Waiting for Haswell MBP Mega Thread

[Narcaz]

It is really suspicious, that there are no new rumours since the Geekbench result. I lowered my expectations after the iGPU vs. dGPU debate, but Digitimes confirmed the release of AMDs Hawaii series in october. And WCCFtech earlier reported, that the correspondig Crystal mobile series would launch sooner than the desktop version. So there is the possibility of a big surprise.

My guess would be, that we see something like 4950hq + an AMD Crystal card, because the performance gap between the two would be much bigger (like HD 4000 and 650m). Apple would still choose the HQ processors, because the Iris Pro eDRAM would fire up video transcoding.

 

[Jordan-D]

If any happen on 10 Sept, why Apple not announce to hold a Keynote yet?(somethings like the preparation of the booth)
Hope there's any news for mbp in the event.

They usually announce an event a week before so invitations will be sent next week

 

[Keniutek]

Yeah I don't think so either. It's most likely because of display issues. At least that's what Kuo said.

If Apple does release the rMBP in October, would it have thunderbolt 2? It would be great it it would.

What display issues? They're not going with the IGZO right? Or did i missed something?

 

[hieronymuspool]

you mean one of the most demanding games that exist? sure it will run, how well is another matter

Europa Universalis IV will definitely run smoothly on the Iris Pro; Total War: Rome 2, on the other hand... if it does run, it won't be pretty.

Try it on a 13" Haswell MBA with Intel HD 5000 graphics. It will work a lot better than that.

My gut says no, but benchmarks say it'll work fine. The game recommends 1GB memory for graphics though. So the 650M (1GB mem) would do fine but the Iris Pro might lag cus it's drawing memory from the system, since it doesn't have dedicated memory. That's my assumption anyway

Thanks for the input, everyone! Forcing myself to wait for Haswell now, see what will be the definite configs of that refresh.

 

[Lunfai]

Ended up with a Samsung display on my MBA 11", hope I get Samsung on the new rMBP! Still waiting, thankfully the MBA has tied me down.

 

[Mr MM]

Thanks for the input, everyone! Forcing myself to wait for Haswell now, see what will be the definite configs of that refresh.

well you should, there are always refurbs and people will start throwing more discounts towards the older models if haswell is not up to your liking.

in the end r2tw is being groomed to run on lower end hardware than s2tw, which is really as demanding as BF3, specially when you zoom in, than its worse than BF3 or any other game out there

 

[ValSalva]

What display issues? They're not going with the IGZO right? Or did i missed something?

It seems unlikely but no oner really nows for sure. The rumors for the rMBP's have dropped away as the new iPhone approaches.

 

[zooby]

What specs are you looking / waiting for for your next MBP?

I have a late 2008 MBP (15 inch 2.53 Ghz, 5400 HD, 4 GB Ram). Still holding up well but am considering upgrading within the next year or so. Not sure if I want a 15 inch or a 13 inch but I do know I want a retina display, haswell, and an SSD.

 

[ka-spot]

-

 

[Koulie]

-

It's okay, happy thoughts now, the great wait (August) is over, no more '-' thoughts

 

[bollweevil]

I wish we could see a rumor, something, anything. I am getting sick of waiting in the metaphorical dark.

 

[PDFierro]

I wish we could see a rumor, something, anything. I am getting sick of waiting in the metaphorical dark.

I would like a concrete rumor, one way or the other. We could all be having ourselves a new rMBP in two weeks...or not.

 

[007 Junior]

MediaMarkt here in The Netherlands is starting to lower the prices of the current gen's MacBook Pro's and the previous generation MacBook Air. The MacBook Pro's with Retina-display are now €100 cheaper! I think there is something in the Air (lol) and I hope Apple will announce it very soon. I would love to see a shiny new rMBP this month, just like you guys do

 

[hieronymuspool]

well you should, there are always refurbs and people will start throwing more discounts towards the older models if haswell is not up to your liking.

in the end r2tw is being groomed to run on lower end hardware than s2tw, which is really as demanding as BF3, specially when you zoom in, than its worse than BF3 or any other game out there

I've been monitoring the Dutch Apple site, but no refurbished Macs (desktop and laptop) popping up there. Refurbs seem quite sporadic, or non-existent for that matter, here in the Netherlands.

Hoping for the discounted rMBPs then.

 

[Asifasim22]

I don't think it's likely that Apple have been holding up release of the Haswell MBP just for Thunderbolt 2.

They wouldn't have announced it at the Mac Pro preview if they didn't think it was important they believe tb is the future they want it in every device they can get it in, also I don't believe the screen shortage claim they had to produce stock for all the BTS sales so if other components weren't holding it back they could have released them along side the air

 

[john123]

I wish we could see a rumor, something, anything. I am getting sick of waiting in the metaphorical dark.

It is really suspicious, that there are no new rumours since the Geekbench result.

I'm perplexed by statements like these. More often than not, what passes for "rumors" around here is nothing more than idle speculation. Is it just a human interest thing? Because for anyone looking to get an idea of what will actually happen, all fake rumors do is add to the noise.

They wouldn't have announced it at the Mac Pro preview if they didn't think it was important they believe tb is the future they want it in every device they can get it in

The evidence does not support your claim. The market for the Mac Pro is a particular niche of the market. Satisfying niches is not the same as mass market appeal. TB2 simply doesn't matter to the majority of users.

