I need to buy a laptop. I Just don't know how long apple will upgrade their Mac. It seems like apple is going to hold an event next week. Will they change the dgpu model? I still remember apple published ipad 4 very short after ipad 3. Any simple idea? Thanks.
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Will MacBook pro upgrade on Oct. 16?
- Thread starter Kalario
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In a word No.
As the title says no they won't, they will not upgrade them until the relevant Broadwell chips are available sometime next year.
As the title says no they won't, they will not upgrade them until the relevant Broadwell chips are available sometime next year.
Thanks. So I guess I can start to buy some refurb model.
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Thanks. I wondered if they would change 750m. Not it looks like they won't.
Nope.
Apple likes to follow Intel's roadmap. Pretty much anything new from Intel is about a year away.
Will GTX 850M work on macbook pro? I didn't see any GT 850M, so I wonder if Nvidia just abandoned GT series.
No more 750M GPUs?
Today, an AnandTech article states (or rather, implies) that Nvidia has discontinued the 750M which is used in the current MacBook Pros:
"With the launch of the new GTX 970M and GTX 980M, it's also worth mentioning that NVIDIA is officially discontinuing some of the existing mobile parts. The current lineup of mobile GPUs from NVIDIA now consists of GeForce 820M, 830M, and 840M for the casual/less demanding market. The 820M is actually a Fermi-derived part, while 830M and 840M use GM108 with 256 and 384 cores, respectively. At the top of the product stack, the GTX 980M and 970M replace the GTX 880M and 870M, while GTX 860M and 850M continue as the "mainstream gaming" notebook GPUs; 860M also continues to be offered in two variants, a Maxwell GM107 version and a Kepler GK104 version, though the latter hasn't been widely used."
http://anandtech.com/print/8585/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980m-970m-mobile-maxwell-gm204
If this is true, then Apple either has to rev the MacBook Pros soon, or they've stockpiled quantities of an outdated GPU so they can continue to build lackluster graphics into their Pro laptops for months to come. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter.
The 750M GPU in the current machines has almost identical performance to the 650M that was introduced in the very first 2012 Retina models.
http://barefeats.com/rmbp14.html
And here we are, going into 2015...
Today, an AnandTech article states (or rather, implies) that Nvidia has discontinued the 750M which is used in the current MacBook Pros:
"With the launch of the new GTX 970M and GTX 980M, it's also worth mentioning that NVIDIA is officially discontinuing some of the existing mobile parts. The current lineup of mobile GPUs from NVIDIA now consists of GeForce 820M, 830M, and 840M for the casual/less demanding market. The 820M is actually a Fermi-derived part, while 830M and 840M use GM108 with 256 and 384 cores, respectively. At the top of the product stack, the GTX 980M and 970M replace the GTX 880M and 870M, while GTX 860M and 850M continue as the "mainstream gaming" notebook GPUs; 860M also continues to be offered in two variants, a Maxwell GM107 version and a Kepler GK104 version, though the latter hasn't been widely used."
http://anandtech.com/print/8585/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980m-970m-mobile-maxwell-gm204
If this is true, then Apple either has to rev the MacBook Pros soon, or they've stockpiled quantities of an outdated GPU so they can continue to build lackluster graphics into their Pro laptops for months to come. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter.
The 750M GPU in the current machines has almost identical performance to the 650M that was introduced in the very first 2012 Retina models.
http://barefeats.com/rmbp14.html
And here we are, going into 2015...
Thanks for the information. Apple did a really bad job in graphics choosing. I hope they update their MacBook Pro soon.
Soon is a relative term, they'll not be updating their machines until Intel releases Broadwell. Plus they have a long track record of not picking the fastest GPU.
Not really!!!
They chose the right graphics for their thermal and power envelope when the computer was designed. This is not a gaming laptop..... I wish people would understand that, yes you can game on it and it will do it reasonably well. But this is really designed for professionals that need good solid graphics for video work etc, anything optimised to open CL will probably run better on the iGPU anyway.
They chose the right graphics for their thermal and power envelope when the computer was designed. This is not a gaming laptop..... I wish people would understand that, yes you can game on it and it will do it reasonably well. But this is really designed for professionals that need good solid graphics for video work etc, anything optimised to open CL will probably run better on the iGPU anyway.
