Waiting for Haswell MBP Mega Thread

[Aylan]

Is it still too early for predictions?

I may be wrong about pricing.
Thunderbolt 2 is not ready until next year.

13" rMBP - all .71 inch, PCIe SSD, 802.11ac
both will have the option to select the 2.8Ghz i7 - 4558U Iris 5100 for $150
both will have the option to select higher capacity SSD for the price of a leg

$1399
2.4Ghz i5 4258U - Iris 5100 - 8GB RAM - 128GB

$1599
2.6Ghz i5 4288U - Iris 5100 - 8GB RAM - 256GB


15" rMPB - all PCIe SSD, 802.11ac, all quad core
both will have the option to select the 2.4Ghz i7 4950HQ for $200
both will have the option to select higher capacity SSD for the price of an arm


$2099
2.0Ghz i7 4750HQ - Iris Pro 5200 - 8GB RAM - 256GB

$2599
2.3Ghz i7 4850HQ - Iris Pro 5200 - 16GB RAM - 512GB

I am also willing to say that the 15" will come with dGPU. Most likely the 750M card or the equivalent Radeon. I just do not see Apple dropping dGPU. Remember these are PRO machines, and these babies will need to drive the retina display plus potentially 2 extra monitors(dual TB ports remember plus this whole 4K thing) and while Iris 5200 is quite capable, it is just not there yet.

I am pretty satisfied with the actual released rMBP. I was not expecting the $200 price drop and I am glad they kept a dGPU option. I was so close with my guesses, but pricing threw me off. I also was too hopeful for an i7 option on the 13". I am glad Apple did this upgrade right, it has made the waiting time worth it!

 

[johnnylarue]

did I make a mistake getting 16gb ram?
its complete over kill for me but I want this machine to last me 5+ years like my early 08 macbook did (and its still going, but lots of beachballs with 4gb ram)

Nope. Good move. Unless you think you'll miss seeing those beachballs...

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You must be new around here. Don't worry about it.

I always believed in you, GS.

 

[st0k3d]

Dude, something seems wrong with that price.

The 13" rMBP with 2.8 GHz i7/16/512 is a list price of $2199. I assume the EDU discount is $200, which means you are paying $436.37 in taxes?

I hope that you are quoting non-US pricing, or bought AppleCare and didn't include it. Even if you did include AppleCare, your taxes would be 187.37.

In any case, congrats! That's the same config I'm going to order!

I forgot to mention AppleCare. With education discount it was 2049 + 180 apple care + 8.625% tax.

 

[johnnylarue]

But how is this relevant? You can have it for five+ years and still go with 8GB if this is what you use for your apps.

Assuming you choose to never upgrade your apps, your OS... assuming YouTube doesn't switch to a higher resolution format anytime soon, assuming... a lot.

It's entirely possible that 8GB RAM will be enough to see most people through to 2018. But I'm not banking on it.

 

[st0k3d]

Boggles the mind that this is only marginally less than the 15"/2.3GHz/16GB/512GB model ($2,449.00 + tax, edu price) in Canada.

The 15" like that would have run me $2865. $400 is pretty significant I would say. I also prefer smaller footprint and faster processor vs more cores for my use.

 

[Hawkler]

Macbook 7% discount?

Hi there,

Has anyone in Sydney purchased from these guys? I was looking forward to visiting the Apple retail store, but $229 saving is hard to pass up!

http://www.vps.com.au/computers-and...m-os-x-10.8-mountain-lion-7-hour-battery.html

Do Apple stores price match?

 

[johnnylarue]

The 15" like that would have run me $2865. $400 is pretty significant I would say. I also prefer smaller footprint and faster processor vs more cores for my use.

Fair point. It will be a kick@ass computer. I was just momentarily stunned by that price for a 13-incher.

 

[Quu]

Now that the dust has settled. I've been posting in this thread since May this year, long before WWDC in June where most of us expected the new Retina MacBook Pro's to show up.

For me I'm really happy with how things turned out. Many many pages ago my "want" list for the new MacBook Pro's were as follows:

Haswell CPU
802.11ac
PCIe based SSD
Dedicated GPU

And then after the notebooks didn't release at WWDC I theorised maybe we'd get Thunderbolt 2 as-well.

So for me I got everything I wanted and a bit extra. The lower pricing on the high end model was nice too, I fully expected it to come out to about £3,200 maxed out with a 1TB SSD as the previous model was £2,800 with a 750GB SSD. But I was pleasantly surprised and I already ordered mine.

A lot of people in the thread said we were going to be disappointed or that they weren't coming today or we wouldn't get all the upgrades we want but Apple fully met and surpassed my expectations, free iLife and iWork with all new Macs, iPads and iPhones, free Mavericks update for our old machines and the spec bumps.

So yeah I'm pretty happy

 

[Greene1123]

Such a great day got the 2.6 15" 16GB 512GB SSD. Can't wait for it to get here!!!!

It's been a pleasure agonizing over this wait with all of you

 

[macshoair]

Assuming you choose to never upgrade your apps, your OS... assuming YouTube doesn't switch to a higher resolution format anytime soon, assuming... a lot.

