Waiting for Haswell MBP Mega Thread

[mneblett]

I'm tired of the silly math dribble -- how's about this tangent to follow:

No one I can recall in this thread has mentioned the potential for Apple to surprise us with a touchscreen rMBP.

Any reason why this could not happen?

Any reason why it might happen?

 

[APPLE-FANATIC]

iTunes match, I believe if it's not on iTunes (or is of higher quality) it will upload your music onto the server for your own playback. I just normally create a couple of playlists a month and download them all to my iPhone. Might not be for all, but it's definitely one of the those features that tighten me to the eco-system because it's working for me so well between the different devices. I sound like such a marketing gimmick.

The only thing that fears me with keeping my iTunes Library on my hard drive is the crash effect. I think with my new rMBP has well (once released) I will load my entire library onto the HD instead of having a separate ext hd, because your right, its inconvenient and with iCLOUD and Match, if the HD ever failed, I would still have all that music, videos stored in the cloud. Plus now Apple uses Flash Storage unlike my current MBP that has a Samsung SSD 256GB. Itunes library is 128GB, so I may opt for the 512GB Flash Storage just so I have enough room for my other files.

 

[Lunfai]

The only thing that fears me with keeping my iTunes Library on my hard drive is the crash effect. I think with my new rMBP has well (once released) I will load my entire library onto the HD instead of having a separate ext hd, because your right, its inconvenient and with iCLOUD and Match, if the HD ever failed, I would still have all that music, videos stored in the cloud. Plus now Apple uses Flash Storage unlike my current MBP that has a Samsung SSD 256GB. Itunes library is 128GB, so I may opt for the 512GB Flash Storage just so I have enough room for my other files.

Depending on how much music you have you can always get those SD low profile adapters for your Macbook so it doesn't stick out when you plug in a 64GB Class 1 microSD. I used this a while for iTunes media and it was fine. Good way to expand some space. I know you have 128gb of iTunes media but you can use it for documents too

 

[APPLE-FANATIC]

iOS7 will be first because is free
maveriks will come later

Possibly! Last Year OS X ML was released first and iOS hit in September

----------

Depending on how much music you have you can always get those SD low profile adapters for your Macbook so it doesn't stick out when you plug in a 64GB Class 1 microSD. I used this a while for iTunes media and it was fine. Good way to expand some space. I know you have 128gb of iTunes media but you can use it for documents too

Very good point!

 

[Mattsasa]

That is not going to happen. The base 15'' MBP has always shipped with the base i7 quad core. In the current generation, that would be the 4750HQ.

The 4950HQ might appear in the high-end model for $2500 or whatever the price will be, unless Apple makes people happy and offers the high-end model with 4900HQ +discrete.

I also can't image that the base model will ship with 512 GB. Prices haven't come down that much over the year.

Good point. The 4950HQ was in the geek bench leak. So I assumed that was the base configuration. But your right. What you suggested makes more sense.

Yes it probably will start at 256gb


And I am also really hoping apple will release a 4900HQ + discrete.
Or even just a 4700HQ + discrete





My early proposal:


13in rMBP - start at $1500

CPU- i5-4258U dual core with iris 5100 ~2.4ghz
Ram- 8gb 1600mhz or 1866mhz??
GPU- only iGPU -5100
Display - same
SSD - start at 256gb (how much would they charge for a 512/768 upgrade ?)
FaceTime camera up to 1080 from 720
Same wifi and ssd speed upgrades that were in the air
Battery life - 10-12 hours? With mavericks and haswell?
Thickness - around .7 inches

13in rMBP - $1800 model
CPU - 4558U ~ 2.8ghz - 4MB L3 Cache
SSD - 512gb



15in rMBP - starting at $2000? Down from $2200

CPU- 4750HQ-Quadcore with Iris 5200 ~2.0ghz
Ram - 8gb. 1600mhz or 1866mhz?
GPU - Iris 5200
SSD - 256gb (any idea how much 768/1TB upgrades would cost ?)
FaceTime camera up to 1080p
Same wifi and ssd upgrades that were in the air refresh
Battery Life - 10-12 hours?
Thickness - .71 inches again


15in rMBP - $2500 model? From $2700
CPU - 4950HQ ~ 2.4ghz
SSD - 512gb
Ram - 16gb




Question for everyone! I really want to know what people think.
Could we see a 15inch model looking something like this?

