I understand that the quad core Broadwell chips have not been released yet but why no GPU bump for early 15 and then a new rMBP in late 15? Apple has had no problems releasing 2 models in one year before. The fact that they are STILL using the two year old 750M when the 900 series has been out for 6 months now is embarrassing considering they are a top tech company. Its obvious they couldn't care less about the PRO in Macbook Pro anymore, instead catering to the crowd that does nothing but web browsing and Emails on their laptops. I haven't touched a Windows machine in 10 years but thats about to change if Apple can't put out a laptop relevant for 2015 when everyone else can. Frustrating.
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Why no rMBP 15 GPU bump?
- Thread starter dexterbell
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I get what you're saying. But moreso in that specs on the 15" should be better for the money. Maybe a 970m. Specs that match razer's blade and gives apple's battery life would be great!
Most plausible explanation IMO: Apple generally ties generational GPU upgrades to logic board redesigns which are tied to generational CPU updates. During the last CPU gen update (Ivy Bridge -> Haswell), the Maxwell GPUs were not out yet.
Please note that the above attempts to explain your question of 'Why?'. I certainly am not saying that Apple is doing the right decision here. Minimising logic board redesigns makes a lot of sense to the company. But in this particular scenario, its the customer who gets left behind.
Please note that the above attempts to explain your question of 'Why?'. I certainly am not saying that Apple is doing the right decision here. Minimising logic board redesigns makes a lot of sense to the company. But in this particular scenario, its the customer who gets left behind.
Who knows why, other then it may need a redesigned logic board and they choose not to do that.
Apple seems to avoid the fastest dGPU anyways, so its usually not a priority for them imo.
Just be patient and the Broadwell chipsets will be out soon enough.
Apple seems to avoid the fastest dGPU anyways, so its usually not a priority for them imo.
Just be patient and the Broadwell chipsets will be out soon enough.
Blame Intel.
Broadwell-H got delayed severely, and Apple could not update the 15" rMBP because of that. It makes no sense to retool the entire assembly line just for an upgraded GPU. Apple only does CPU and GPU architecture changes together.
A very bad unless you just want the one without the dGPU.
The difference between Broadwell and the Haswell CPU/GPU will be one generation, nice but not a big deal. The difference between the 750M and a 950M is like three usual generations in how good Maxwell is compared to Kepler for mobile GPUs. Considering the price one pays the 750M model is a joke and has been for months ever since there never was a 850M upgrade. A 850M upgrade should have been a must considering the price range of the highend segment those sell in.
There are good arguments for the iGPU only model such as Quicksync availability and not having to deal with that GPU switching mess, but the dGPU model there really are no good arguments for. Even when released the 750M was just barely faster than the Iris Pro. It was a renamed 650M and Apple disabled the only real differentiating feature of the 700M line which is Turbo 2.0. So they really just updated the memory and put in a 650M but named it 750M. The 850M would have been serious upgrade form the Iris Pro and show a real difference but Apple never bothered to upgrade their so called highend notebook.
The difference between Broadwell and the Haswell CPU/GPU will be one generation, nice but not a big deal. The difference between the 750M and a 950M is like three usual generations in how good Maxwell is compared to Kepler for mobile GPUs. Considering the price one pays the 750M model is a joke and has been for months ever since there never was a 850M upgrade. A 850M upgrade should have been a must considering the price range of the highend segment those sell in.
There are good arguments for the iGPU only model such as Quicksync availability and not having to deal with that GPU switching mess, but the dGPU model there really are no good arguments for. Even when released the 750M was just barely faster than the Iris Pro. It was a renamed 650M and Apple disabled the only real differentiating feature of the 700M line which is Turbo 2.0. So they really just updated the memory and put in a 650M but named it 750M. The 850M would have been serious upgrade form the Iris Pro and show a real difference but Apple never bothered to upgrade their so called highend notebook.
If you need one now, no - it's still a great machine. As others have pointed out, the difference from the 750m and a newer GPU will hardly be earth-shattering. Note the differences from the Mid-2014 to Early-2015 13" models are minimal.
Bottom line: if you need one now, buy one now. If it's more "I'd just like to get one," then you can buy or wait at your discretion.
