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When can we expect Skylake DDR4 MBP? Is it worth to wait?

I

iRight

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 18, 2013
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As the title says.

I expect it to not lag while editing Full HD video and while working with photoshop.

As for gaming: Blizzard games + Lineage Eternal ( on boot camp or parallels) https://www.youtube.com/user/lineageforums

I want it to run smoothly at least for 5 years.

Wouldn't an iMac be better for my needs? Mobility is nice but not crucial for me.

Thank you.

P.S. Ofc we're talking about 15" MBP
 
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I would look at it the following way:
What do you expect to be able do with a Skylake DDR4 MBR that you cannot do today?

If you just want the latest and greatest hardware, you'll always will be disappointed.
That's just my opinion.
 
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pmau said:
I would look at it the following way:
What do you expect to be able do with a Skylake DDR4 MBR that you cannot do today?

If you just want the latest and greatest hardware, you'll always will be disappointed.
That's just my opinion.
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Well I expect to use the mac I buy till it can't run effeciently what I need it to run. In other words I wish to have a mac with the longest life span possible. When it gets too old to run things fast enough I will just sell it and buy a new one. I usually change computers once every 5-6 years it seems to be a good time coz I always go for high-end stuff so it just keeps working nicely enough even after 4+ years.

edit: first post updated
 
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What things are those, for instance, I have a 2010 MBP that is still going strong, its now my kids laptops. Its quite possible that the 2015 MBP can do that now.

Its a nice to have, but I suspect for the majority of owners the current model is more then enough computer for now and the foreseeable future.
 
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If you want something for gaming that lasts long, build a small desktop gaming rig. You exchange the GPU every two years and you practically get a new system for 200 bucks. 2 years is a huge difference in GPUs usually.

If you go for a 15" I doubt the Skylake will make a huge difference. The biggest thing to wait for would be when the switch to 14/16nm GPUs like Nvidia's Pascal are made. Those will be a lot faster. If you have the time to wait that will be the best time to get one that lasts long relative to gaming needs.

I do currently use my old 2010 that is in use by my parents, while my own 2013 is in repair. It still works flawlessly, but boy is it slow and underpowered, when you are used to something with a quad core and multiple times faster GPUs.
CPU speed will not grow anything significant in the foreseeable future. It is all about power efficiency. But GPUs have been waiting on a new process node for a while. They will make a big jump and then likely say the same for a while depending on when HBM actually becomes a mainstream thing.

Skylake will only make a noticeable performance difference in the 13" GPU department with DDR4 and some edram. For the 15" it will be some 10% difference in performance and otherwise only extra power efficiency and battery life.
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
As far as I can tell the mobile skylake chips don't support DDR4 anyway....
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Well that solves it then - its a moot issue.

Overall though as I posted I think the current machines are quite powerful to last many many years, though I understand why its better to wait, you're spending a lot of money, you might as well get the latest chipset - that's something I do as well.
 
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If you actually read the source for the statement of "no DDR4 for Y/U" then their is little more than a side note that could interpreted as H/S come with only DDR4 and the Y/U support DDR3 too. I think they incorrectly state this on wikipedia.
Even if it was true the H/S series quad core all have DDR4 support and we are talking about the 15" in this thread.
Also every source says there will be a memory controller that supports both. They won't build two different memory controllers. They use the same on all SKUs and therefore it will be up to the manufacturer to use either DDR4 or DDR3.
Since Apple always goes for the big GPU designs they likely will also go for DDR4 as it really helps there. Most of the PC market will likely stick to DDR3 because it saves money and really doesn't make much of a difference for the CPU and smaller GPUs.
I think after checking those sources on wikipedia, one can consider it a given that all Apple Skylake notebooks will come with DDR4. Except Apple goes really cheap on us but DDR4 is really not that expensive.
 
dusk007 said:
If you actually read the source for the statement of "no DDR4 for Y/U" then their is little more than a side note that could interpreted as H/S come with only DDR4 and the Y/U support DDR3 too. I think they incorrectly state this on wikipedia.
Even if it was true the H/S series quad core all have DDR4 support and we are talking about the 15" in this thread.
Also every source says there will be a memory controller that supports both. They won't build two different memory controllers. They use the same on all SKUs and therefore it will be up to the manufacturer to use either DDR4 or DDR3.
Since Apple always goes for the big GPU designs they likely will also go for DDR4 as it really helps there. Most of the PC market will likely stick to DDR3 because it saves money and really doesn't make much of a difference for the CPU and smaller GPUs.
I think after checking those sources on wikipedia, one can consider it a given that all Apple Skylake notebooks will come with DDR4. Except Apple goes really cheap on us but DDR4 is really not that expensive.
Click to expand...

