Waiting for Skylake MBP thread

[Steve.P.JobsFan]

I've been without a Macintosh for a year and a half now. I had a Mid-2011 21.5" iMac and sold it back at the beginning of 2014 because I wanted to get a MacBook Pro instead... but then I had to use the money to replace my other PC that caught fire...

I've been forced to use the world of Windows since January 2014. I miss my Mac, I wish I never would've gotten rid of that iMac, especially since it was the first Mac I ever bought new.

I'm finally in a position where I can swing the bucks towards Timmy Cook for another Mac, but I'm not buying the 2014 model when a refresh is imminent.

However, I'll be purchasing at the earliest during back-to-school season this year. I'm hoping that Skylake rMBPs are on sale this August/September.

But at the same time, Cannonlake is supposed to be a 14-to-10mm die shrink.

I want to buy in at Skylake as that is a "tock" on Intel's schedule, which is usually when they redesign an architecture, whereas the "tick" is just the 2nd generation (further tweaking, if you will) of that architecture.

Not sure. I guess if I'm still just as desperate to get away from Windows 8.1 (and eventually Windows 10 in 2-3 months) as I am now (it isn't all THAT bad, but still...), I'll buy Skylake.

 

[mcarling]

I want the new 15" to have the double SSD speed, dGPU GT950, 16GB RAM, 512GB Storage, 5k support and capabilities.

The 15" Skylake MBP will certainly offer all of those features, except that a discrete GPU is unlikely.

I'm hoping that Skylake rMBPs are on sale this August/September.

There is zero chance of a Skylake MBP shipping so soon as August or September of 2015. More likely February or March of 2016.

 

[fat jez]

The 15" Skylake MBP will certainly offer all of those features, except that a discrete GPU is unlikely.



There is zero chance of a Skylake MBP shipping so soon as August or September of 2015. More likely February or March of 2016.

Two reasons why I'm tempted not to wait. I want a discrete GPU for gaming and any new machine won't support Windows 7 under bootcamp (I'm not moving to Windows 8.1 or 10)

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

There is zero chance of a Skylake MBP shipping so soon as August or September of 2015. More likely February or March of 2016.

Skylake is expected on the market in August.

 

[fat jez]

Skylake is expected on the market in August.

Expected or launched? If the latter, could still be sometime before it's available.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Expected or launched? If the latter, could still be sometime before it's available.

What is the difference? Its officially announced, so unless you are talking about an announcement of an announcement, then it is availability.

 

[dusk007]

It is like Broadwell. Intel repeatedly said, "no, no, we are still launching in 2014." You had to read between the lines to notice only some Broadwell will launch. Then all that showed up is Core-M.
Now just the U-series took a long time into 2015 to show itself when roadmaps looked like U should have still been in 2014.
Now the quad cores are supposed to show up sometime after july and will likely launch like 9 months after Intel said "this is when Broadwell will launch".

I am guessing skylake will be the same. Some will show up earily possibly those K-Desktop enthusiast parts and everything else will take till 2016 and a quad core mobile skylake will probably be 2H 2016.
I haven't heard a single rumor that makes me believe and worthwhile skylake parts will show up early.

 

[fat jez]

What is the difference? Its officially announced, so unless you are talking about an announcement of an announcement, then it is availability.

I mean like what Apple do. Announce the device and tell you it's coming months later, as they did with the Apple Watch. Intel could feasibly announce features in August and tell you the first CPUs will be available to buy in January.

 

[mcarling]

Skylake is expected on the market in August.

As dusk007 pointed out, some Skylake parts does not mean all Skylake parts. Both Tick rollouts and Tock rollouts are staggered, but Tick rollouts are more staggered than Tock rollouts.

a quad core mobile skylake will probably be 2H 2016.

I think that's pessimistic. I expect Intel will probably ship Skylake-H parts end of 2015 or beginning of 2016, which means that Apple would probably release a 15" Skylake MBP about February to April 2016.