CPU - 4700MQ or 4800/4900MQ
SSD - 512gb
Ram - 16gb
GPU - GeForce GT 760M ? or 770M?

Is this a possibility?

 

[Krazy Bill]

No one I can recall in this thread has mentioned the potential for Apple to surprise us with a touchscreen rMBP.

Old conjecture. This has been suggested a gazillion times.

Any reason why this could not happen?

1.) Your arm will fall off. Jobs said as much at a keynote regarding touch screens in a laptop. Get an iPad.

2.) The MB line already has "touch" controls. (trackpad and gestures).

Any reason why it might happen?

None whatsoever.

 

[PDFierro]

I'm tired of the silly math dribble -- how's about this tangent to follow:

No one I can recall in this thread has mentioned the potential for Apple to surprise us with a touchscreen rMBP.

Any reason why this could not happen?

Any reason why it might happen?

I hope that is put off for as long as possible. A major selling point for the MBP and the Mac OS in general is that it hasn't gone touch screen in the way that Windows has.

People do still need to get work done on a desktop OS.

 

[mneblett]

Old conjecture. This has been suggested a gazillion times.



1.) Your arm will fall off. Jobs said as much at a keynote regarding touch screens in a laptop. Get an iPad.

2.) The MB line already has "touch" controls. (trackpad and gestures).

None whatsoever.

That's fair -- thanks for the response. At least it didn't involve percentages!

 

[adjeff8]

Good point. The 4950HQ was in the geek bench leak. So I assumed that was the base configuration. But your right. What you suggested makes more sense.

Yes it probably will start at 256gb


And I am also really hoping apple will release a 4900HQ + discrete.
Or even just a 4700HQ + discrete





My early proposal:


13in rMBP - start at $1500

CPU- i5-4258U dual core with iris 5100 ~2.4ghz
Ram- 8gb 1600mhz or 1866mhz??
GPU- only iGPU -5100
Display - same
SSD - start at 256gb (how much would they charge for a 512/768 upgrade ?)
FaceTime camera up to 1080 from 720
Same wifi and ssd speed upgrades that were in the air
Battery life - 10-12 hours? With mavericks and haswell?
Thickness - around .7 inches

13in rMBP - $1800 model
CPU - 4558U ~ 2.8ghz - 4MB L3 Cache
SSD - 512gb



15in rMBP - starting at $2000? Down from $2200

CPU- 4750HQ-Quadcore with Iris 5200 ~2.0ghz
Ram - 8gb. 1600mhz or 1866mhz?
GPU - Iris 5200
SSD - 256gb (any idea how much 768/1TB upgrades would cost ?)
FaceTime camera up to 1080p
Same wifi and ssd upgrades that were in the air refresh
Battery Life - 10-12 hours?
Thickness - .71 inches again


15in rMBP - $2500 model? From $2700
CPU - 4950HQ ~ 2.4ghz
SSD - 512gb
Ram - 16gb




Question for everyone! I really want to know what people think.
Could we see a 15inch model looking something like this?

CPU - 4700MQ or 4800/4900MQ
SSD - 512gb
Ram - 16gb
GPU - GeForce GT 760M ? or 770M?

Is this a possibility?

I can tell you that if you are buying a base "15 right now and you want a 512 SSD it's an extra $300. I'm not sure but I think the 712 SSD is an extra $700. I'm going for the 512 myself. That's plenty for me

----------

That's fair -- thanks for the response. At least it didn't involve percentages!

