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Golly, it does sound like Windows 10 gets significantly better battery life on this thing than it does under Mac OS X. I'm going to have to try that out. But I didn't actually buy a MacBook for Windows.

Five meetings per day with 30 minutes between them seems to be the sked for most business travelers. But in Hong Kong, how do you spend 30 minutes between meetings? All of mine are in Central and at most 15 minutes apart. With good scheduling several of them in the same building. I never worry about running out of battery during the workday; it's the flight that is the challenge for me.
 
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OK, so BJ and Q6 both see great battery life with their 1.2. I'm not getting anywhere near 8 hours with my 1.1. Just a wild guess here, but since the 1.1 is an overpowered 0.9 and the 1.2 is a native 1.2, could maybe the 1.2's get better battery life than the 1.1 or 1.3's? I also take long flights, and usually in coach in older planes without power, so I'd love to get 8+ hours out of my rMB.

Truthfully it`s completely dependant on your usage/workflow I typically run the rMB disply at 50% workflow Apple Mail, Microsoft Office, Web, occasional image manipulation etc.

Q-6
 
The next macbook should work fully loaded more time thanks to the new skylake m, more battery life up to 1.5h
the new igpu 50% faster and usb-c compatible with thunderbolt 3
 
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Golly, it does sound like Windows 10 gets significantly better battery life on this thing than it does under Mac OS X. I'm going to have to try that out. But I didn't actually buy a MacBook for Windows.

Five meetings per day with 30 minutes between them seems to be the sked for most business travelers. But in Hong Kong, how do you spend 30 minutes between meetings? All of mine are in Central and at most 15 minutes apart. With good scheduling several of them in the same building. I never worry about running out of battery during the workday; it's the flight that is the challenge for me.

It varies by trip, but mostly I'm in specific districts in Hong Kong or cities in China on a daily basis. So when well coordinated, we'll have a car take us from meeting to meeting, most are in different buildings within the same district/city, some can be as short a ride as 10 minutes, some as long as 50 minutes (traffic), so that's where my average of about 30 minutes transit comes into play.

If on the road I want the RMB to last a full work day bouncing between these types of appointments I keep the backlight down to 50% and I power 'off' during car transit time. Not Sleep, not Hibernate, but Off. I can then make it through all ~5 meetings with 2 hours to spare on the meter by the end of the day which gives me enough confidence to leave the power brick and cord at the hotel. All I need is the RMB and my Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Mouse 3600 (just released in January, highly recommended) and I'm good to go.

BJ
 
It varies by trip, but mostly I'm in specific districts in Hong Kong or cities in China on a daily basis. So when well coordinated, we'll have a car take us from meeting to meeting, most are in different buildings within the same district/city, some can be as short a ride as 10 minutes, some as long as 50 minutes (traffic), so that's where my average of about 30 minutes transit comes into play.

If on the road I want the RMB to last a full work day bouncing between these types of appointments I keep the backlight down to 50% and I power 'off' during car transit time. Not Sleep, not Hibernate, but Off. I can then make it through all ~5 meetings with 2 hours to spare on the meter by the end of the day which gives me enough confidence to leave the power brick and cord at the hotel. All I need is the RMB and my Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Mouse 3600 (just released in January, highly recommended) and I'm good to go.

BJ

As my rMB is running OS X I just close the lid, and let the OS get on with it. My own workflow can vary significantly with similarly numerous city meetings or at a fixed location for the best part of the day, in which case taking the power supply makes sense. I don't use a mouse with OS X, however for Windows I have a similar MS BT mouse.

Same if I don't need BT or WiFi I shut it down, 50% brightness, nor do I run unnecessary background applications; CPU, temp, battery monitors etc. I am mindful that the battery is finite, therefore I look to not waste the available power when recharging is impracticable. This said I find that the rMB charges very rapidly up to around 80% so plugging it in here and there ensures that the battery is topped up and kept healthy (96% of design capacity) I also have to say that my own 1.2 has been the most stable Mac I have ever owned (10.10.5), not that I view Mac`s as being particularly problematic, never once crashing; system or application.

Last project I was spending up to 3 hours a day commuting between the engineering facility and hotel, here the rMB was the perfect choice to get some work done, while the driver dealt with KL`s worst. Heading back to KL in a matter of days, with the same plan in mind. Personally I don't have any real concerns with the rMB`s battery as I know it will reach the end of the day and with the power supply is equally diminutive it really a non issue for me.