It's entirely possible that 8GB RAM will be enough to see most people through to 2018. But I'm not banking on it.

OK, I am sold on this one, but should one also get the 512GB SSD and no one answered my question yet if I will be an idiot to get the iGPU model and upgrade to 2.3 CPU, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD though the dGPU with same specs sell for the same price?

 

[sarakn]

Hi Sara. Sorry, I didn't mean to mislead you: my point was that you could make do with the 512GB drive for now and upgrade later once SSD prices come down. And I'm not sure whether this applies yet to the SSDs found in the new MBPs, but on former models you could place your original hard drive in an enclosure and use it as a nice, compact external drive after installing the new one.

Bear in mind that Apple is selling you that SSD for the total price of $750 + the cost of the stock 256GB drive in the base model. That's pushing $1000 for 1TB of data storage. You're paying for the luxury/convenience of having all that storage at your disposal at all times, on a flash drive. But do you really *need* access to 1TB of information at all times?

For my own needs--which are probably different from yours--512GB is tons of space to have access to on an SSD, and any storage that I need above and beyond that--for instance, my recording sessions/projects/etc.--can easily be stored on traditional CHEAP external hard drives. It's also a bit more secure--I just had my laptop stolen two months ago, but all of my crucial data was backed up on external drives. Had that not been the case, I would probably be typing this from a mental hospital!

Anyway, the bottom line is, if you can afford it, a 1TB drive will be a super nice luxury to have. But in my books it is squarely in the "luxury" category.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. 1tb might seem like overkill - and it is - but I currently have a laptop with 500gb that's almost filled. At home, I have a few external drives - 500gb, 1 and 2 tbs- taking up valuable desk space and a couple portable drives. These have a lot of multimedia - music, movies, tv shows collected over the past 10 years.

I guess I did not see it as 256gb base model as the base models for this and the prior generation came with 512gb. With the last gen, I was willing to go up to 768, so 1tb was even better.

My need for max hard drive may not have been that great if I worked from home, but I travel weekly for work and have that "take everything but the kitchen sink" mentally when it comes to multimedia. I could copy to hard drive, but I'm tried of doing that.

I just want as much as I can on me and this time, I'm willing to pay for the convenience. The last laptop I purchased was a dell m1530 in 2008 that was replaced for free in 2010. I figured it was time to go all out.

I'm honestly tired of replacing/upgrading components. If it means paying extra, so be it. Unless a 4tb flash drive comes out.

Wise move about the external drive. I purchased a 2tb time capsule. Hope I never have to deal with a stolen/lost/missing device.


Thanks again for your explanation.

 

[famalka]

How much do audio programs like Logic Pro X, Reason 7, and Abelton Live benefit from the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M? I'd prefer getting away with buying the base 15" rMBP plus 16GB of RAM rather than the higher priced 15" model.

 

[Gilmore Girl]

Depends on how serious you take your gaming, and how important money is to you. If I still played a lot of games, my first choice would be the new high-end configuration, followed by the previous generation rMBP, which should have very attractive close-out pricing. I wouldn't get the "new" base configuration as a serious gamer.

Can you tell me where I can find this close-out-pricing on the apple page? Or is this done through other retailers only?

 

[johnnylarue]

Now that the dust has settled. I've been posting in this thread since May this year, long before WWDC in June where most of us expected the new Retina MacBook Pro's to show up.

For me I'm really happy with how things turned out. Many many pages ago my "want" list for the new MacBook Pro's were as follows:

Haswell CPU
802.11ac
PCIe based SSD
Dedicated GPU

And then after the notebooks didn't release at WWDC I theorised maybe we'd get Thunderbolt 2 as-well.

So for me I got everything I wanted and a bit extra. The lower pricing on the high end model was nice too, I fully expected it to come out to about £3,200 maxed out with a 1TB SSD as the previous model was £2,800 with a 750GB SSD. But I was pleasantly surprised and I already ordered mine.

A lot of people in the thread said we were going to be disappointed or that they weren't coming today or we wouldn't get all the upgrades we want but Apple fully met and surpassed my expectations, free iLife and iWork with all new Macs, iPads and iPhones, free Mavericks update for our old machines and the spec bumps.

So yeah I'm pretty happy

Hey Quu--congrats on the new MBP! (You've certainly earned it.)

I was reminded of a post of yours from a few weeks ago when Apple announced the MBP's relatively meagre 1-hour gain in battery life today.

I was griping that the Haswells were expected to deliver little more than battery life gains, and you countered that Apple might instead choose to spend some of those expected power savings on CPU clocking instead of battery life.

Granted, we'll need to wait for some proper benchmarks to know definitively if this is what they did, but based on the minor battery life improvement and Apple's surprising decision to go all-out with both the Iris Pro and 750M in the same machine, I'd say it looks like your hunch was spot on.

Well played, buddy.

 

[sarakn]

Now that the dust has settled. I've been posting in this thread since May this year, long before WWDC in June where most of us expected the new Retina MacBook Pro's to show up.

