Im thinking about buying one with my Christmas money but I want to wait for a new one to come out first since I'm going to spend a lot of money on it. It will probably have DDR4, Intel 6th gen CPUs and more. When do you guys think it will most likely come out? I mean what month.
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What's an educated guess of when the next Retina Mac book pro might be released?
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Judging from prior releases [ Check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro for release patterns ]; whenever there was a Late release, it was around the last week of October, so this year is past due. Since they updated the Macbook Pros Mid 2015, the earliest I would expect a new update (hopefully including Skylake) would be around the end of February or beginning of March for a Early 2016 release. Otherwise, expect to see it as a Mid 2016 release around May / June. I guess it will depend on the availability of Intel Skylake processors in high quantities.
AIUI the Skylake processors suitable for Macbook Pro are due for release Q1/Q2 16 as per above post, so there won't be a refresh this year.
A quick check reveals there is no significant price difference between DDR3L and DDR4 memory (compared modules running at same frequency), DDR4 is already available on the market, DDR4 offers higher frequencies than DDR3L (at a higher price of course). If the next release offers Skylake CPU's that are compatible with DDR4 memory, why would Apple decide not to switch to (faster) DDR4 memory?
Well they didn't put it in the 5K imac and I'm pretty sure the old DDR3 stock will be a lot cheaper for apple with the amount they would buy.....
True. I would see the current iMac 5k as a transition phase where DDR4 is compatible but maybe not used because of low quantities DDR4 supplies or remaining DDR3L stock Apple happened to have. The moment other systems (i.e. MacBooks) also make the transition to CPUs compatible with DDR4, I would expect Apple to make the transition. Just hope that a few months from now supply of DDR4 is sufficient and DDR3L stocks have dwindled. Although I agree I wouldn't be surprised if they continued to use what's left of DDR3L stock at Apple or global market as prices may drop relative to DDR4.
Back in the old days faster memory meant "big" jumps in performance. Is the performance gain today still big enough to actually make a difference? Do you happen to know if memory is still a performance bottleneck these days?
Well as you pointed out clock speeds haven't really gone up yet with DDR4 but it's all about bandwidth and controllers I think, I have yet to read any reviews of a DDR4 toting computer yet but I truly think you'll struggle to notice any difference until systems and software are designed to take advantage of it.
Anandtech thinks it makes no real difference at all
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8959/...-3200-with-gskill-corsair-adata-and-crucial/8
Interesting read, especially the next page on 'The future of DDR4' (or DDR in general). Thanks for sharing!
I may be mistaken, but the big advantage of DDR4 is higher clock-speed at RAM-sizes > 512GB.
IIRC, you can still get 1800MHz on a full TB of RAM, wheres with DDR, you were limited to 1333 or less (on a typical 2 CPU server).
As you might have guessed, unless there's a significant power-saving effect with DDR4 vs. DDR3 the benefit to something like a MacBook is probably in the region of nil.
But I'm also waiting for the 2nd generation rMB.
This Asus notebook already comes with Skylake:
http://store.asus.com/us/item/201510AM150007436/A17602
So, CPUs should be available. The question is: when will Apple release their updated MacBooks?
It's actually in store at various local dealers. The QHD+ version shows 2-3 weeks of delivery-time, though (and has about the entry-level price of the rMB).
Would Apple drag this until over the holidays?
IIRC, you can still get 1800MHz on a full TB of RAM, wheres with DDR, you were limited to 1333 or less (on a typical 2 CPU server).
As you might have guessed, unless there's a significant power-saving effect with DDR4 vs. DDR3 the benefit to something like a MacBook is probably in the region of nil.
But I'm also waiting for the 2nd generation rMB.
This Asus notebook already comes with Skylake:
http://store.asus.com/us/item/201510AM150007436/A17602
So, CPUs should be available. The question is: when will Apple release their updated MacBooks?
It's actually in store at various local dealers. The QHD+ version shows 2-3 weeks of delivery-time, though (and has about the entry-level price of the rMB).
Would Apple drag this until over the holidays?
Intel has released a number of Core i5/i7 HQ/HK CPUs this quarter that may be used in future Macbook Pros. Still I doubt we will see an update before the end of this year. It's not typical for Apple to release new MacBooks during November and December. The next earliest date is beginning of Januari (for the 2006 and 2009 releases), but I would expect February/March at the earliest. They also just released a bunch of new hardware. It makes sense they focus their effort on production and distribution of those machines before shifting to another piece of hardware. This cycle has been going on for many years now.
Unfortunately, no one but Apple knows their future plans in detail. I'd love to be proven wrong and see Apple take advantage of the Christmas splurge, but don't be disappointed if you have to wait until May/June before the next release.
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/11/13/apple-gift-guide-2015-holidays/
One more reason we probably won't see updates for the Macbook Pros before the end of the year. If I recall correctly, Apple never advertised them as holiday gifts. The focus was always on the smaller hardware: iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, accessories, etcetera. This year includes only the retina Macbook of all their MacBooks as gift recommendation.
One more reason we probably won't see updates for the Macbook Pros before the end of the year. If I recall correctly, Apple never advertised them as holiday gifts. The focus was always on the smaller hardware: iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, accessories, etcetera. This year includes only the retina Macbook of all their MacBooks as gift recommendation.