Q-6
 
Right boltjames - Apple is most certainly not upgrading rMB to Skylake in 2016

OMG! Not a Taiwanese blog! Whoa. Never seen one of those make sweeping assumptions and be wrong before.

Your takeaway from that article should be this: Apple is under huge financial pressure because the Watch business is blah, the Music business is tubing, the Tablet business is dying, and the Phone business is impossible to comp. As such, Apple is rush-releasing new Air's and Pro's to get their stock turned around and create positive financial momentum.

Translation: The entire MacBook team in Cuppertino is readying the supply chain, the retail stores, the marketing effort, the advertising effort, the testing team, the QC team, the training group, and the transition team at the massive new launch of its two flagship notebooks and no one is spending 10 minutes on the RMB which just hit retail stores in critical mass 5 months ago and is the last thing they need to refresh.

Take it to the bank. But be excited about the new Pro which is what you all want anyway. It'll have more ports than a steamship, more processing power than a NASCAR, and be thinner and lighter. You'll forget all about your Skylake and two USB-C port fetishes in a few months. Be excited. Go to the Pro forum and speculate and rejoice.

BJ
 
Your takeaway from that article should be this: Apple is under huge financial pressure because the Watch business is blah .........

Actually, my only takeaway is that you have absiolutely no idea what you're talking about.

But what is "sometimes-reliable Taiwanese website DigiTimes" when we have an actual expert here? Apologise.

It's hilarious that boltjames "liked" your post. Whoosh.. that's the sound of your sarcasm going right through his head! :)
 
Actually, my only takeaway is that you have absiolutely no idea what you're talking about.


It's hilarious that boltjames "liked" your post. Whoosh.. that's the sound of your sarcasm going right through his head! :)

To those who keep getting wound up over Bolt James' comments in this thread and the similar "Waiting for Skylake" thread: calm down. BJ is aloud to have an opinion just like you do, and he at least takes the time to explain his position thoroughly. It's just a forum and we're speculating about future computers; no need to be snippy with each other.
 
>Watch business is blah
>the Tablet business is dying
>Phone business is impossible to comp.

Wow so much ******** in this post. Watch is by far the best selling product among competition, ipads sell like hot cakes and phone beats record sales thus far. But it is the end of the world apparently.
 
Wow so much ******** in this post. Watch is by far the best selling product among competition, ipads sell like hot cakes and phone beats record sales thus far. But it is the end of the world apparently.

Apple Watch can be the best-selling smartwatch, and still be a flop — if nobody is all that enthused with smartwatches in general. I meet tons of people, mostly corporate lawyers, who wear Apple Watch. When I ask them about how they like it, the response is usually a shrug. Far different from how people will enthuse over their iPhone or Retina MacBook. Me, having compared the available products, I think Apple Watch is far and away the very best smartwatch available. But it's not obviously so great that it would get me to put a watch on my wrist again. I'm happy enough to have my timepiece in my pocket, on my iPhone, and so are millions and millions of other target buyers.

Incidentally, can you imagine the poor suckers who plumped for the Apple Watch Edition? Ten thousand and you could take it or leave it? Yikes.

iPad unit sales are shrinking. They are shrinking faster than the overall tablet market is shrinking. And unit sales are down 25% year-over-year. No es bueno.
 
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Apple Watch can be the best-selling smartwatch, and still be a flop — if nobody is all that enthused with smartwatches in general. I meet tons of people, mostly corporate lawyers, who wear Apple Watch. When I ask them about how they like it, the response is usually a shrug. Far different from how people will enthuse over their iPhone or Retina MacBook. Me, having compared the available products, I think Apple Watch is far and away the very best smartwatch available. But it's not obviously so great that it would get me to put a watch on my wrist again. I'm happy enough to have my timepiece in my pocket, on my iPhone, and so are millions and millions of other target buyers.

Incidentally, can you imagine the poor suckers who plumped for the Apple Watch Edition? Ten thousand and you could take it or leave it? Yikes.

iPad unit sales are shrinking. They are shrinking faster than the overall tablet market is shrinking. And unit sales are down 25% year-over-year. No es bueno.

Fair point, still too early to call on the Apple Watch in my opinion, with Apple's resources and a few years of iteration then who knows? Personally it intrigues me but it's not for me.
 
Wow so much ******** in this post. Watch is by far the best selling product among competition, ipads sell like hot cakes and phone beats record sales thus far. But it is the end of the world apparently.