For me I'm really happy with how things turned out. Many many pages ago my "want" list for the new MacBook Pro's were as follows:

Haswell CPU
802.11ac
PCIe based SSD
Dedicated GPU

And then after the notebooks didn't release at WWDC I theorised maybe we'd get Thunderbolt 2 as-well.

So for me I got everything I wanted and a bit extra. The lower pricing on the high end model was nice too, I fully expected it to come out to about £3,200 maxed out with a 1TB SSD as the previous model was £2,800 with a 750GB SSD. But I was pleasantly surprised and I already ordered mine.

A lot of people in the thread said we were going to be disappointed or that they weren't coming today or we wouldn't get all the upgrades we want but Apple fully met and surpassed my expectations, free iLife and iWork with all new Macs, iPads and iPhones, free Mavericks update for our old machines and the spec bumps.

So yeah I'm pretty happy

So true - they surpassed my expectations with 1tb, same day availability, lower price, haswell, free software... I mean, what else could they have done. I already knew the earliest delivery date Halloween. They've done their part and I've done mine by ordering. Now I patiently wait as I stalk YouTube for unboxing videos.

 

[johnnylarue]

I just want as much as I can on me and this time, I'm willing to pay for the convenience. The last laptop I purchased was a dell m1530 in 2008 that was replaced for free in 2010. I figured it was time to go all out.

Thanks again for your explanation.

No sweat. You're going to love that thing.

And God, perspective is everything: after living with a Dell for 5 years, you should be buying yourself TWO Macs!

 

[The Leafs Fan]

So how are people liking their new tech? It seems most people are satisfied with the update, but we need the people who actually have it in their hands to talk about it. Send out the GeekBench scores, so we can have a glimpse of what we can expect.

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No sweat. You're going to love that thing.

And God, perspective is everything: after living with a Dell for 5 years, you should be buying yourself TWO Macs!

And the iPad Air. I can't believe I never thought they would name it that, it seems so obvious now. If they called the New iPad again, I wouldn't have held it against them.

 

[mehdiHK]

Going to the apple store right now to get my new rmbp.
Can u guys help? I had the rmbp 13" of early 2013. Was very happy with it, except the graphics.
Now i cant decide between the 1500usd model and the 1800usd. As storage is not such a big deal for me (256 was fine as i stream my music, and have a 2to wd hd), i wonder what kind of improvement i get from the 2.4 top the 2.6ghz?
Also, I was quite excited by the battery boost, that's why i'm not considerin so much the 15" that seems too close to what i had previously. (even if we can argue that we can "do more" at the same time on a bigger screen ahah)
thanks in advance for your help !

 

[Eidorian]

I am really considering a refurbished Ivy Bridge 13" rMBP but to save money I would be stuck with the 128 GB version with 8 GB of RAM. Upgrading the SSD myself or getting the next refurbished model up pulls it into Haswell rMBP territory. Black Friday is just a few weeks away at this point.

I really do have the money...

 

[john123]

Can you tell me where I can find this close-out-pricing on the apple page? Or is this done through other retailers only?

Other retailers only, although you can get Apple refurbs too.

 

[buysp]

Just pulled the trigger!

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display

A$ 1,571.82

With the following configuration:

• 2.4GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz

• 8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM

• 256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage

 

[NocturnalJazz]

Going to the apple store right now to get my new rmbp.
Can u guys help? I had the rmbp 13" of early 2013. Was very happy with it, except the graphics.
Now i cant decide between the 1500usd model and the 1800usd. As storage is not such a big deal for me (256 was fine as i stream my music, and have a 2to wd hd), i wonder what kind of improvement i get from the 2.4 top the 2.6ghz?
Also, I was quite excited by the battery boost, that's why i'm not considerin so much the 15" that seems too close to what i had previously. (even if we can argue that we can "do more" at the same time on a bigger screen ahah)
thanks in advance for your help !

Do they have them in store. All the Chicago locations have not received shipment.

 

[johnnylarue]

How much do audio programs like Logic Pro X, Reason 7, and Abelton Live benefit from the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M? I'd prefer getting away with buying the base 15" rMBP plus 16GB of RAM rather than the higher priced 15" model.

My guess is zero. The Iris Pro is alleged to "borrow" system RAM, whereas the 750M has 2GB worth of its own on deck--but with 16GB on hand that discrepancy is a moot point.

None of that audio software is especially graphics-intensive by design, so the GPU shouldn't make an iota of difference.

 

[mehdiHK]

Do they have them in store. All the Chicago locations have not received shipment.

In Hong Kong it´s 12pm of the 23rd and yes they have it!

 

[Mansali]

Would the base 15 be better for casual gaming?

I wanna try out bioshock infinite for the mac but will not be a hardcore gamer who games all the time. I just wanna play a couple of games on my mac just because I wanna see how they are on the laptop but console gaming is really my thing.

I already have a windows computer so I will not be using bootcamp at all.

So based on all of this which is a better computer for me. The 15 base or the high end 15 with the dgpu? And if I do get the base model should I get 16 gb of ram or is 8 good enough for the next 3-4 years?