 

[jovi.jia]

I like these 14'' & 16'' rMBP ideas! edge-to-edge screen, MB keyboard, as thin as MacBook Air, and as big as 13'' & 15'' rMBP

I don't think Skylake rmbp will pop up immediately after the chip release.. probably a few month wait but that's pure speculation. I doubt we will see Broadwell rmbp.. probably will go straight to Skylake.

I do think there will be a significant visual aesthetic change to the chassis. A thinner notebook borrowing some design elements from the new retina MBA, smaller bezels (or even edge-to-edge) to accommodate 14" and 16" replacements for 13" and 15" so that the lineup is 12" retina mba, 14" and 16" rmbp.

 

[Yixian]

I really cannot believe my ears (eyes), no "real" upgrade to the MBP for potentially yet another 12 months?!

 

[inhalexhale1]

The 15" Skylake MBP will certainly offer all of those features, except that a discrete GPU is unlikely.



There is zero chance of a Skylake MBP shipping so soon as August or September of 2015. More likely February or March of 2016.

Agreed. I see a normal refresh this summer with standard upgrades, then redesigns to the MBP line next winter with Skylake and USB-C.

 

[mjs402]

I like these 14'' & 16'' rMBP ideas! edge-to-edge screen, MB keyboard, as thin as MacBook Air, and as big as 13'' & 15'' rMBP

I don't see them making a 16" one but I could be (since my speculation is based on what I want and not on fact) wrong. If they are replacing the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Airs with the 12-inch MacBook, then logically they would replace the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro with a 14-inch with Iris Pro graphics. If we're lucky, we might get a dGPU.

 

[mcarling]

I really cannot believe my ears (eyes), no "real" upgrade to the MBP for potentially yet another 12 months?!

Do you think the 13" Broadwell MBP with faster performance, longer battery life, the Force Touchpad, and an improved keyboard is not a "real upgrade" from the 13" Haswell MBP? That is exactly the sort of upgrade we can expect for the 15" MBP, probably in time for back-to-school. The big question mark is whether or not the high-end model will include a discrete GPU.

 

[Yixian]

Do you think the 13" Broadwell MBP with faster performance, longer battery life, the Force Touchpad, and an improved keyboard is not a "real upgrade" from the 13" Haswell MBP? That is exactly the sort of upgrade we can expect for the 15" MBP, probably in time for back-to-school. The big question mark is whether or not the high-end model will include a discrete GPU.

I guess that's not too bad, but it's really starting to hurt how long everything has been set back. If you've waited this long, it's hard to not wait for the major update that is Skylake with it's presumed redesign etc. but even that wait is now delayed until 2016?!

The elephant in the room in this forum is constantly the GPU. Say what you will about it being better to buy a despot for graphics performance but the fact is, a very large group of buyers clearly are concerned about the GPU performance on their laptops and it's the area that needs to be the most cutting edge in order to feel like a satisfying upgrade.

Broadway does not deliver that at all, so the wait continues and looks to be enormously long by now. I know it's not Apple's fault but it really is a gigantic mess.

 

[inhalexhale1]

Do you think the 13" Broadwell MBP with faster performance, longer battery life, the Force Touchpad, and an improved keyboard is not a "real upgrade" from the 13" Haswell MBP? That is exactly the sort of upgrade we can expect for the 15" MBP, probably in time for back-to-school. The big question mark is whether or not the high-end model will include a discrete GPU.

I wouldn't bet on the dGPU being removed, or prices changing, until a redesign. That will most likely come with Skylake, and not with the Broadwell update. I'd predict a similar update as the 13" by WWDC, and a redesign with the Skylake processors this winter (probably early 2016).

 

[emir]

I wouldn't bet on the dGPU being removed, or prices changing, until a redesign. That will most likely come with Skylake, and not with the Broadwell update. I'd predict a similar update as the 13" by WWDC, and a redesign with the Skylake processors this winter (probably early 2016).