The post you are quoting was speaking from the point of view of the investment community, not my own personal beliefs. Investors believe that the decade of wild, uncontrolled, spectacular, explosive year-over-year growth for Apple is at an end because products like the Watch, Music, Tablet, and Phone are either lukewarm by Apple standards or incapable of anniversarying prior years performance.

Apple can still dominate all of these market segments, but if there isn't double-digit growth it's considered a failure by Wall Street, speculation on their stock slows, the price tumbles. A year ago, Apple stock was at $133 a share, today it's at $96. Why? A year ago investors were bullish on new Apple products that were being released (Music, Watch, TV) and this year investors are cautious. It's not the end of the world for consumers, but it certainly is for anyone who bought Apple a year ago, the stock is down -28%.

BJ
 
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The post you are quoting was speaking from the point of view of the investment community, not my own personal beliefs. Investors believe that the decade of wild, uncontrolled, spectacular, explosive year-over-year growth for Apple is at an end because products like the Watch, Music, Tablet, and Phone are either lukewarm by Apple standards or incapable of anniversarying prior years performance.

Apple can still dominate all of these market segments, but if there isn't double-digit growth it's considered a failure by Wall Street, speculation on their stock slows, the price tumbles. A year ago, Apple stock was at $133 a share, today it's at $96. Why? A year ago investors were bullish on new Apple products that were being released (Music, Watch, TV) and this year investors are cautious. It's not the end of the world for consumers, but it certainly is for anyone who bought Apple a year ago, the stock is down -28%.

BJ

As ever many varying opinions, equally from a business point of view this is right on the "money" Apple have become far too conservative/staid of late this directly results in a failure to ignite the press & publics attention. In the current economic climate evermore are becoming cautious, nor is that going to get any better in the short to midterm. For Apple to reverse the trend they need to get back to innovating and or "reinventing". In the face of a shrinking economy, "thinner & lighter" is just not going to cut it, revolutionary technology brought to the market albeit at a premium price point may just...

Q-6
 
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As ever many varying opinions, equally from a business point of view this is right on the "money" Apple have become far too conservative/staid of late this directly results in a failure to ignite the press & publics attention. In the current economic climate evermore are becoming cautious, nor is that going to get any better in the short to midterm. For Apple to reverse the trend they need to get back to innovating and or "reinventing". In the face of a shrinking economy, "thinner & lighter" is just not going to cut it, revolutionary technology brought to the market albeit at a premium price point may just...

Q-6

"MacBook for Windows" would solve all ills for a few years, let Apple catch up on true innovation. Perhaps its time to whip out that trump card.

Mac's are fantastic Windows devices, Apple has 100s of stores with great customer servants, their products are beloved by Windows users worldwide, adding Windows versions of iMessage and AirDrop and AirPlay would be welcomed additions and help iOS sales too. Any time Apple wants to pull this off they can. More than anything, it's just marketing, not much physically has to be done, perhaps the Boot Camp utility needs to be a bit easier to manage. Let my mom walk into an Apple store, let her pick out a shiny Pro, Air, or Retina, let her walk out with a premium computer with Windows installed right out of the box, touchdown.

BJ
 
"MacBook for Windows" would solve all ills for a few years, let Apple catch up on true innovation. Perhaps its time to whip out that trump card.

Mac's are fantastic Windows devices, Apple has 100s of stores with great customer servants, their products are beloved by Windows users worldwide, adding Windows versions of iMessage and AirDrop and AirPlay would be welcomed additions and help iOS sales too. Any time Apple wants to pull this off they can. More than anything, it's just marketing, not much physically has to be done, perhaps the Boot Camp utility needs to be a bit easier to manage. Let my mom walk into an Apple store, let her pick out a shiny Pro, Air, or Retina, let her walk out with a premium computer with Windows installed right out of the box, touchdown.

BJ

Nahh they are not going to do that and destroy all those loyal fans who buy 1 mac every 7 years whether they need to or not :D
 
Nahh they are not going to do that and destroy all those loyal fans who buy 1 mac every 7 years whether they need to or not :D

09-ipod-windows.jpg


Probably not, but if Apple needs a Hail Mary to resurrect its stock price and make billions for its investors overnight, MacBook For Windows will do just that.

I know you know your Apple history, but Windows is the entire reason Apple is the biggest company in the world right now. The iPad came from the iPhone which came from the iPod, and the only reason the iPod took off as a gamechanging CE device is because Apple decided to make a version that was easily compatible with Windows right out of the box. The Music Store, the App Store, none of this happens if Apple decided to be myopic and ignore the Windows opportunity.

