Thoughts on the 'NEW' Macbook Pro?

[newellj]

On the SSD upgrade, I just sold a late 2013 rMBP with a 2-channel PCIe SSD and replaced it with the current/latest rMBP with a 4-channel PCIe SSD. (The new machine also upgraded the cpu from 2.4gHz to 2.9gHz, a 20% bump, and the RAM is faster as well). I do a lot of photo editing work, and work with some pretty large data files. I can't see the difference in practical use. If you ran benchmarks, I'm sure it's there, but it's in the category of measurable but not meaningful.

 

[Naimfan]

I just think it's silly that posters are denying that the GPU and SSD bumps are somehow unworthy of an upgrade for people who want to buy a dGPU model. That's been my argument all along.

You should have so stated in your first post.

You might also take note of what newellj says above.

 

[sdurur]

Thoughts on the 'NEW' Macbook Pro?

Here is the first ssd benchmark:

skip to 0:45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0OUhzRDUIU

 

[Queen6]

This is why I'll not be spending 2,000 dollars on a premium computer. Seems ludicrous to me, but I guess I'll vote with my wallet. I may be in the minority and that's ok. I'll live with what I have until I feel that I'll get value for my money.

Same here, theres not enough uplift in performance to warrant the new 15" for me. I will wait until Skylake is on the table

Q-6

 

[Kal-037]

Is this actually new? No processor upgrade. No Ram upgrade.No Design Update. Most probably the most insignificant update ever in MacBooks line. Are you guys pulling the trigger on this one or actually waiting for another one year?

It's a far, far better upgrade than last year's. They upgraded everything except no Broadwell (Broadwell isn't that good so it isn't really a loss, plus that's Intel's fault not Apple's.) They managed to get another hour of battery life, 2.5x faster SSD, new dGPU, and force touch Track Pad. And the processor (Crystalwell) still is beyond great, Broadwell was a disappointment.

If they didn't re-design the 13" back in March, Why would they re-design this one. If you hate this update wait for next year with Skylake processors. But IMO, this is the type of upgrade that should have happened last year, but I'm happy it happened period, because it added a bunch of great updates (last year was a lame bump in CPU and that's it.) This year was everything except a CPU update, but again even if they updated to Broadwell it wouldn't have been 2x better, the iGPU would have been better but that's about it.
I think this was a proper 2015 upgrade. 2014 was a joke.



----------

Here is the first ssd benchmark:

skip to 0:45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0OUhzRDUIU

1.8GB write and over 1GB of read is beyond awesome!
Noice!
**QUESTION... how did they upgrade the SSD?? I thought Haswell only allowed the PCIe 2.0.



Kal.

 

[Gator Bob]

Is this actually new? No processor upgrade. No Ram upgrade.No Design Update. Most probably the most insignificant update ever in MacBooks line. Are you guys pulling the trigger on this one or actually waiting for another one year?

100% DITTO the above. My mid-2012 will serve until I get a seriously updated MacBook pro. $3K for a maxed out unit is too much to spend twice in one year. Even though I can afford it, I have no real need so for me it would be foolish.

 

[DanGoh]

The only thing that'll make me want to upgrade from my 2013 rMBP is a redesign or a 2 hr batter increase.. Most spec upgrade aren't too noticeable.

 

[newellj]

It's a far, far better upgrade than last year's. They upgraded everything except no Broadwell (Broadwell isn't that good so it isn't really a loss, plus that's Intel's fault not Apple's.) They managed to get another hour of battery life, 2.5x faster SSD, new dGPU, and force touch Track Pad. And the processor (Crystalwell) still is beyond great, Broadwell was a disappointment.

If they didn't re-design the 13" back in March, Why would they re-design this one. If you hate this update wait for next year with Skylake processors. But IMO, this is the type of upgrade that should have happened last year, but I'm happy it happened period, because it added a bunch of great updates (last year was a lame bump in CPU and that's it.) This year was everything except a CPU update, but again even if they updated to Broadwell it wouldn't have been 2x better, the iGPU would have been better but that's about it.
I think this was a proper 2015 upgrade. 2014 was a joke.



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1.8GB write and over 1GB of read is beyond awesome!
Noice!
**QUESTION... how did they upgrade the SSD?? I thought Haswell only allowed the PCIe 2.0.



