Devotees argue "that's what corporations do".

Conversely there's plenty of very successful corporations that value a balance of customer satisfaction, profits and functionality. It's this type of operation that will never have the massive cash reserves of Apple, nor their ultra fat profits, but will maintain a very strong and loyal customer base. Not that Apple doesn't enjoy a mind boggling amount of customers, but as some report , there's a level of pushback that didn't exist a few short years ago.
Click to expand...

I don't think you can argue there hasn't been a priority shift, but it's pretty obvious what the justifications are behind this delay in architecture update. Everything else in the laptop received a major upgrade to provide a competitive laptop for professional users, of which I am one.

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Kulfon said:
I want to see what photographers are saying. The reason why I am thinking about it Photoshop.
Click to expand...

I'm one. I use Adobe CS regularly. The SSD gains on the new rMBP (13") were obvious over my current 15" rMBP. I don't have benchmarks because I only used the 13" temporarily, but the change is very, very noticeable.

Also, because Adobe CC is now employing the GPU more, having a modern dGPU is more pertinent than ever.
 
It is very unlikely that we will see a Skylake MBP until same time next year. If you are ok with you current machine, wait. If you need a new one, the currently updated MBP is a nice computer.
 
leman said:
It is very unlikely that we will see a Skylake MBP until same time next year. If you are ok with you current machine, wait. If you need a new one, the currently updated MBP is a nice computer.
Click to expand...

Why do you think so? Intel will massively replace all chips in the second quarter of 2015
 
Kulfon said:
Why do you think so? Intel will massively replace all chips in the second quarter of 2015
Click to expand...

Yes, there are many leaks suggesting that Skylake-S (desktop) will come in H2. However, I haven't seen any info on Skylake-H (mobile version) release. In this case I'd wait until the CPUs are actually available before I believe anything :)
 
yjchua95 said:
I'm going to wait this one out because since Broadwell is just a die shrink, there's not much changes to entice me.

When Skylake comes out with DDR4 support and TB3, that'll entice me.
Click to expand...

I think I am going to do the same. Do not feel excited about this refresh
 
Kulfon said:
I think I am going to do the same. Do not feel excited about this refresh
Click to expand...

I think you are losing out on a year of utilizing significant performance gains in Adobe applications, and doing so in exchange for a minor CPU bump in the future. But hey, can't argue with the logic of excitement versus that of basic arithmetic, and you asked for opinions. ;)
 
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