Point being, everything good that has happened over the last decade for it's iOS devices can happen for its notebooks for the next decade if Apple just hits a button makes "MacBook For Windows" a reality. Apple makes the best hardware, it's a crying shame that so few Windows users get to experience it.

BJ
 
Probably not, but if Apple needs a Hail Mary to resurrect its stock price and make billions for its investors overnight, MacBook For Windows will do just that.

I know you know your Apple history, but Windows is the entire reason Apple is the biggest company in the world right now. The iPad came from the iPhone which came from the iPod, and the only reason the iPod took off as a gamechanging CE device is because Apple decided to make a version that was easily compatible with Windows right out of the box. The Music Store, the App Store, none of this happens if Apple decided to be myopic and ignore the Windows opportunity.

Point being, everything good that has happened over the last decade for it's iOS devices can happen for its notebooks for the next decade if Apple just hits a button makes "MacBook For Windows" a reality. Apple makes the best hardware, it's a crying shame that so few Windows users get to experience it.

BJ

I don't disagree I've been using MBA as a windows laptop since second gen. You would also hope with more sales the Apple extra premium would also lessen.

I know diddly squat about running Multi Billion $ companies or the real reason behind falling Ipad/IPhone sales

There are those that say Apple is not about volume sales but that's is exactly what they are with most of the revenue emanating from one very successful device leads to jumpy investors. Riding a wave of popularity is great whilst it lasts ask Nokia/Blackberry/Motorola, consumers are fickle and none more so who can afford high end devices IMO

My take and in part to my jest of 7 years is saturation of consumers who are infrequent buyers. Teleco structure in US which is only changing over the last 2 years but has always had a strong hold over consumers, Consumer FADs and limits on true innovation.

It's nice to have the latest and greatest in your pocket or lap (I'm one of them) but it only takes one or two attempts when users realise if they are really using these devices potential compared to the actual price they pay.

I would like to see premium phone with minimalist features and a few built in Apps yet only need charging once every 5 days (ie a true less is more highly optimised quality device). Even with IOS nanny interface there so much stuff available it almost becomes an obsession of sorts thumbing through the screens, settings and apps. been there done that jail breaking/side loading etc it was fun at the time but boy have I wasted weeks with fiddling over the years. Newcomers and 2nd time buyers maybe starting to realise this as there real usage tempers over the year or two and they reflect on actual costs to run and own devices they only use 10-20% of the features.

I hope Apple do come out with something great in 2016 as have already seen some good innovators like Sony pull out of the market
 
I know diddly squat about running Multi Billion $ companies or the real reason behind falling Ipad/IPhone sales
TROLL. Every Macrumors member knows perfectly well how to run Apple best! ;)

It's nice to have the latest and greatest in your pocket or lap (I'm one of them) but it only takes one or two attempts when users realise if they are really using these devices potential compared to the actual price they pay.
This is the thing for me. I want a new phone, because I'm one of those people, but I don't need it. I saw what smartwatches do and it's a lot of "yeah this would be sorta nice to have I guess" but they'd have to cost 20% of what they do for me to justify the purchase to myself. A part of me goes "you want the new thing". But the part that holds my wallet goes "actually no you don't, you can to go on holiday with the money you save by using an ancient two-year old phone" ;)
 
...the RMB which just hit retail stores in critical mass 5 months ago and is the last thing they need to refresh.

Oh? Is that why there's 9 pages of comments on this thread? I guess nobody cares about Skylake. Or maybe you're taking your opinion and applying it to everyone else's.


But be excited about the new Pro which is what you all want anyway.

Nah, I'll just wait a few months for what I actually am wanting: the Skylake MacBook. Along with many others. But I apologize - since you don't want one, no one wants one. Please forgive me.
[doublepost=1454371391][/doublepost]
The iPad came from the iPhone which came from the iPod, and the only reason the iPod took off as a gamechanging CE device is because Apple decided to make a version that was easily compatible with Windows right out of the box. The Music Store, the App Store, none of this happens if Apple decided to be myopic and ignore the Windows opportunity.

While this is all true, let's not compare Apple like 15 years ago in the rebuilding Jobs era to the current day Tim Cook Apple, as of today sitting in the position as the most valuable company in the world.