I don't get the love affair people have with having a mediocre update to the latest GPU. When I had my cMBP with a 512mb 650M, I could dominate BF3 at max settings, and ARMA III on high. A 750M with 2GB of VRAM should be more than enough for the latest games at normal resolutions and should dominate graphics based pro programs.
I would be shocked if they updated the rMBP before March 2015, I am expecting an update at WWDC in June 2015.
You people clearly have never gamed on a Retina Macbook Pro if you think the 750M is 'lackluster'.
The fact is, this isn't a dedicated gaming laptop so you should never expect top end silicon from Nvidia, it would be stupid to put anything higher than a 750/760 into one of these. Not that I would complain if they included more powerful chips, just that I completely get why they chose the 750M.
It's a beast of a chip, I've done loads of gaming on my rMBP and it's totally exceeded my expectations.
I can play BF4 on High at 1680x1050 with FXAA and 16xAF and get over 40FPS. If I drop some settings down to medium I can hit over 70FPS and this is on 64p conquest.
I completed Metro Last Light on High at 1680x1050 at 30FPS.
Can get into triple digits quite happily while playing less demanding stuff like CoD4/WaW and CSGO/CSS while on high settings. Hell I even tried playing CSS at 2880x1800 and it ran perfectly smooth, just everything was far too small.
Remember this is meant to be an all round laptop thats extremely thin and light. The fact it games very well is pretty impressive if you ask me and if you think the 750M is lackluster than you sorely underestimate it.
Also play Skyrim maxed out at 1680x1050 (runs pretty well at 1920x1200). Civ 5 maxed at 1920x1200.
I do hope to see a more powerful Maxwell GPU in the next rMBP update as I'll sell this and upgrade (high resale + student discount). I'm not sure what they will choose but Maxwell should bring a nice boost along with more efficient Broadwell silicon I'm hoping for some even more impressive gaming performance.
The fact is, this isn't a dedicated gaming laptop so you should never expect top end silicon from Nvidia, it would be stupid to put anything higher than a 750/760 into one of these. Not that I would complain if they included more powerful chips, just that I completely get why they chose the 750M.
It's a beast of a chip, I've done loads of gaming on my rMBP and it's totally exceeded my expectations.
I can play BF4 on High at 1680x1050 with FXAA and 16xAF and get over 40FPS. If I drop some settings down to medium I can hit over 70FPS and this is on 64p conquest.
I completed Metro Last Light on High at 1680x1050 at 30FPS.
Can get into triple digits quite happily while playing less demanding stuff like CoD4/WaW and CSGO/CSS while on high settings. Hell I even tried playing CSS at 2880x1800 and it ran perfectly smooth, just everything was far too small.
Remember this is meant to be an all round laptop thats extremely thin and light. The fact it games very well is pretty impressive if you ask me and if you think the 750M is lackluster than you sorely underestimate it.
Also play Skyrim maxed out at 1680x1050 (runs pretty well at 1920x1200). Civ 5 maxed at 1920x1200.
I do hope to see a more powerful Maxwell GPU in the next rMBP update as I'll sell this and upgrade (high resale + student discount). I'm not sure what they will choose but Maxwell should bring a nice boost along with more efficient Broadwell silicon I'm hoping for some even more impressive gaming performance.
The TDP of the 750M is 50W. I wonder if they will seek to have a more efficient GPU or stick to the same power envelop.
The two likely candidates are likely to be either the GTX 850M or GTX 860M with 40W and 45W respectively. Looking at raw processing power both will offer a sizeable jump in performance compared to the 750M (742.7GFLOPS), 850M - 1198.1GF and 860M - 1317.1GF.
Both have a slightly lower TDP while considerably increasing processing power but with the same memory bandwidth which will be a bit of a limiting factor in some games.
Just a shame these aren't built on a new process, 28nm is getting long in the tooth, we've been using it for almost 3 years now.
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Also would be good to see a GTX 950M with DirectX 12 support. Maybe we can still expect something like that if it's not due for release until Q1/Q2 '15.
The two likely candidates are likely to be either the GTX 850M or GTX 860M with 40W and 45W respectively. Looking at raw processing power both will offer a sizeable jump in performance compared to the 750M (742.7GFLOPS), 850M - 1198.1GF and 860M - 1317.1GF.
Both have a slightly lower TDP while considerably increasing processing power but with the same memory bandwidth which will be a bit of a limiting factor in some games.
