Will Apple release a early 2019 MBP spec bump? According to this release pattern, not likely.

[Jerz]

Do you think there will be a spec bump for the MBP in early 2019? I've been using the Microsoft Surface Book 2 with a 1060 and have been waiting to move back to the Apple MBP. Given that Vega 20 was just released, I'm wondering whether I should wait for an early 2019 release or not, but it doesn't even look like there will be one.

I mainly run R and Python for machine learning and deep learning, edit RAW pictures from my Leica SL and some vlog editing.

 

[leman]

It all depends on whether there will be any new hardware to warrant an upgrade. I don’t know of any new products being released early 2019, except maybe new AMD CPUs ( in case Apple wants to switch from Intel). If they stick with Intel, I won’t expect upgrades until late 2019 or even early 2020. Furthermore, I don’t think that there will be any GPU faster than Vega Pro 20 in that power bracket in the next 1-2 years.

 

[RobbieTT]

My informed and considered view is that I am not sure that Apple or anyone else knows. Usually we start to work out where the MBP is going about a year or so after Apple fully understands all the hardware options. But Intel has been so far off the beaten path for so long that Apple / Intel development discussions have been little more than 3+ years of vapourware and emergency products. Given the nervousness of the markets I am sure Intel would be shouting from the rooftops if it had a new product in the works that would meet or surpass their original goals.

AMD has gone from an also-ran status, though to niche, then powerful, then refined and all the way to landing CPUs slots in the volume market with Dell. A year a go I openly wondered if Apple would be the first major player to put an AMD CPU into their laptops, given their close relationship to date and Apple having full control of their logic boards. Clearly that did not happen so I can only wonder if they will now be the second manufacture to switch.

Intel has shotgunned the MBP development path for 3 years in a row. Apple may now be intolerant of anything less than a miracle from their current CPU supplier.

 

[leman]

A year a go I openly wondered if Apple would be the first major player to put an AMD CPU into their laptops, given their close relationship to date and Apple having full control of their logic boards. Clearly that did not happen so I can only wonder if they will now be the second manufacture to switch.

AMD's peak performance still under Intel's but this just might change with Zen 2 next year. For apple, it would be an interesting option simply because of graphics...

 

[Falhófnir]

Probably a final spec bump in summer 2019 for this design. I wouldn’t expect an awful lot, Intel 9th gen with an almost imperceptible power bump, maybe a stock vega option, maybe a promotion display, maybe finally a storage tier bump. The latter three pretty unlikely, and certainly all three together is improbable.