Lol. I'm with you brother. My eyes were starting to glaze over. As far as your question goes, I brought that up myself some months ago. People swatted me down like they were offended at such a idea. I personally don't see what the problem would be. There would be a "Switch" to turn it off and if you don't want a touchscreen laptop you just turn it off. People that want it like you and me can turn it on. That simple and eventually it will be available on a Mac. I would say within 2 or 3 years

 

[john123]

And I am also really hoping apple will release a 4900HQ + discrete.
Or even just a 4700HQ + discrete

Is this a possibility?

Ain't gonna happen. There's simply not a large enough difference between the 650M and the Iris 5200. They'll be able to market the increased battery life and show certain benchmarks where the Iris 5200 beats the previous generation, and for marketing purposes that's way more important than the truth(TM).

(And before people bring up the 7xx series, that doesn't matter, because this is all about marketing. The choices are between Apples and Apples, no pun intended. The number of people who would consider purchasing a PC because of the graphics card issue constitute an extremely small market segment.)

 

[brandonx76]

What's the speculation on 4k capability with the Iris 5200?

 

[jz-]

1.) Your arm will fall off. Jobs said as much at a keynote regarding touch screens in a laptop. Get an iPad.

Jobs also said that you'd need to sand your fingers down to a quarter of their original size to use a 7" tablet properly, and now there's an iPad mini. I agree that Macbooks don't need/probably won't get a touch screen, but just because he said that at one stage to criticise another company, doesn't mean it can't ever happen.

 

[PaulSpr]

I don't know how long this has been available, but I just noticed it:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00COQIKB4
It is the first computer I have seen with an HQ CPU that is shipping now. it is even the same thickness as a rMBP and has Iris pro PLUS GeForce! But don't try to use this to support the theory that Apple could do the same though, because it is a 17 incher and the battery life is 3.5 hours. Still it's interesting that an HQ laptop is shipping and Apple's not going to release theirs for another month or two. Unfortunate for us who are waiting :-(

Actually the Intel i7 4700HQ doesn't have Iris Pro. The HQ naming is weird, since not all HQ CPU's have Iris Pro: http://ark.intel.com/products/series/75115

 

[ValSalva]

Jobs also said that you'd need to sand your fingers down to a quarter of their original size to use a 7" tablet properly, and now there's an iPad mini. I agree that Macbooks don't need/probably won't get a touch screen, but just because he said that at one stage to criticise another company, doesn't mean it can't ever happen.

Jobs did say a lot of things to throw off the competition. Video on an iPod was one biggie. But he also said a lot of things he stuck to. He didn't go back on everything he said.

IMHO a touch screen MBP or iMac is a bad idea. I hope it never happens. Many PC's have had touch screens for years. Some people like them but they certainly haven't taken off. If Apple hasn't done one yet it's unlikely they will any time soon.

 

[sofianito]

The Geekbench benchmark detected no other on-board dGPU. Usually, if a dGPU exists, it does.

With a custom EFI firmware and/or Mac OS X build, Apple could perfectly disable/hide the dGPU to GeekBench application. We cannot draw any conclusion yet. The probability is still 0,5...

 

[sofianito]

Jobs also said that you'd need to sand your fingers down to a quarter of their original size to use a 7" tablet properly, and now there's an iPad mini. I agree that Macbooks don't need/probably won't get a touch screen, but just because he said that at one stage to criticise another company, doesn't mean it can't ever happen.

I had the chance to use regularly 19" (or bigger, I don't remember) CRT touch screens back in1999. They were very expensive at that time. Aparte of your arms falling off, you'll end up with neck/cervical strain. In fact, these injuries already happen when using touch phones and tablets... The strain pain will be proportional to the touch screen size...

 

[Narcaz]

Ain't gonna happen. There's simply not a large enough difference between the 650M and the Iris 5200. They'll be able to market the increased battery life and show certain benchmarks where the Iris 5200 beats the previous generation, and for marketing purposes that's way more important than the truth(TM).