Just a shame these aren't built on a new process, 28nm is getting long in the tooth, we've been using it for almost 3 years now.
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Also would be good to see a GTX 950M with DirectX 12 support. Maybe we can still expect something like that if it's not due for release until Q1/Q2 '15.
Hopefully they will sneak in a graphics update, it sure could use it. And please don't say that the 750m is enough, it's a cheap old chip for a premium price. Atleast they could give it a discount, but with apples track record i highly doubt it. 
750m is terrible for modern games at native resolution. Who wants to play scaled 1650x resolution on a 1920x laptop display? Even Borderlands 2 (which is an older game) is choppy on the latest MBP. If you think 750m is adequate for modern FPS games then you must be very forgiving.
Furthermore, many folks like to hook up the MBP to a 2560x 1440 27" monitor when at home. That's how I usually have mine. Gaming at this res has to be done with Medium or lower settings on any recent game, and even then it's not fluid. BF4 is not playable.
Did you read the article I referenced above? 750m is so out of date, the chips aren't even being manufactured anymore! NVidia had gone 2 generations past it. 860m has been out since Feb 2014 and it could easily fit the thermal envelope of the MBP, as it has the same TDP of the 750m. Yet it was skipped in the last MPB refresh.
And what of games to come? New 3D games in the next year or two will presume the existence of modern GPUs capable of driving retina and 4k displays. A $2500+ laptop should not be saddled with a GPU from two generations back, which is indeed nearly identical in performance to its 3 generation old predecessor the 650m. When you drop this much cash you are buying for the future, not for 3 year old tech. It's a joke compared to even the "thin and light" PC equivalents. Apple get your act together, don't take your customers for granted.
Furthermore, many folks like to hook up the MBP to a 2560x 1440 27" monitor when at home. That's how I usually have mine. Gaming at this res has to be done with Medium or lower settings on any recent game, and even then it's not fluid. BF4 is not playable.
Did you read the article I referenced above? 750m is so out of date, the chips aren't even being manufactured anymore! NVidia had gone 2 generations past it. 860m has been out since Feb 2014 and it could easily fit the thermal envelope of the MBP, as it has the same TDP of the 750m. Yet it was skipped in the last MPB refresh.
And what of games to come? New 3D games in the next year or two will presume the existence of modern GPUs capable of driving retina and 4k displays. A $2500+ laptop should not be saddled with a GPU from two generations back, which is indeed nearly identical in performance to its 3 generation old predecessor the 650m. When you drop this much cash you are buying for the future, not for 3 year old tech. It's a joke compared to even the "thin and light" PC equivalents. Apple get your act together, don't take your customers for granted.
I doubt we're going to see a graphics update for the Pro because Nvidia discontinued the chip. Apple obviously has the solvency to buy a few months worth of chips to put in storage until Intel releases their new chips and they can move on to a new board with the pinout for an 800 or maybe even 900-series chip.
Who knows, maybe they'll decide that the improvements Intel has made in it's integrated chips is enough to justify them dropping the dedicated chip completely...
My guess on what we're going to see in one week from now is a new 4k iMac, a 4k CinemaDisplay, maybe a new Mac Mini and probably a fanless Core M Broadwell Macbook Air.
Who knows, maybe they'll decide that the improvements Intel has made in it's integrated chips is enough to justify them dropping the dedicated chip completely...
My guess on what we're going to see in one week from now is a new 4k iMac, a 4k CinemaDisplay, maybe a new Mac Mini and probably a fanless Core M Broadwell Macbook Air.
Yes I agreed. I'm not expecting to use mac to play games. But as you stated before. 750m is way too old a GPU. Why would customer spend money on an out-of-date GPU. I mean even 750m is enough for some designers at present, but macbook pro highest end, which costs $2400, should have a newer GPU if not the newest. Broadwell has not been published yet, but apple has at least two or three options to update their GPU. So that's what I mean by bad selection of GPU this year.
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Totally agreed. The key point is not whether the 750m is enough or not, it is 750m is really an old GPU chip, why would customer spend $2500 on a premium computer which has a poor GPU? That doesn't make sense. At least GTX 850 is a feasible choice for MBP considering the heat. I was planning to buy a high end 15'' mbp, but now I change my mind, I won't pay that worthless amount to apple.
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