What happened to the "special Haswell chips"?

[timsaxman]

https://www.macrumors.com/2013/07/2...-high-end-haswell-processors-for-macbook-pro/

Was this just a speculation and a rumor. Because if the chips where more powerful than Phil probably would have mentioned it during the presentation.

 

[Ghinzu]

We should wait for Anandtech's thorough review of the machine(s), so we'll know for sure then.

Actually, I'm amazed (in a bad way) at the way The Verge and co did their reviews: "it's thinner, it has this awesome new Iris Pro chip, go get 'em while it's hot!". Disgusting and truly a kick in the butt to the tech journalism.

 

[Polymorphic]

We should wait for Anandtech's thorough review of the machine(s), so we'll know for sure then.

Actually, I'm amazed (in a bad way) at the way The Verge and co did their reviews: "it's thinner, it has this awesome new Iris Pro chip, go get 'em while it's hot!". Disgusting and truly a kick in the butt to the tech journalism.

Yep. They might as well have just written "FIRST!" and ended it there.

I'm looking forward to Anand weighing in.

 

[Hypathia]

I think the 4960HQ is that "special" chip. It is clocked higher than the 4950HQ, indicating that those chips are those with the highest silicon quality. They are also apparently not available to any other manufacturer. At least, there is no price on Intel's website.

 

[hova]

The review made me switch my theverge bookmark to an anandtech bookmark. It's really bad, the thing that got me over the edge was calling it a "gaming pc".

 

[johnnylarue]

The review made me switch my theverge bookmark to an anandtech bookmark. It's really bad, the thing that got me over the edge was calling it a "gaming pc".

Agreed. I think there are about five "professional" reviews out on the Haswell MBPs, and every one of them reads like a paid advertisement.

It's possible my brain has become too specs/performance-obsessed from frequenting these forums for too long, or that all five reviewers just genuinely love the new MacBook Pros enough to overlook the fact that they're basically the same as last year's, only $200 cheaper... but I chalk it up to lazy journalism.

And yes, the "First!" factor counts too--think of how many easy hits those websites are getting from people eager to read ANYTHING they can get their hands on about the Haswell MBPs. Kinda makes sense, when you think about it.

 

[tecknik1]

According to reports only the top of the line 15 MBPR well receive the 4960 special chip.

 

[iKrivetko]

The review made me switch my theverge bookmark to an anandtech bookmark. It's really bad, the thing that got me over the edge was calling it a "gaming pc".

That caught my eye as well. "Gaming" was probably the most frequently used word of the article.

 

[tmiw]

The review made me switch my theverge bookmark to an anandtech bookmark. It's really bad, the thing that got me over the edge was calling it a "gaming pc".

It shouldn't be a surprise that they're seriously pro-Apple, though. Almost every Apple product rates 9.0 or above, while almost every non-Apple product consistently gets below 9.0.

 

[Starfyre]

Actually, I'm amazed (in a bad way) at the way The Verge and co did their reviews: "it's thinner, it has this awesome new Iris Pro chip, go get 'em while it's hot!". Disgusting and truly a kick in the butt to the tech journalism.

I hope there is no hidden reference to that special 2.6 GHz chip being "hot". The reviews by LaptopMag and Verge make the 2.3 sound pretty hot... :/

 

[FuNGi]

According to reports only the top of the line 15 MBPR well receive the 4960 special chip.

Do you mean the 2.3/750 or the 2.6/750 BTO?

 

[Steve121178]

The review made me switch my theverge bookmark to an anandtech bookmark. It's really bad, the thing that got me over the edge was calling it a "gaming pc".

I also noticed this. The reviewer was constantly trying to push it as a gaming device. Generally The Verge's reviews are ok and more often than not should often be taken with a pinch of salt, but I am amazed that the review was approved to be published. It was embarrassingly poor.

 

[Wuiffi]

Do you mean the 2.3/750 or the 2.6/750 BTO?

Intel 4960 HQ is the bto 2.6ghz chip (you can get it with every ssd)

Imo semiaccurate (where the special chip rumor is from) either thought that Iris pro is build especially for apple (apple pushed intel to do better graphics) or they thought that maybe a beefed up iris peo is coming

 

[PBG4 Dude]

We should wait for Anandtech's thorough review of the machine(s), so we'll know for sure then.

Actually, I'm amazed (in a bad way) at the way The Verge and co did their reviews: "it's thinner, it has this awesome new Iris Pro chip, go get 'em while it's hot!". Disgusting and truly a kick in the butt to the tech journalism.

I think that's The Verge in general. Many articles I've read there seem as it's only an introduction to the true article. I keep thinking, "great! You have my attention" Then I hit article credits and am left with a "Where's the rest of the article?" Feeling.

 

[FuNGi]

Intel 4960 HQ is the bto 2.6ghz chip (you can get it with every ssd)

Imo semiaccurate (where the special chip rumor is from) either thought that Iris pro is build especially for apple (apple pushed intel to do better graphics) or they thought that maybe a beefed up iris peo is coming

Yes, I meant 750M as in the models with the dGPU, not SSD .

I read that the Crystalwell 5100 was a special build for Apple but wasn't aware that there might be differences associated wight the processor speeds on the higher end 15" models.

 

[Mr MM]

lets be clear here, there never was a special custom cpu only for apple.

iris pro is something that apple asked intel to do. intel has this kind of relationship with the OEMs, they gather and ask away things and features that they want