The 950M is about 120% faster than the 750M. It is not comparable to the 5100 vs the 6100. Those are essentially the same architecture with 20% more of the same and still DDR3 bandwidth limited.
750M is Kepler and an entirely different architecture from Maxwell which delivers twice the performance per watt vs Kepler. That is much more than usual differences like 650 vs 750 which is virtually the same without the Turbo mode and with Turbo 15-20%. 850M vs 950M is also about 20%. 750M vs 850M was 100%. It is just not comparable to the 13" update which is like 0-15% faster.
750M is Kepler and an entirely different architecture from Maxwell which delivers twice the performance per watt vs Kepler. That is much more than usual differences like 650 vs 750 which is virtually the same without the Turbo mode and with Turbo 15-20%. 850M vs 950M is also about 20%. 750M vs 850M was 100%. It is just not comparable to the 13" update which is like 0-15% faster.
If Apple could fit a 970m in the updated 15' like the razer blade, it would be an instant buy for me. But I'm pretty sure they won't. In any case, I'm on a Mid 2012 rMBP with a 650m and according to people here the 750m in the 2015 rMBP isn't even that much more powerful? That's sad.
In any case I'm waiting for an updated rMBP 15' with a significant boost in graphics and then I'll go for all the other options and make that my mainstay computer for another 3~4 years.
In any case I'm waiting for an updated rMBP 15' with a significant boost in graphics and then I'll go for all the other options and make that my mainstay computer for another 3~4 years.
Apple has to keep the GPU's TDP within 50W to stay within the design limits.
So the best we could see might be the GTX 960M (40W).
Actually the Broadwell GPU has a lot of generational changes over the Haswell one. They have rebalanced the execution units, enhanced the ALUs and added full CPU/GPU coherent virtual memory support, among other improvements. So I wouldn't exactly call it the same architecture. Nvidia didn't really do much more with Maxwell. Of course, you are absolutely right that Maxwell resulted in a massive performance boost. But most of this performance comes from the increased efficiency.
They have never been that aggressive with gpus. I'm personally more interested in how much improvement we see in terms of integrated graphics, because I'm tired of gpu failures and shoddy refurbished boards.
I wish for that as well. If that happened, I wouldn't have to use my eGPU (Sonnet IIID with a GTX 780 Ti) as often.
Depends on your use!
If you're expecting to play games on it - wait (and don't expect too much anyway).
If what you want is a quadcore retina laptop - buy now and enjoy the heavy discounts!
I got my 2014 15" for $1,300...good luck getting a new 2015 for that price, and whether or not the difference is worth the difference in price is very debatable.
Apple has always been like this with notebooks. They practically never retool for GPU updates until new CPU tech is available and well, it's not. Sadly, if you want the latest AMD or NVIDIA silicon, you're not gonna get it on a Mac.
Agreed. My Early 2008 MBP had two failed logic boards during its life because of defective NVIDIA GPUs. I never experienced nor heard of an IGP failing...like ever. My mobile workload doesn't really depend on insane GPU (nor CPU) horsepower anyway - I leave that to my Mac Pro. This may also explain why the newer 15" models have never appealed to me ever since they started offering a Retina display on the 13" models...
Agreed. My Early 2008 MBP had two failed logic boards during its life because of defective NVIDIA GPUs. I never experienced nor heard of an IGP failing...like ever. My mobile workload doesn't really depend on insane GPU (nor CPU) horsepower anyway - I leave that to my Mac Pro. This may also explain why the newer 15" models have never appealed to me ever since they started offering a Retina display on the 13" models...
Best buy open box, education discount, movers coupon.
The open box knocked it to the $1,600s due to current sales
Yeah, but the guy had to do a price adjustment. I guess the computer didn't take both coupons + open box, so he asked manager, and that's how manager said to do it.
Do you get a warranty with an open box? Sounds like a tempting intermediate plan (no clue where you get coupons unless you mean their rewards program). What's the education discount amount?
Yep, it's as if you bought it brand new.
If you're in the US - go to the post office and get a movers packet - it includes a 10% off coupon for Best Buy. You can also do it online, just use an old address or friends or so.
The education discount is $50 off if you have a .edu email.