And thats where I disagree what I read a few weeks ago indicated no DDR4 at all on the Y/U chips. I don't see them going to DDR4 until canonlake, I think that the speed benefits on current DDR4 offerings are not enough for apple to justify the extra expense. Of course I could be just as wrong as you could but thats just the way I see it.
 
For Intel HD 6000/6100 ever bit of bandwidth counts.
DDR4 2133 is about 40% more expensive than DDR3 1600. That is not all that much and Apple already uses 1866Mhz which is somewhat more expensive. It saves power and offers extra bandwidth and will likely still come down in price once the Skylake launch draws near and DDR4 production really ramps up.
What bit did you read that indicate Y/U get no DDR4? I found nothing of that sort.
 
dusk007 said:
For Intel HD 6000/6100 ever bit of bandwidth counts.
DDR4 2133 is about 40% more expensive than DDR3 1600. That is not all that much and Apple already uses 1866Mhz which is somewhat more expensive. It saves power and offers extra bandwidth and will likely still come down in price once the Skylake launch draws near and DDR4 production really ramps up.
What bit did you read that indicate Y/U get no DDR4? I found nothing of that sort.
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I wish I could remember I'd link it.

40% is massive, have you never worked in a manufacturing environment?? I actually thought it was much closer in price and still thought it unlikely.

I agree that it is better just not enough better to make it a must have for apple on the next iteration of the macbook pro.

I personally don't think they'll do a redesign for the skylake pro's and I think this may be the crux of our disagreement. If they do a redesign I think they may go for it, but if they don't (and as I say I don't think they will) I just can't see them bothering, especially if the price differences are that huge.
 
iRight said:
As the title says.

I expect it to not lag while editing Full HD video and while working with photoshop.

As for gaming: Blizzard games + Lineage Eternal ( on boot camp or parallels) https://www.youtube.com/user/lineageforums

I want it to run smoothly at least for 5 years.

Wouldn't an iMac be better for my needs? Mobility is nice but not crucial for me.

Thank you.

P.S. Ofc we're talking about 15" MBP
Click to expand...

An iMac would be better suited for your needs.

However, if you expect to game at native res on either the 5k iMac or the 15" rMBP, with good fps and high settings, you'll be disappointed. You can game on either option (iMac better, ofc), but they aren't gaming machines.
 
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inhalexhale1 said:
An iMac would be better suited for your needs.

However, if you expect to game at native res on either the 5k iMac or the 15" rMBP, with good fps and high settings, you'll be disappointed. You can game on either option (iMac better, ofc), but they aren't gaming machines.
Click to expand...
As for gaming and work I'm only interested in smooth Full HD, 5k will be perfect for photoshop and so on.
 
When is Nvidia's Pascal architecture going to hit macs?

Now I don't know wheather I should go for upcoming rmbp/rimacs or wait even longer///
 
iRight said:
When is Nvidia's Pascal architecture going to hit macs?

Now I don't know wheather I should go for upcoming rmbp/rimacs or wait even longer///
Click to expand...
If you wait for the latest and greatest, you'll be waiting your whole life. There's always something better right around the corner.
 
iRight said:
When is Nvidia's Pascal architecture going to hit macs?

Now I don't know wheather I should go for upcoming rmbp/rimacs or wait even longer///
Click to expand...

If Apple redesigns the 15" MBPs once Skylake arrives, there are many posters who believe the dGPU will be discontinued as well.
 
iRight said:
Now I don't know wheather I should go for upcoming rmbp/rimacs or wait even longer///
Click to expand...

If you just sell your computer when it's not fast enough to run the things you want to run, buy one now and sell it when you need something faster.
 
When is Nvidia's Pascal architecture going to hit macs?

Now I don't know wheather I should go for upcoming rmbp/rimacs or wait even longer///
Click to expand...

As apple has clearly moved to all AMD GPU's in all their computers over the last 2 years, I'm going to go out on a limb and say never. Yes of course they may go back to NVIDIA at some point but I'd imagine they'll have a new architecture by then.
 
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