Waiting for Haswell MBP Mega Thread

[mankymanning]

OSX running PS/LR + VMWare ~6GB
VMWare:
1 Win7 with office 2013 + Skype ~ 4GB
1 Win2008R2 DC ~ 1GB
1 Win2008R2 w/ SQL2012 ~ 8GB
1 Win2008R2 w/ CRM 2011 + VS2012 ~ 8GB
1 Win2008R2 w/ SharePoint 2010 + VS2012 ~ 10GB
1 Win2008R2 w/ SharePoint 2013 + VS2012 ~ 12GB

Sure I could pause either CRM or SharePoint, but sometimes I need both, and I could not use PS or LR... but then it would be all work and no play.

I need more memory.

I've tried using cloud servers (Azure/AWS), but I really can't work the way I want to, + I have various snapshots at various stages for various clients.
And I can't lug around my desktop w/ 64GB to my clients.

If you're using your notebook to browse, and some light PS... 4GB is enough, 8GB plenty.

Agree with this but that last case of 12GB witrh SP2013 + VS2012, I found 12GB was too much for the Mac. Mountain Lion is really greedy and won't amke do with 4GB. A lot of paging ended up going on, even with SSD the overall system felt sluggish. I ended up going back to 10GB to get a usable system, pushing me to get a 32GB Lenovo instead.

I am hoping that the memory compression in Mavericks helps a bit. Really want to get back to a MBP as every time I use my Lenovo a small piece of me dies.

Pleasehave32GBPleasehave32GBPleasehave32GB...

 

[Krazy Bill]

Kuo Predictions

Why is Kuo predicting such a high Q4 increase in rMBP's?



The cMBP must be going away? (Or not getting Haswell CPU).

 

[Uliman]

This monkey predicted that, yep. He lost all credibility for me.

I think it is a "she" but whatever, this person is in the same league as Carnack the Magnificent. For the youngsters, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnac_the_Magnificent

At best she is a comedic prognosticator.

 

[john123]

Dell XPS 15 that just came out today has 750M. I expect Apple to get a 750M at least too.... unless they don't get an IGZO display, and end up having to put a 650M in just so they can try to get close/equal/or exceed the 13 hour battery life of the XPS 15.

If those are your "expectations," you're setting yourself up for possible disappointment and pretty much no upside.

 

[sarakn]

Is it just me or has Dell adopted Apple's strategy of minimal choices?
Maybe it's due to their incredibly crappy site, but when I selected the new XPS 15, I was not able to customize. Only option was 16GB ram and 512 SSD.

----------

Look at my username...

I'm not concerned about heat, I've been using my laptop on my lap for years.

I was really more referring to the size.

So, do you people think the 15" rMBP is a convenient size to use on your lap?

You're gonna cook your eggs. LOL

----------

I am beginning to think that Kuo gets his rMBP "predictions" by reading this thread. Didn't this monkey predict a September rMBP release?

That he/she did!

This monkey predicted that, yep. He lost all credibility for me.

He did that in June, then changed his 'predictions' to after WWDC, then August/back to school, then September. After the months got to him, he changed to 2013. All his predictions have been reliably wrong and whether or not these come out next week does not improve his reputation. A stopped watch is correct twice a day.

Then there's the latest 9to5 article about his predictions on the iPad - predictions about size, form factor, etc. Hmm... there's a YT video on the iPad 5 casing posted 1 month ago by DetroitBORG. Wonder where Kuo got his predictions.

Whenever I see an article about the predictions of Clueless Wonder Kuo, I just pass on it. If I want to read fiction, there's always Stephen King.

 

[PDFierro]

I took this advice yesterday at stopped by the apple store as it was only a few blocks from me.

What a huge difference touching/playing around with these are. Earlier, I wondered if a 13" will be sufficient as I have a dell 1640 and it's a good size, but a bit big.

First things first... I played around with the 15" rMBP and MBP. To be honest, I could not see a huge difference between both screens. I really had to look for something, but the minute I went over to the rMBP screen the image was fine. rMBP is nice, but should really not be a deciding factor as MBP has always been great.

The huge bonus was the machine size. I travel every week and carry my laptop back and forth from hotel to the office. I less pound off my shoulders is welcome. Both machines are great, but seeing the rMBP I will have a hard time choosing MBP for portability.