Kal.

4 channel vs. 2 channel. My 2015 rMBP 13" gets about 1200 mb/s read and write.

IIRC (I might not be), the Apple specs say the weight hasn't changed. If they increased the battery size, I wonder where the corresponding weight loss is?

By the way, although I wouldn't trade machines just for the trackpad, I find the new trackpad an incredible improvement. I used to use tap to click because I didn't like the different pressure required in different parts of the pad. The new pad works the same over its entire area and is much more adjustable.

 

[fat jez]

**QUESTION... how did they upgrade the SSD?? I thought Haswell only allowed the PCIe 2.0.



Kal.

By allocating more channels to the SSD, from 2 channels to 4. Not sure where they got them from, most chipsets have a finite amount and Thunderbolt and the dGPU will need their share. But the PCIe version has no bearing on the number of channels available, it's chipset dependent.

 

[leman]

**QUESTION... how did they upgrade the SSD?? I thought Haswell only allowed

The CPU has 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes. The GPU takes 8 lanes. A TB 2.0 port offers 4 PCIe 2.0 lanes, so 2x PCIe 3.0 lanes should be enough. That still leaves 4 PCIe 3.0 lanes for USB and the rest of periphery, which should be plenty.

But yes... those SSD speeds are beyond crazy. Its a bit scary even when you think its only 10 times slower than RAM.

 

[newellj]

It's not called flash for nothing.

 

[theSeb]

Thoughts on the new MBP

Tim Cook is the new Bill Gates

16 gigs of ram is all you will ever need.

disappointed they locked it down at 16

The Intel processors in there don't support more than 16 GBs, last time I checked. I could be wrong though.

 

[leman]

The Intel processors in there don't support more than 16 GBs, last time I checked. I could be wrong though.

They support more RAM, but nobody makes DDR3 at high enough density to pack more then 16GB into the limited form factor. There was one company that doubled the density by using die stacking, but these RAM chips were a) incompatible with previous Intel CPUs and b) prohibitively expensive. AFAIK, they never reached the customer market.

 

[MagicBoy]

I think this was a proper 2015 upgrade. 2014 was a joke.

2014 was a speedbump, nothing more. You'd rather they'd done nothing rather than give the customer more performance for the same amount of money?

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The Intel processors in there don't support more than 16 GBs, last time I checked. I could be wrong though.

They do, but they effectively need four "slots" instead of the two Apple use.

I've only ever seen them in the quad core versions of the Lenovo Thinkpad W series which have four DIMM slots. The dual-core versions of the same chassis only get two slots.

 

[dogslobber]

The rMBP doesn't have RAM modules. The RAM chips are simply soldered directly onto the logic board. If they used higher density chips, it'd raise the cost. If they used more chips, it'd use more space.

Why do you need more than 16GB of RAM anyway?

Future proof your investment, that's why. It's the first rule of buying a laptop when it comes to a technology that can't be easily upgraded.

 

[Kal-037]

4 channel vs. 2 channel. My 2015 rMBP 13" gets about 1200 mb/s read and write.

IIRC (I might not be), the Apple specs say the weight hasn't changed. If they increased the battery size, I wonder where the corresponding weight loss is?

By the way, although I wouldn't trade machines just for the trackpad, I find the new trackpad an incredible improvement. I used to use tap to click because I didn't like the different pressure required in different parts of the pad. The new pad works the same over its entire area and is much more adjustable.

Did you have a 1TB SSD cause I had a 512GB and I only got around 730 read and writes.



Kal.

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2014 was a speedbump, nothing more. You'd rather they'd done nothing rather than give the customer more performance for the same amount of money?

No i'm just saying that 2014 wasn't an upgrade at all, and no one seems like they were upset as with that "bump" than they are with this years actual upgrade... I mean Apple merely increased the cpu speed by 0.2, and lowered the price by $100. That's cool about lowering the price but still a poor "update."

With this upgrade they actually gave the MBP new better internals, new technology, and new hardware, making it a better more justifiable upgrade... IMO.


Kal.

 

[T5BRICK]

Future proof your investment, that's why. It's the first rule of buying a laptop when it comes to a technology that can't be easily upgraded.