(And before people bring up the 7xx series, that doesn't matter, because this is all about marketing. The choices are between Apples and Apples, no pun intended. The number of people who would consider purchasing a PC because of the graphics card issue constitute an extremely small market segment.)

I disagree. Even Apple's marketing would have a hard time to explain the drop of 24% (in some cases 60-80%) in graphics performance. And the better battery life is pure speculation. The extra space from the missing dedicated card could be used for thinness. The power consumption from the Iris 5200 is not that much lower than the combination of the 4600+750m: http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2013/intel-iris-pro-5200-grafik-im-test/6/

I don't think that the expected trade-off lower performance / better battery life would help sales, because I think there a lot of users out there, that are interested in specs and performance. 15MBPR is the last portable mac with good graphic performance. For some users this is the main reason to pay the extra 600$ in comparison to the 13MBPR. These people will not bring extra cash to Apple anymore, because the base 13 MBPR + 800$ Windows PC/ Notebook would be the better solution for them. Futhermore the product differentiation between 13 MBPR and 15MBPR would be difficult. Why spend more cash for the same compromises?

 

[Quu]

I'm tired of the silly math dribble -- how's about this tangent to follow:

No one I can recall in this thread has mentioned the potential for Apple to surprise us with a touchscreen rMBP.

Any reason why this could not happen?

Any reason why it might happen?

The Operating Systems interface isn't optimised for fingers. All the UI Elements are tiny and suit themselves perfectly to a cursor. Just trying to minimize a window would be an effort in futility using your fingers.

You also have to consider that Apple already has the iPad and they see that as the future of computing. As far as they are concerned they already added a touch screen to OS X and that idea was delivered through the iPad.

Microsoft has tried to meld the traditional PC with touch screens and it hasn't been a hit.

I know using personal anecdotes is meaningless in this debate but a friend of mine bought an all-in-one. It looks like an iMac but it has a Touch screen and it uses Windows 8. He does not use the touch screen at all because holding his hand out there in the air is physically exhausting. It is much more comfortable to have your hands rest on the desk and manipulate a keyboard and mouse.

In that example he has a desktop but I think the same issue would occur on a notebook holding your hand up even 5 inches off the palm rest for extended periods of time is uncomfortable. When I use my iPad I'm usually having most of my arm rested on my body or a piece of furniture while I sit with it or on a desk if I'm huddled over it. It's harder to do that with a notebook where the screen wants to be vertical and the body wants to be horizontal.

Another concern is you're talking about adding it to a notebook but the expectation for Apple if they added it to their notebooks is to eventually add it to their desktops. And on the desktop it makes a lot less sense due to the distance you sit from the screen, the lack of ergonomics etc

It just really doesn't make sense for them to add touch input to their displays. But having said that I think we will see a lot more iPad integration in to their Mac software. Already the new Logic Pro X supports the iPad as an accessory where you can augment your workflow by using its touch screen. I foresee this functionality being added to Aperture and Final Cut Pro X as well and maybe even to some of the iLife suit apps like iPhoto or iMovie.

Apple is all about letting their devices be true to themselves and not forcing features where they don't belong so I think tight integration between the iPad and OS X is something they are focused on instead of taking the features from the iPad and forcing those in to the Mac.

 

[pscl]

people that are screaming for touchscreens in desktop pcs or laptops (at least its a convertible) should be not allowed to post in this forum. they completely dont understand what apple is doing and what`s the companys philosophy.

 

[sofianito]

people that are screaming for touchscreens in desktop pcs or laptops (at least its a convertible) should be not allowed to post in this forum. they completely dont understand what apple is doing and what`s the companys philosophy.

Lol. Send your resume to MR for a moderator position...

 

[Agent-P]

I know using personal anecdotes is meaningless in this debate but a friend of mine bought an all-in-one. It looks like an iMac but it has a Touch screen and it uses Windows 8. He does not use the touch screen at all because holding his hand out there in the air is physically exhausting. It is much more comfortable to have your hands rest on the desk and manipulate a keyboard and mouse.