I've never used a mac before and always used a PC trackpad. I could not really understand the deal with the mac trackpad until I touched it and realized it depressed. This might seem like nothing, but it's such a huge change/bonus for people who prefer a mouse. I guess I'm weird because having a trackpad that responds improves the user experience.

After spending about 10+ minutes on both 15" machines, I checked out the 13". You know the feeling when you return a really nice loaner car only to get back in your 'what used to be nice, but now feels sh**ty' car? Yup, I felt that way about the 13. It just lacked... size.

Hoping the new rMBPs are released this Tuesday and my BTO is delivered by week's end.

See, I feel the exact opposite. Right around WWDC time, I tested out both the 13 and 15-inch rMBP extensively. I came away heavily disliking the 15. I didn't really notice the extra screen real estate, and I just hated the ergonomics of the 15.

I don't see myself going for the 15 unless something crazy happens. Right now, I'm all for the 13-inch and have always been.

 

[jafingi]

Look at my username...

I'm not concerned about heat, I've been using my laptop on my lap for years.

I was really more referring to the size.

So, do you people think the 15" rMBP is a convenient size to use on your lap?

Yeah..

I personally think the 13" is best on the lap. The 15" can be too big

 

[PDFierro]

Kuo has spoken!

http://9to5mac.com/2013/10/19/apple...id-a7-ipad-mini-wretina-haswell-macbook-pros/

I never doubted the rMBPs coming out this month. I'm ready!

 

[Speedman100]

So unless something changes next week, Apple will have to change this, won't they?

 

[john123]

Is it just me or has Dell adopted Apple's strategy of minimal choices?

It's actually a pretty solid strategy. There's a whole bunch of academic psychology literature on how choice overload leads to choice paralysis. Reducing the number of options makes it more likely that people will buy—which is especially important when it's possible that a person not buying Brand A's product today might end up buying Brand B's product tomorrow.

 

[Vanilla35]

Why is Kuo predicting such a high Q4 increase in rMBP's?

View attachment 441890

The cMBP must be going away? (Or not getting Haswell CPU).

Because of the refresh??? Or Christmas sales. Could be November-December is a big time to buy a new laptop, idk.

Also there's a MBPR and MBP category. Which states she does think the cMBP will continue on. I'd properly assume they would update it, just as they did last year, if they kept it along the other products.

Then there's the latest 9to5 article about his predictions on the iPad - predictions about size, form factor, etc. Hmm... there's a YT video on the iPad 5 casing posted 1 month ago by DetroitBORG. Wonder where Kuo got his predictions.

Whenever I see an article about the predictions of Clueless Wonder Kuo, I just pass on it. If I want to read fiction, there's always Stephen King.

One thing you can take away from the article is that it states no Touch ID. While Sonny Dickson definitively shows that the case he received (prototype - likely) does not fit the traditional home button, but does fit the Touch ID button. So that's worth mentioning I guess for the potential controversy.

So unless something changes next week, Apple will have to change this, won't they?

Lol yeah. Seems like 2012-2013 was apple's day to shine for the rMBP because they jumped the gun. Now 2013-2014 they'll be playing catch up and maybe 2014-2015 they'll be able to boast another great statistic like "best battery life of any mid-sized Laptop" once they get IGZO in there to compete.

 

[aiom]

Can't wait for next week

 

[ValSalva]

Kuo has spoken!

http://9to5mac.com/2013/10/19/apple...id-a7-ipad-mini-wretina-haswell-macbook-pros/

This is great to see. Macworld put the odds on the Haswell rMBP's getting released next week at only 50-50 That has to be wrong.

 

[warplane95]

only haswell cpu and 1080p webcam

 

[PDFierro]

only haswell cpu and 1080p webcam

There are certainly more upgrades than that.

 

[FrozenDarkness]

So unless something changes next week, Apple will have to change this, won't they?

isn't it already false? or is that not happening yet

 

[Hypathia]

only haswell cpu and 1080p webcam

At least Haswell, PCI-based flash storage, 802.11ac and a GPU update are certain without explicit mention. Thunderbolt 2 seems likely. I am not expecting more than that, although IGZO might happen.

