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Waiting for Haswell MBP Mega Thread
- Thread starter thadoggfather
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Smaller silicone size, less battery consumption, much better integrated graphics.
Can buy a Macbook Pro today with no risk?
Hi there,
I'm a long time lurker, first time poster, been waiting since WWDC for an upgrade to the Macbook Pro line.
I have a 2012 13" MBA (my first mac after a long line of Windows laptops) which has been ok, but I do a lot of software development in both windows and OS X and the MBA didn't have enough CPU or disk space to effectively run Parallels with Visual Studio in a VM. The fan would kick in and would be quite noisy, and I found the screen size a bit limiting as well.
So I'm aiming to upgrade to the MacBook Pro 15" with Retina, and have been prowling this thread for months, but today I found out something new that I'd previously missed (or could just be hidden in these 10K+ posts!). I was at the Apple Store and I asked the employee there about the upcoming upgrade. He couldn't give me any information, but did say that if I bought a new MacBook, and Apple released an upgrade within 30 days, then I could swap it over during that time to the new model with no restocking fee or anything.
Has anyone tried this? Is this an official apple policy? Does it apply to online orders to? I'm tempted to upgrade today if this is the case!
Hi there,
I'm a long time lurker, first time poster, been waiting since WWDC for an upgrade to the Macbook Pro line.
I have a 2012 13" MBA (my first mac after a long line of Windows laptops) which has been ok, but I do a lot of software development in both windows and OS X and the MBA didn't have enough CPU or disk space to effectively run Parallels with Visual Studio in a VM. The fan would kick in and would be quite noisy, and I found the screen size a bit limiting as well.
So I'm aiming to upgrade to the MacBook Pro 15" with Retina, and have been prowling this thread for months, but today I found out something new that I'd previously missed (or could just be hidden in these 10K+ posts!). I was at the Apple Store and I asked the employee there about the upcoming upgrade. He couldn't give me any information, but did say that if I bought a new MacBook, and Apple released an upgrade within 30 days, then I could swap it over during that time to the new model with no restocking fee or anything.
Has anyone tried this? Is this an official apple policy? Does it apply to online orders to? I'm tempted to upgrade today if this is the case!
Well much better graphics for the 13-inch, around the same performance for the 15-inch.
Hi there,
I'm a long time lurker, first time poster, been waiting since WWDC for an upgrade to the Macbook Pro line.
I have a 2012 13" MBA (my first mac after a long line of Windows laptops) which has been ok, but I do a lot of software development in both windows and OS X and the MBA didn't have enough CPU or disk space to effectively run Parallels with Visual Studio in a VM. The fan would kick in and would be quite noisy, and I found the screen size a bit limiting as well.
So I'm aiming to upgrade to the MacBook Pro 15" with Retina, and have been prowling this thread for months, but today I found out something new that I'd previously missed (or could just be hidden in these 10K+ posts!). I was at the Apple Store and I asked the employee there about the upcoming upgrade. He couldn't give me any information, but did say that if I bought a new MacBook, and Apple released an upgrade within 30 days, then I could swap it over during that time to the new model with no restocking fee or anything.
Has anyone tried this? Is this an official apple policy? Does it apply to online orders to? I'm tempted to upgrade today if this is the case!
I don't know about that. But you can certainly buy it and return it within the 14-day window. The rMBP is at most two weeks away, so I'd just wait.
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Well what are you expecting? In my opinion, this is a huge refresh. Not only will it get Haswell, which offers greater improvements in terms of battery than any other year-to-year jump, but this is also going to be the 2nd-gen. You won't get all the problems that the first-gen had.
And then depending which size you're after, you'll get improvements in the GPU and other areas. I'm stoked, and for those of us that is getting their first rMBP, it's a big jump over what's out now.
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Yeah, I think the 13-inch is going to see a real performance boost. For the 15-inch, there really isn't going to be anything different other than a little better battery.
Having a rMBP with the HD 4000 graphics is just unacceptable at this point.
Some more wishful thinking?
Sears is having a sale on the base rMBP 13" : http://www.sears.com/apple-brand-ne...0050830x000545&aff=Y&PID=4485850&AID=11042411
Sears is having a sale on the base rMBP 13" : http://www.sears.com/apple-brand-ne...0050830x000545&aff=Y&PID=4485850&AID=11042411
For a 1.5 year wait I expect much more than just a power consumption/battery life improvement and the loss of the dedicated gpu, which to me is not an upgrade. AC wireless is only good if you drop the money for an AC router.
Apple typically refreshes every eight months (with a small CPU bump halfway between), and in previous releases you'd get better CPUs, better dGPUs, better screens, or hell the retina machine itself.
All signs really point to this being a really weak update, even for Apple who typically has pretty conservative updates that tend to disappoint people. We've been waiting an asininely long time for this update. Haswell is really pretty old hat at this point, it's not even exciting or new feeling anymore.
Keep in mind whatever they release this month will still be sitting on the shelf in June of 2014 and more likely beyond even that at the pace Apple is really starting to drag out updates (wouldn't surprise me if we see 12 months between refreshes). Personally, for my $3k, I don't want what I buy to be nothing more than a mere battery life bump compared to something that was for sale in the middle of 2012. Right now this is shaping up to be a pretty small update.