In that example he has a desktop but I think the same issue would occur on a notebook holding your hand up even 5 inches off the palm rest for extended periods of time is uncomfortable. When I use my iPad I'm usually having most of my arm rested on my body or a piece of furniture while I sit with it or on a desk if I'm huddled over it. It's harder to do that with a notebook where the screen wants to be vertical and the body wants to be horizontal.

My question is while you're using a laptop, why would you need to constantly keep your arm up by the screen anyway? I have a Surface with the keyboard cover (for travel/casual browsing so I don't have to lug my Mac around) and if I know I'll be needing to scroll quite a bit, I position my hand so it's resting on my desk (or my lap) next to the screen so that my thumb has access to the bottom right corner of the screen. When I need to scroll, I use my thumb to flick up. No tired arms because they're still resting on something. I think people don't really realise what it's actually like to use a touchscreen laptop because they've never properly tried it out.

 

[zOlid]

Lol. I'm with you brother. My eyes were starting to glaze over. As far as your question goes, I brought that up myself some months ago. People swatted me down like they were offended at such a idea. I personally don't see what the problem would be. There would be a "Switch" to turn it off and if you don't want a touchscreen laptop you just turn it off. People that want it like you and me can turn it on. That simple and eventually it will be available on a Mac. I would say within 2 or 3 years

Its not that simple.
Cos for what your suggesting to work, you need a full re design of OSX.
If they would just add touch screen now, it would be very awkward to use, because the OS is not optimized for it.

Win 8 is the other way around. Its been optimized for touch, so all who don't have it whines cos its much more user unfriendly, if you don't have touch.

So if Apple where moving to touch on their laptops, we would have seen big changes in OSX before hand.


Also if they moved to touch, their stationary computers would have to be changed to touch also, and be even more awkward to use then the laptops.

If you have tried touch on a laptop, you quickly find out its very uncomfortable. Sure you can do small thing like scrolling with just your thumb, like some one said.
But that is far from all you do. Having to move your whole arm to press things on a near vertical screen, is not good ergonomically.
And just imagine having to use it on a 25-35" screen. Just to press things on different sides of the screen would be agonizing.

Now some would say: Yes but you could use both mouse and touch.
That is true. But then you have to use either one hand on the screen, and the other on the mouse. Or move your hand between the mouse and the screen.
In the end its just much more simple and ergonomic, to not use the touch.

The only realm where a touch screen could work, is on a maximum of maybe a 11" laptop. But even there, it would be easier to use the mouse.
And optimizing OSX for a 11" would be bonkers.

A tablet is a totally different story, cos you hold the tablet with 1 or 2 hands.
And the iOS is optimized for touch.


Conclusion: Apple moving to touch with computers looking like they do today, would be one of the worst moves they can do.

 

[Pentad]

Its not that simple.
Cos for what your suggesting to work you need a full re design of OSX.
If they would just add touch screen now it would be very awkward to use because the OS is not optimized for it.

Um, what OS do you think the iPad and iPhone use?


-P

 

[Quu]

My question is while you're using a laptop, why would you need to constantly keep your arm up by the screen anyway? I have a Surface with the keyboard cover (for travel/casual browsing so I don't have to lug my Mac around) and if I know I'll be needing to scroll quite a bit, I position my hand so it's resting on my desk (or my lap) next to the screen so that my thumb has access to the bottom right corner of the screen. When I need to scroll, I use my thumb to flick up. No tired arms because they're still resting on something. I think people don't really realise what it's actually like to use a touchscreen laptop because they've never properly tried it out.

So you just use your touch screen for scrolling with your thumb?

 

[zOlid]

Um, what OS do you think the iPad and iPhone use?


-P

iOS

So you just use your touch screen for scrolling with your thumb?

Yeah apparently that is better then to just use the wonderful multitouch pad... ^^