 

[OneCharmingQuar]

The minimal amount of configurability in the XPS 15 is likely in part due to supply problems. There's a similar problem with the M4800, and there is little point in providing limited options for a workstation. Interestingly, the XPS 15 actually has very reasonable prices for upgrades. The base model is quite expensive, but the mid model provides a much better display, better processor, more RAM, and a dGPU. The top model gives you 50% more battery, and a 512 GB mSATA drive. The base price might be consider too high, but the two upgrades are much, much more reasonable than laptop upgrades usually are.

Another advantage with the XPS 15 has surfaced with Dell's release of the owner's manual: It's far more user serviceable than the rMBP. This shouldn't be that surprising given Apple's general approach compared to Dell's, but I was actually positively surprised to see how much you can fix yourself. Compare this:

http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/a...s_laptop/xps-15-9530_Owner's Manual_en-us.pdf

to this:

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+Display+Mid+2012+Teardown/9462/

Admittedly the XPS 15 is slightly bigger and heavier than the rMBP, but it's still impressive. Judging by the pictures the palm rest appears to be made from machined aluminum, which should make it comparable to the rMBP in terms of how solid it feels.

9to5mac's prediction of 10 hours of battery life under the same circumstances under which the rMBP is able to get 3-4 hours sounds like pure fantasy to me. Haswell might help bring down the minimum power consumption, but once your start cranking up brightness and power battery life will drop like a stone. Even the 13" Macbook Air can get less than 2 hours if you push it. 10 hours might be possible, but it's going to take very light usage. Given how good the battery life of the current rMBP is compared to most other quad-core laptops, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has already employed most of their tricks for bringing up battery life.

 

[warplane95]

i talk to a dell representative, and they told me 6 to 8 hours of battery life

 

[zI INFINITY Iz]

The minimal amount of configurability in the XPS 15 is likely in part due to supply problems. There's a similar problem with the M4800, and there is little point in providing limited options for a workstation. Interestingly, the XPS 15 actually has very reasonable prices for upgrades. The base model is quite expensive, but the mid model provides a much better display, better processor, more RAM, and a dGPU. The top model gives you 50% more battery, and a 512 GB mSATA drive. The base price might be consider too high, but the two upgrades are much, much more reasonable than laptop upgrades usually are.

Another advantage with the XPS 15 has surfaced with Dell's release of the owner's manual: It's far more user serviceable than the rMBP. This shouldn't be that surprising given Apple's general approach compared to Dell's, but I was actually positively surprised to see how much you can fix yourself. Compare this:

http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/a...s_laptop/xps-15-9530_Owner's Manual_en-us.pdf

to this:

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+Display+Mid+2012+Teardown/9462/

Admittedly the XPS 15 is slightly bigger and heavier than the rMBP, but it's still impressive. Judging by the pictures the palm rest appears to be made from machined aluminum, which should make it comparable to the rMBP in terms of how solid it feels.

9to5mac's prediction of 10 hours of battery life under the same circumstances under which the rMBP is able to get 3-4 hours sounds like pure fantasy to me. Haswell might help bring down the minimum power consumption, but once your start cranking up brightness and power battery life will drop like a stone. Even the 13" Macbook Air can get less than 2 hours if you push it. 10 hours might be possible, but it's going to take very light usage. Given how good the battery life of the current rMBP is compared to most other quad-core laptops, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has already employed most of their tricks for bringing up battery life.

As far as I know the XPS 15 is kind of a bigger XPS 13. I own the 13 and the palmrest (black part) is made from magnesium alloy. It kind of feels rubbery, good part it gives grip. Gets dirty pretty fast though. For the people getting the XPS 15: I hope they improved it, but as far as I can see it's the exact same look and materials as the XPS 13.

 

[OneCharmingQuar]

only haswell cpu and 1080p webcam

Maybe in 5-10 years Apple's Facetime and Photo Booth advertisements will actually give a realistic impression of webcam picture and video quality

http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/built-in-apps-retina/#facetime

Still, hiring the lighting crew every time I chat with my mom could become expensive.

 

[sarakn]

It's actually a pretty solid strategy. There's a whole bunch of academic psychology literature on how choice overload leads to choice paralysis. Reducing the number of options makes it more likely that people will buy—which is especially important when it's possible that a person not buying Brand A's product today might end up buying Brand B's product tomorrow.

I agree with you. I was just making an observation because in all my dell purchases, I was able to configure. The only thing I'm not too crazy about is the ram/ssd option. Good that ram is 16GB, but 512GB SSD? Oh well, that's more than enough for the average user.