Apple doesn't need to appease Windows users. They made the iPod move when they were desparate and not so far from bankruptcy, when EVERYONE had Windows. Apple's user base was pathetic back then. Today, Apple makes what they proudly declare the best desktop operating system, and there are millions and millions that agree with them (myself, many of my friends, and my family included). Back then, this wasn't the case. Brand loyalty has always been high, but regarding the Mac, market share was miniscule around the era the iPod was developed.

While I definitely won't argue that an easy Windows option (1-click rather than Bootcamp) would be, at least, a short term profitable business venture, I think to a certain degree it would erode some of the brand value for the OSX OS. Apple already has Bootcamp for those that have to use Windows, I don't see them going any further than that.

The important thing to remember here is how small of a percentage of customers would really give a crap about this feature. Businesses aren't going to buy Macs then load Windows on them at a largely deployable scale. Think about how expensive and unnecessary that would be. And Windows users that chose Windows as a decision based on cost aren't going to clamor to buy a Mac, at a premium, and then pay to have Windows installed, at a premium as well. In my opinion, those 2 user scenarios (big business/cost buyers) make up the vast majority of Windows users today. I don't have the market data to support it, but you get the gist. To me, the small revenue gain from a move such as this is not worth the erosion of brand value that would come along with such a move. Think about the dramatic tech blogs: they'd declare it "the day OSX died". Given Apple's current position in the market, where there small market share is very profitable, the fear of that alone should warrant Apple to consider this idea not worth their time.

I do, however, think it is an interesting topic, and it'd be interesting to see this occur. I don't think we'll see it anytime in the next 5 years, though
 
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Oh? Is that why there's 9 pages of comments on this thread? I guess nobody cares about Skylake. Or maybe you're taking your opinion and applying it to everyone else's.

Nah, I'll just wait a few months for what I actually am wanting: the Skylake MacBook. Along with many others. But I apologize - since you don't want one, no one wants one. Please forgive me.

It may be running 9 pages, but there are only about 9 people who are pro-Skylake active and foolishly think Apple reads this thread and that their lobbying is going to make a difference. Let's guess that, what, Apple has sold 2,000,000 RMB's. 9 people is hardly significant. We're not talking Antennagate here.

Importantly, the target RMB Facebook audience doesn't know what Skylake is, they just like how thin and light the new MacBook is. Power users, they don't want an RMB as it will never have the processing horsepower or the legacy connectivity they desire.

No apologies necessary. Mistakes happen. So long as you learn from this, you'll turn out okay.

BJ
[doublepost=1454375030][/doublepost]
The important thing to remember here is how small of a percentage of customers would really give a crap about this feature. Businesses aren't going to buy Macs then load Windows on them at a largely deployable scale. Think about how expensive and unnecessary that would be. And Windows users that chose Windows as a decision based on cost aren't going to clamor to buy a Mac, at a premium, and then pay to have Windows installed, at a premium as well. In my opinion, those 2 user scenarios (big business/cost buyers) make up the vast majority of Windows users today. I don't have the market data to support it, but you get the gist. To me, the small revenue gain from a move such as this is not worth the erosion of brand value that would come along with such a move. Think about the dramatic tech blogs: they'd declare it "the day OSX died". Given Apple's current position in the market, where there small market share is very profitable, the fear of that alone should warrant Apple to consider this idea not worth their time.

People said the same thing about iPhone vs. Blackberry and look at how that turned out. The more expensive device, unsupported by the company you work for, the device you have to pay for yourself, that's the one that won the portable computing battle, won it decisively and quickly. If these Windows users fell in love with their iPhone's they'll fall in love with their Mac's as long as they're running an operating system that supports the software they own and the files they get through work.

And don't forget that the biggest opportunity for Apple isn't with the hardware. It's with the 100s of stores and 1000s of Geniuses who make it easy to decipher the notebook buying process, a process so convoluted that it turns off the vast majority of PC notebook buyers who would rather get root canal than walk into a Best Buy computer department. Imagine your mom going into an Apple store, getting quality sales support, being able to patiently demo each notebook, getting a 30 minute primer on Windows 10, having an associate configure the OS on the spot....basically everything that's preventing Windows notebooks from being sold now corrected. Use your imagination.

BJ
 
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Whoever believes Apple isn't going to update their rMB line with Skylake this year is grossly deluded. You are entitled to whatever opinion you've convinced yourself of, but if you overwhelmingly ignore all the industry evidence and previous business practices just because you feel like you WANT to be right, then sorry, you deserve the flame coming to you.

1 more month until the updates people, hang in there.
 