There's only so much they can do. They are at the mercy of Intel and other technologies that are still developing. Don't you think you're expecting too much?
key things:
faster integrated graphics
lower power consumption - better battery life
Faster wake from sleep
better low power (sleep states) - better standby battery life
WiDi improvements
10-20% overall performance boost
I think what it comes down to is that this refresh is looking to be more significant in the 13" than the 15". I can understand the frustration when the 15" was out in June 2012 while the 13" was out in October. It's been a long wait. For your sakes, I hope Apple has more in store for that model.
Personally this refresh is huge in comparison to my current machine. Even the current models are better, but I refuse to buy another first gen model. It also seems silly to buy a current model now when we're so close.
Personally this refresh is huge in comparison to my current machine
. Even the current models are better, but I refuse to buy another first gen model. It also seems silly to buy a current model now when we're so close.So no i7 for you? The i5 will certainly be enough for my uses as well, but I'm thinking about going for the i7 because I can afford it and this will be my only computer. Plus, I never know what stuff I might get into down the line. I probably wouldn't notice the difference most of the time, though.
But yeah I agree, i5 is enough for most people.
I think what it comes down to is that this refresh is looking to be more significant in the 13" than the 15". I can understand the frustration when the 15" was out in June 2012 while the 13" was out in October. It's been a long wait. For your sakes, I hope Apple has more in store for that model.
Personally this refresh is huge in comparison to my current machine
Yeah, I know how he feels. Back in the day, Apple would put everything into the refresh of their Macs. But now, other than when it's time for a redesign, they just include the latest technologies.
At this point, I don't see what else they can really include. IGZO and other things don't appear to be ready yet.
To be honest I'm not sure, but I'm sure after such a long wait there has to be more they can do.
I haven't really paid too much attention as my 2010 i7 works just fine, but my wife needs a new 13". I hope for her sake they give us a 16 gig RAM option on that one, otherwise that's a tough sell to me.
One big thing they could include would be an IGZO panel, but then the rMBP would be delayed even more. Unless, of course, Apple gives up on 16:10. I think some people will be unhappy regardless of what Apple does.
My parents will be paying for most of it, and my mom is having a hard time swallowing the current base model+256gb SSD price even with the edu discount. I just can't justify asking them to chip in for something I don't need.
Here's hoping they drop the price just a little to make it not hurt quite so much
Comparison of rMBP and its competitors.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8tsJDzP4qt1WWxiZERfcFZGMU0/edit?usp=sharing
let me know if I have any incorrect information, or you have info I am missing
update:link is changed
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8tsJDzP4qt1WWxiZERfcFZGMU0/edit?usp=sharing
let me know if I have any incorrect information, or you have info I am missing
update:link is changed
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Dell has an IGZO in their XPS 15 coming out October 18th...
If Apple was anything like Apple is, they probably already long negotiated the display and included it for the next MBPr...
I find it funny how many posts seem to believe that Dell has a better shot get getting IGZO displays sooner than Apple can. Unless of course, Apple didn't even try to get those in..
I agree with you. With the premium prices we pay I wish Apple would include more RAM and better hardware/performance bumps. Honestly, if the Haswell rMBP was announced and it had an IGZO I would move heaven and earth to buy that model. IGZO+Haswell would be a beautiful balance of power consumption and performance!
I'm perfectly fine with getting good year-to-year improvements. It's how Apple operates, and they are smart for doing so. They aren't going to include in everything in the Haswell rMBP when they can do so in the Broadwell refresh.
It's like complaining that the iPhone 4S wasn't more after waiting 1.5 years after the 4. People will never be happy.
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My parents will be paying for most of it, and my mom is having a hard time swallowing the current base model+256gb SSD price even with the edu discount. I just can't justify asking them to chip in for something I don't need.
Here's hoping they drop the price just a little to make it not hurt quite so much
Ah, got it. The past few months I've just been acting like the 2 grand I'll spend on a Mac just isn't there. And you're going with AppleCare, right? Any reasoning behind that?
I've been thinking about going with more than 256GB, but I'm not sure I'd need it. I can certainly afford a maxed-out rMBP, but no point in doing that if it's going to be a waste. I'm somewhat of a minimalist and would hate having excess space. 128 is too little, but 256 is just right for myself and a lot of people.
I think with SSDs and the cloud, we are rethinking how we use our storage. We no longer need to store everything locally like we did only a few years ago.
You may be fine with minor incremental improvements but when models lack basic upgradable features like the 13" stuck at 8GB of ram or the 15" only gaining a 10% in performance increase after a 1.5 year wait, Apple starts falling behind the curve. This is a weak update for the MBP's considering the amount of time that has passed. I cannot imagine working with 8GBs of RAM being an editor, I was using 10 just to have Safari and Final Cut running yesterday. I commend the longer battery life but other than that it has nothing else really going for it, until it is perhaps released and we get to really see if there are more improvements.
Well you know how it goes, either you stick with Apple or you don't. Some of the stuff you mentioned would force other people to go Windows.
This just isn't 5-10 years ago where Macs were all Apple had. The laptop market is dwindling. I think an argument can be made that Apple is doing all they can.
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