As a 2010 15" MBP user for the past 5 years (daily driver) I want to get a redesign with the Skylake but I also keep in mind that you shouldn't buy anything first gen. from Apple if you're a long term user like me. (remember first gen. retina MBP?)

I think that means I should be keeping with my Mac till 2017? Not that I want to change it immediately. I use it for both work and personal. My biggest annoyances thus far are battery life (which is like 2.5 hours only browsing the web) and slowness when it comes to CPU intense stuff. (I do a lot of big spreadsheet analysis for work, I use photoshop sometimes)

I swapped my Superdrive with an SSD and re-installed OS X with the Fusion drive hack and it bought so much more life for my Mac. It is still not too bad thanks to that SSD. When you've come this far with a Mac the intention is to hold it longer for a record. I'm sure there still are 2008 MBP users around so why not keep it till 2017?

 

[Codeseven]

I'm sure there still are 2008 MBP users around so why not keep it till 2017?

I'm one of them, a 2008 MBP daily user. Beat up looking, Cracked screen, swollen battery, semi functional track pad and Superdrive but, (thank God) the damn thing just keeps chugging along. One of the best investments I ever made (well, actually it was a 50th birthday gift from my wife ). I know I could dump money into it (SSD) but that option should have been exercised while I still planned to keep it for much longer.

I"m dying to finally give it a break and buy something more technologically representative of this century. After all this time I don't want to settle for a Tic (Broadwell) when a Toc (Skylake) is so damn close.

The aggravating wait continues.......... WWDC?

 

[maclaw21]

Are we certain that the toc--Skylake--is going to make a significant difference when compared to Broadwell? (Notice I didn't say "worth the wait.")

 

[bluush]

The 13" refresh was probably the last refresh we'll see for either 13" or 15" rmbp. My guess is these models will ride out the rest of their days (probably through the end of the year) and early 2016 will see the release of Skylake pro machines with an entirely new design with edge to edge screen or at least drastically reduced bezel size for increased screen size (ie 14" and 16") within the same physical dimensions (roughly) of the current 13" and 15" machines. And of course they'll be thinner because that seems to be Apple's main metric in terms of aesthetic upgrades re: design.

I've no doubt Apple has been working hard on the new pro machines for a while (spec bump of the 13" aside). I think the wait will be worth it.. I have no insider info (obviously) but for some reason I have a hunch the Skylake pro machines will be quite incredible from a design standpoint and I'm holding off on a purchase because of this. A friend mentioned not only will the new pro machines likely come in 3 colors but there could be the addition of one or two more (given the overwhelming popularity of the gold model, a tasteful rose gold edition would be insanely beautiful).

As for the retina Macbook, I suspect a larger rmb will come out in time for the holiday season. It doesn't make sense for Apple to have just one single size in that category and debuting a larger size (especially around the upcoming holiday season) would make sense, though there are plenty of arguments against the idea as well. Do many people want a large, underpowered piece of eyecandy? The 12" makes sense in terms of being an on-the-go coffeeshop notebook but I'm not sure a 15" version would be quite as appealing, especially given the near 2k base pricetag it'd warrant.

 

[mcarling]

I guess that's not too bad, but it's really starting to hurt how long everything has been set back. If you've waited this long, it's hard to not wait for the major update that is Skylake with it's presumed redesign etc. but even that wait is now delayed until 2016?!

Who says that early 2016 is a delay for a Skylake MBP? Did Apple ever promise a Skylake MBP in 2015? For at least a year, I have been expecting early 2016.

The elephant in the room in this forum is constantly the GPU. Say what you will about it being better to buy a despot for graphics performance but the fact is, a very large group of buyers clearly are concerned about the GPU performance on their laptops and it's the area that needs to be the most cutting edge in order to feel like a satisfying upgrade.

"... very large group of buyers ..." ROTFL!!!

It seems that there is a tiny group who are unsatisfied with integrated GPU performance.

Broadway does not deliver that at all, so the wait continues and looks to be enormously long by now. I know it's not Apple's fault but it really is a gigantic mess.