Buy a laptop that suits your needs, not what you think your needs will be. By the time 16GB is required, the CPU and GPU will probably be too slow to matter.

 

[newellj]

No, 512. It's the rMBP in my sig.

Did you have a 1TB SSD cause I had a 512GB and I only got around 730 read and writes.



Kal.

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No i'm just saying that 2014 wasn't an upgrade at all, and no one seems like they were upset as with that "bump" than they are with this years actual upgrade... I mean Apple merely increased the cpu speed by 0.2, and lowered the price by $100. That's cool about lowering the price but still a poor "update."

With this upgrade they actually gave the MBP new better internals, new technology, and new hardware, making it a better more justifiable upgrade... IMO.


Kal.

 

[FoxMcCloud]

There are no Broadwell Quad Core chips for laptops. So therefore Apple had nothing to "upgrade" to. They have the fastest quad-core chip available.

Stop whinging.

 

[maflynn]

There are no Broadwell Quad Core chips for laptops.

Not yet and that's the rub. Apple could have rolled out the broadwell based chips but that would mean a later release date, with Skylake coming down the pike shortly afterwards. It didn't make sense.

I don't knock apple for skipping broadwell, but to be charging 2,000 bucks for a haswell based laptop seems a little over the top for me.

 

[newellj]

Not yet and that's the rub. Apple could have rolled out the broadwell based chips but that would mean a later release date, with Skylake coming down the pike shortly afterwards. It didn't make sense.

I don't knock apple for skipping broadwell, but to be charging 2,000 bucks for a haswell based laptop seems a little over the top for me.

In fairness, the prices didn't change, I think? Personally, I really like the new trackpad - much better than the old diving board. And if you spring for the dGPU version you get a faster (though currently unproven) dGPU.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

In fairness, the prices didn't change, I think? Personally, I really like the new trackpad - much better than the old diving board. And if you spring for the dGPU version you get a faster (though currently unproven) dGPU.

Ha ha ha ha

All over MR we get "we need a new dGPU really really need it...."

straight after the release of one, we get

"it's not something we know, it's not proven, it's not NVIDIA,

Never happy here it seems.... even though we know nothing about it...

 

[maflynn]

In fairness, the prices didn't change, I think? Personally, I really like the new trackpad - much better than the old diving board. And if you spring for the dGPU version you get a faster (though currently unproven) dGPU.

I realize the price didn't change but by the same token, we're talking about spending 2k on a machine that is branded as new and improved yet is based on the Haswell chipset. Correct me if i'm wrong but didn't the MBPs go to Haswell in 2013?. Granted it will be a bit faster, but my point is we're paying for a premium computer, Id rather wait until I see more current chipset.

 

[yjchua95]

I realize the price didn't change but by the same token, we're talking about spending 2k on a machine that is branded as new and improved yet is based on the Haswell chipset. Correct me if i'm wrong but didn't the MBPs go to Haswell in 2013?. Granted it will be a bit faster, but my point is we're paying for a premium computer, Id rather wait until I see more current chipset.

Yes, Macs went Haswell in 2013 (Mac Mini went that way in 2014 and the nMP went Ivy Bridge-E).

Even if it went Broadwell, I'd still wait it out considering how much of a jump Skylake will be (potential wireless charging, DDR4, TB3 and a significantly improved iGPU).

 

[newellj]

I realize the price didn't change but by the same token, we're talking about spending 2k on a machine that is branded as new and improved yet is based on the Haswell chipset. Correct me if i'm wrong but didn't the MBPs go to Haswell in 2013?. Granted it will be a bit faster, but my point is we're paying for a premium computer, Id rather wait until I see more current chipset.

Totally agree on that if you're talking about an upgrade or replacement. I think the best rule is buy what you need when you need it. Actually, I was looking at refurbs earlier this week and even the original 2012 compares very favorably to the current version On the other hand, for what most of us do with computers, leaving aside gaming which I can't comment on, it's not clear that we really need any hardware improvements. Most of the improvements since 2012/2013 have been incremental at best.

I just replaced a late 2013 13" rMBP but only because I was finding that I really wanted more internal storage. All the hardware in this 2015 is better, some fairly significantly, but nothing I'm doing really shows any difference.