when is next cycle of MBP's "due"

Who knows? There is no firm information, only speculation.

If you're keen to get the absolute most from you hardware and have something suitable to use in the mean time - wait for a refresh (whenever that will be).

Personally, I'd buy one now if I were wanting a new machine - Im not one to wait around.

The price increase is significant - But there are a couple more bits than just the display. Depending on where you are and what your after - it is possible to pick up up legit, for a bit cheaper than the RRP.

 

Have a look at the below product roadmap prediction chart:



Source: http://www.macrumors.com/2013/01/16...nes-retina-ipad-mini-all-retina-macbook-pros/

As DayVe3000 wrote, it's speculation at this point but that may give you reason enough to sway your decision in either direction.

 

The non-retina MBP's came out in June 2012, so the 2013 MBP's will come out around then, so summer time.

 

And yet the 2011's came out in February. Macs aren't on a yearly refresh like iOS devices. They are dependent upon new processor generations being released. Haswell is set to be released in June, and if we use what happened in 2012 then we can expect new Macbook Pros in August. Again though, this is completely conjecture and using a "yearly" release for Macs is just silly since it is generally greater than 1 year between refreshes (occasionally there is a mid-cycle processor bump, but they are still the same computer just a slightly faster processor).

 

Like Weaselboy said, you are NOT going to see new MBPs until Haswell is released.

It is true that the 2011s came out in February but that was because SB was released before that.

However, Apple tends to hover about a year for major upgrades. Not exact but enough to consider that a starting point if you are looking to upgrade.

 

As others have said, it depends on when Intel releases new processors. And as for "soon" that depends on what you mean by it.

Also, there's a chance that the next release of the MBP line might drop the non Retina models. Although when that happens hopefully the price on the Retina version will have dropped.