Something else that has made my decision to switch is a change in habit. When I started with Dells, the positive was the ability for me to upgrade on my own. I know mac users had this, too, but macs weren't cheap and I needed PCs that could do double duty. These days, I don't really care about or have the desire to fix or repair anything. I have better things to do with my time and as long as I can get the most out of my initial purchase, I'm good.


Excellent move with Dell. The other bonus is this should cut down delivery time as they'll go from Build-Pack-Ship to Pack-Ship. Even without the configure option, the new site is still ugly as hell.

 

[OneCharmingQuar]

i talk to a dell representative, and they told me 6 to 8 hours of battery life

Dell representatives say the strangest things. In a thread on a different forum there are people who have been told that the XPS 15 has an Ethernet port. The representative could easily have been using numbers for the previous model. Dell advertises 11 hours from the 9-cell battery. The test conditions given are almost identical to those used in Notebookcheck's "Surfing with WLAN" test. The rMBP got 6 hours and 4 minutes under that test. We'll have to wait for someone like Notebookcheck or Anand to get a rigorous and unbiased number on the battery life, but the fact that Dell is willing to state their test condition separates this number from the highly exaggerated numbers you often see from companies like Lenovo.

As far as I know the XPS 15 is kind of a bigger XPS 13. I own the 13 and the palmrest (black part) is made from magnesium alloy. It kind of feels rubbery, good part it gives grip. Gets dirty pretty fast though. For the people getting the XPS 15: I hope they improved it, but as far as I can see it's the exact same look and materials as the XPS 13.

The difference is that the XPS 13 is advertised as being made from magnesium-alloy and carbon-fiber, with an aluminum lid. The XPS 15 is being advertised as being made from carbon-fiber and machined aluminum. I actually hope that I'm wrong here, since magnesium alloy would actually be stronger. The surface treatment appears to be the same, so I would expect it to get dirty at a similar rate. One good thing about the XPS palm rest is that the edge is more rounded. The one on Macbooks can be a bit sharp. Another is the XPS-15 keyboard is apparently spill-resistant. I don't know how well this works, but from what I've read spilling a liquid into a Macbook keyboard is a quick way to kill it.

 

[Scott7975]

The minimal amount of configurability in the XPS 15 is likely in part due to supply problems. There's a similar problem with the M4800, and there is little point in providing limited options for a workstation. Interestingly, the XPS 15 actually has very reasonable prices for upgrades. The base model is quite expensive, but the mid model provides a much better display, better processor, more RAM, and a dGPU. The top model gives you 50% more battery, and a 512 GB mSATA drive. The base price might be consider too high, but the two upgrades are much, much more reasonable than laptop upgrades usually are.

Another advantage with the XPS 15 has surfaced with Dell's release of the owner's manual: It's far more user serviceable than the rMBP. This shouldn't be that surprising given Apple's general approach compared to Dell's, but I was actually positively surprised to see how much you can fix yourself. Compare this:

http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/a...s_laptop/xps-15-9530_Owner's Manual_en-us.pdf

to this:

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+Display+Mid+2012+Teardown/9462/

Admittedly the XPS 15 is slightly bigger and heavier than the rMBP, but it's still impressive. Judging by the pictures the palm rest appears to be made from machined aluminum, which should make it comparable to the rMBP in terms of how solid it feels.

9to5mac's prediction of 10 hours of battery life under the same circumstances under which the rMBP is able to get 3-4 hours sounds like pure fantasy to me. Haswell might help bring down the minimum power consumption, but once your start cranking up brightness and power battery life will drop like a stone. Even the 13" Macbook Air can get less than 2 hours if you push it. 10 hours might be possible, but it's going to take very light usage. Given how good the battery life of the current rMBP is compared to most other quad-core laptops, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has already employed most of their tricks for bringing up battery life.

I am completely new to Mac but isn't the new Mavericks OS suppose to decrease power usage too? I thought that was one of the big deals of the new OS.

 

[that1guyy]

Running Future!

Imo that's the only reason (aside from virtualization) to get 16GB RAM. Nobody knows what is coming, so to play it safe max out the RAM (if you are planing to keep the machine for 4 years +)

No there are other reasons to get 16GB of RAM, better reasons too.