Huh??? WTF??? Iris Pro 6200 delivers a big performance improvement over Iris Pro 5200.

----------

As a 2010 15" MBP user for the past 5 years (daily driver) I want to get a redesign with the Skylake but I also keep in mind that you shouldn't buy anything first gen. from Apple if you're a long term user like me. (remember first gen. retina MBP?)

I think that means I should be keeping with my Mac till 2017?

My best guess is that we'll see a first gen. Skylake MBP in February (or perhaps March) 2016 and then a revised Skylake MBP about October 2016. The latter would be analogous to the early 2013 MBP and the mid 2014 MBP.

 

[iMacmatician]

The 13" refresh was probably the last refresh we'll see for either 13" or 15" rmbp. My guess is these models will ride out the rest of their days (probably through the end of the year) and early 2016 will see the release of Skylake pro machines with an entirely new design with edge to edge screen or at least drastically reduced bezel size for increased screen size (ie 14" and 16") within the same physical dimensions (roughly) of the current 13" and 15" machines. And of course they'll be thinner because that seems to be Apple's main metric in terms of aesthetic upgrades re: design.

I've no doubt Apple has been working hard on the new pro machines for a while (spec bump of the 13" aside). I think the wait will be worth it.. I have no insider info (obviously) but for some reason I have a hunch the Skylake pro machines will be quite incredible from a design standpoint and I'm holding off on a purchase because of this. A friend mentioned not only will the new pro machines likely come in 3 colors but there could be the addition of one or two more (given the overwhelming popularity of the gold model, a tasteful rose gold edition would be insanely beautiful).

As for the retina Macbook, I suspect a larger rmb will come out in time for the holiday season. It doesn't make sense for Apple to have just one single size in that category and debuting a larger size (especially around the upcoming holiday season) would make sense, though there are plenty of arguments against the idea as well. Do many people want a large, underpowered piece of eyecandy? The 12" makes sense in terms of being an on-the-go coffeeshop notebook but I'm not sure a 15" version would be quite as appealing, especially given the near 2k base pricetag it'd warrant.

I've been thinking about the possibility of a 12"-14"-16" lineup in the 2016-2017 timeframe. My current guesses:

• 12" MacBook: 5 W Core M, 2304x1440, 9 hour battery life, 1x USB-C
• 14" MacBook: 6 W Core M, 2560x1600, 12 hour battery life, 2x USB-C, about as thin as the 12" MB
• 14" MacBook Pro: ~28 W dual-core (maybe ~17 W?), 2880x1800, 10 hour battery life
• 16" MacBook Pro: ~47 W quad-core, 3360x2100?, 10-12 hour battery life?, no discrete GPU

Since the 15" rMBP was designed with a discrete GPU in mind and this hypothetical 16" MBP will be designed with no discrete GPU in mind, perhaps we could see a decent reduction in thickness.

 

[inhalexhale1]

As a 2010 15" MBP user for the past 5 years (daily driver) I want to get a redesign with the Skylake but I also keep in mind that you shouldn't buy anything first gen. from Apple if you're a long term user like me. (remember first gen. retina MBP?)

I do. I bought one, and it had to be replaced within 6 months. The glue was melting, and fuming onto the screen in clamshell mode. There was a brown goo on the screen when I would open it!

Apple was great about it. Took a little convincing, but they handed me a brand new one. It was the updated model too.

 

[terencedriver]

I'm not confused, discrete GPUs are the ones that have their own VRAM and are separate chips on the motherboard, an integrated GPU shares it's VRAM and is integrated into other chips like the CPU or the chipset.

Intel Iris pro has its own video RAM

 

[apolloa]

"... very large group of buyers ..." ROTFL!!!

It seems that there is a tiny group who are unsatisfied with integrated GPU performance.

So you call the guy out for making a generalization comment only to reply by doing the exact same thing.

And worst it seems you based your reply on evidence from a thread on one internet forum.

----------

Intel Iris pro has its own video RAM

No, they don't:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204349