It can't be a silent update... It would be too shocking in my opinion...

I totally disagree. This is a pretty incremental update. I'm not saying an event is impossible, but I certainly don't think it's mandatory at all.

 

[Vanilla35]

If they don't launch the new rMBP's in September, it's definitely being held on purpose for something. Maybe tb2, not sure

 

[sofianito]

Not exactly. According to http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks:

13" MacBook Pro Retina (2013) i7 3.0GHz - 7752

13" MacBook Air (2013) i7 1.7GHz - 7274

I would expect the new rMBP to increase that gap slightly, but it won't be much more. Remember the big improvement with Haswell is power consumption rather than processor performance.

EDIT: This of course assumes they don't stick a quad core cpu in the new 13" rMBP, although I doubt they would.

My understanding is that the rMBP would need more CPU and GPU cycles to handle those 4M retina pixels. Performance wise, I agree there won't be a big difference...

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I wish we could see a rumor, something, anything. I am getting sick of waiting in the metaphorical dark.

GeekBench has been updated to v3. I guess no hopes until we see GBv3 leaked benchmarks...

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I've been monitoring the Dutch Apple site, but no refurbished Macs (desktop and laptop) popping up there. Refurbs seem quite sporadic, or non-existent for that matter, here in the Netherlands.

Hoping for the discounted rMBPs then.

Dutch people are nice and polite. They never return or exchange their notebooks...

 

[mcarling]

If they don't launch the new rMBP's in September, it's definitely being held on purpose for something. Maybe tb2, not sure

The overwhelming likelihood is that Apple are waiting for Intel to provide the millions of Haswell CPUs that Apple need prior to launch. It can take a while for yields to ramp up.

 

[Qaanol]

Intel has now unveiled its top-of-the-line 4960HQ Crystal Well mobile processor, which has Iris Pro graphics, a base clock of 2.6 GHz, and a max turbo of either 3.7 or 3.8 GHz depending on whether you believe the product subtitle or the line in its spec sheet. I’m inclined toward 3.8 as per the spec sheet, especially since all the other Crystal Well chips get a turbo boost of 1.2 GHz above base clock.

The 4960HQ is not scheduled to launch until Q4, meaning October-December. There will then be four options for the 15.4″ rMBP, with base clocks at 2.0, 2.3, 2.4, and 2.6 GHz.

What stock configs do you think will Apple go with? They could do 2.0, 2.3, and 2.6 for nice even spacing, though we’ve already seen the 2.4 in a benchmark.

 

[Watabou]

Intel has now unveiled its top-of-the-line 4960HQ Crystal Well mobile processor, which has Iris Pro graphics, a base clock of 2.6 GHz, and a max turbo of either 3.7 or 3.8 GHz depending on whether you believe the product subtitle or the line in its spec sheet. I’m inclined toward 3.8 as per the spec sheet, especially since all the other Crystal Well chips get a turbo boost of 1.2 GHz above base clock.

The 4960HQ is not scheduled to launch until Q4, meaning October-December. There will then be four options for the 15.4″ rMBP, with base clocks at 2.0, 2.3, 2.4, and 2.6 GHz.

What stock configs do you think will Apple go with? They could do 2.0, 2.3, and 2.6 for nice even spacing, though we’ve already seen the 2.4 in a benchmark.

They will probably just drop the 2.0 and go for 2.3 base, 2.4 and 2.6GHz as options.

Also I agree what john123 said, I don't think the rMBP will carry anything significant like the IGZO display. Almost everything new on the rMBp has already been released for the Macbook Air. So a silent update still makes sense.

 

[PDFierro]

Intel has now unveiled its top-of-the-line 4960HQ Crystal Well mobile processor, which has Iris Pro graphics, a base clock of 2.6 GHz, and a max turbo of either 3.7 or 3.8 GHz depending on whether you believe the product subtitle or the line in its spec sheet. I’m inclined toward 3.8 as per the spec sheet, especially since all the other Crystal Well chips get a turbo boost of 1.2 GHz above base clock.

The 4960HQ is not scheduled to launch until Q4, meaning October-December. There will then be four options for the 15.4″ rMBP, with base clocks at 2.0, 2.3, 2.4, and 2.6 GHz.

What stock configs do you think will Apple go with? They could do 2.0, 2.3, and 2.6 for nice even spacing, though we’ve already seen the 2.4 in a benchmark.

There are still only 3 processors options for the 13-inch, right? 2.4/2.6/2.8? These new processors that Intel just unveiled are mainly for the 15-inch and other computers?

 

[Qaanol]

There are still only 3 processors options for the 13-inch, right? 2.4/2.6/2.8? These new processors that Intel just unveiled are mainly for the 15-inch and other computers?

That is correct. They did reveal a few more 37W chips, but those all have HD4600 graphics.

 

[PDFierro]

That is correct. They did reveal a few more 37W chips, but those all have HD4600 graphics.

Yeah, well we know the 13-inch rMBP will have 28W chips and 5100 graphics. Having only 3 choices of processors should make the pricing/configurations easier, because currently there are 4 in the current rMBP.

 

[APPLE-FANATIC]

Now there is an Intel chip being released in Q4?? What ever happened to the "Special" Haswell Chip Intel was supposedly making specifically for Apple?