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Whoever believes Apple isn't going to update their rMB line with Skylake this year is grossly deluded. You are entitled to whatever opinion you've convinced yourself of, but if you overwhelmingly ignore all the industry evidence and previous business practices just because you feel like you WANT to be right, then sorry, you deserve the flame coming to you.

1 more month until the updates people, hang in there.

Besides the predictable boilerplate "because Apple usually does this" argument that ignores that it's 2016 and Apple is a different company than it was in 2009, for what reasons would Apple update the RMB at this time?

Is the RMB under threat from a competing product? Dell and Asus making Apple shake in its boots? Are RMB sales abysmal or should we also believe industry evidence that says it's currently Apple's top selling notebook? Why would customers of a notebook that's running a 2007 era processor care about processing power? For what reason would Apple update the RMB besides "because they usually do this"?

Skylake. No one has heard of the thing, no one wants the thing, it adds practically nothing, it's counter to the reason the RMB even exists in the first place. Not to mention that it makes no sense from a supply chain standpoint with Apple gearing up new Pro's and Air's and the RMB being only 6 months old from the day they were actually well in stock in all stores.

BJ
 
Besides the predictable boilerplate "because Apple usually does this" argument that ignores that it's 2016 and Apple is a different company than it was in 2009, for what reasons would Apple update the RMB at this time?

Is the RMB under threat from a competing product? Dell and Asus making Apple shake in its boots? Are RMB sales abysmal or should we also believe industry evidence that says it's currently Apple's top selling notebook? Why would customers of a notebook that's running a 2007 era processor care about processing power? For what reason would Apple update the RMB besides "because they usually do this"?

Skylake. No one has heard of the thing, no one wants the thing, it adds practically nothing, it's counter to the reason the RMB even exists in the first place. Not to mention that it makes no sense from a supply chain standpoint with Apple gearing up new Pro's and Air's and the RMB being only 6 months old from the day they were actually well in stock in all stores.

BJ

I see you're just looking for attention, so I'll give some to you.

What reasons does Apple have to do under-the-hood updates to any of their machines 1-2 times a year? That should answer why they would do the same for the rMB. It's not a complete redesign of the internals or the externals. It's simply a refresh of the innards. Conversely, if they do not update it this year, then they will update it in 2017. Does that make better business sense to you? Having a laptop age 2 years or more before updates? Again, evidence and logic will say they will update it in March.

You make it sound like you don't want Apple to update it more than you think they're not going to. It's silly, your trying to push this opinion onto others. Just enjoy your year-old rMB and let others enjoy theirs when they get the new ones. You had it new for a year, now it will be time for others, no need for sour grapes.

It's not a 2007 era processor. Skylake is 2015-2016. If you're talking about processor SPEEDS, though, that's something different. Please be more precise in your wording.

Skylake adds practically nothing? Seriously? Not sure about your alarmism attitude, but please do some more research before you make yourself look sillier. Bold highlights below. I would cut back on your tone here, otherwise you'd end up with a reputation like Donald Trump's after the polls come in.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...-faster-core-m-and-ultrabook-gpus-with-edram/


"There are two things you should keep in mind regarding the Core M family. The first is that Intel is promising some impressive year-over-year improvements, the largest that it's advertising for any of the Skylake chips. CPU performance should be up by between 10 and 20 percent depending on your workload, while GPU performance is supposed to increase by as much as 40 percent.

The original Core M systems had wildly varying performance, so we'll need to wait to see the Skylake version in shipping systems before we get too excited. Depending on the TDPs that PC makers choose to use and how quickly these chips throttle under load, the performance gains could be smaller in real life than they are on paper. But if these claims are accurate it could make the thin, fanless systems that Core M ushered in more plausible replacements for Ultrabooks from 2011 or 2012, the kinds of laptops that will be coming up for replacement during Skylake's run.

The one banner Skylake feature that the Core M chips don't get is DDR4 support. The new Core Ms can support faster 1866MHz LPDDR3 or DDR3L as well as the 1600MHz speeds supported by Broadwell but no DDR4. All of these CPUs should be available to OEMs now, and they ought to begin showing up in shipping hardware in the next month or two.

And finally, one new feature that has nothing to do with speeds and feeds: the Skylake version of the Core M CPU package is drastically smaller than the Broadwell version. This move will save motherboard space in laptops—things like the already-tiny MacBook logic board can now get even smaller, leaving more room for battery or other components—and let Core M fit into smaller enclosures."
 
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