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Will the new macbook pro offer anything other than a new skylake processor?
- Thread starter Mrsemexter
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Well, there might be a redesign, or there might not. If I'm not wrong, In 2008 there was the first MBP redesign, and in 2012 the second one. Maybe after another 4 years there will be the third one, who knows.
What I think is that there will be. Reasons? delayed major updates and a long hold for Skyale (15" still has a 2013 CPU architecture), and major updates seen in the new Macbook last year. Apple loves new designs, and MBP's haven't been redesigned since 4 years ago. Add to all of this the possibility of making MBP a little bit thinner thanks to Skylake's thermal improvements and USB C ports (not as thin as Macbook tho, just a decrease similar to 2012 redesign), the new colors to change the long seen aluminum one, and maybe (just maybe) wireless charging & 4K display (Skylake has more headroom to manage 4K than Ivy Bridge had to manage retina). If Apple doesn't benefit from Skylake and new ultrathin ports to do a redesign, they would just be losing a good opportunity.
I'll buy it anyway (with redesign or not) when they release it since I need a new powerful Macbook, meanwhile I'm waiting with a Macbook Air... But a redesign would be nice to see. What I'm not buying is a new MBP 15" with Broadwell like some rumours have pointed. That would be a no-no.
What I think is that there will be. Reasons? delayed major updates and a long hold for Skyale (15" still has a 2013 CPU architecture), and major updates seen in the new Macbook last year. Apple loves new designs, and MBP's haven't been redesigned since 4 years ago. Add to all of this the possibility of making MBP a little bit thinner thanks to Skylake's thermal improvements and USB C ports (not as thin as Macbook tho, just a decrease similar to 2012 redesign), the new colors to change the long seen aluminum one, and maybe (just maybe) wireless charging & 4K display (Skylake has more headroom to manage 4K than Ivy Bridge had to manage retina). If Apple doesn't benefit from Skylake and new ultrathin ports to do a redesign, they would just be losing a good opportunity.
I'll buy it anyway (with redesign or not) when they release it since I need a new powerful Macbook, meanwhile I'm waiting with a Macbook Air... But a redesign would be nice to see. What I'm not buying is a new MBP 15" with Broadwell like some rumours have pointed. That would be a no-no.
Skylake iGPU's will be some of the best improvements on integrated graphics in the last years. But if you mean Apple might ditch dGPU of the top end MBP 15", yeah, that's probably going to happen. The good thing is TB3 supports eGPU's, and let's be honest, a good eGPU (despite losing 20-30% of performance) will kick any crappy 940m/950m Apple would put in MBP.
Other than TB3 in a USB 3 port I doubt it, there may be upgraded dGPU's in the top level 15 inch but if so I can't see it before June as they will wait for AMD.
I think we're looking at Skylake, TB3 in USB 3.1/C, and a new chassis with thinner bezels, larger trackpad, and updated keyboard. Maybe a jump in the resolution (something like 3360 x 2100, to give 1680 x 1050 baseline workspace @ 2X) would be nice.
I'd be really surprised if we get discrete GPUs this go around. Skylake's new Iris Pro 580 is apparently fairly beefy (compared to past solutions). The 370X of this generation has had so many throttling issues documented, the highest-end Skylake Iris Pro chip may end up being comparable, maybe even an upgrade under very heavy use. I could see Apple spinning the "same or better GPU performance in a smaller package" type marketing message. Hard to say exactly how the 580 performs, since there's limited information out there.
Don't get me wrong -- as someone with a MBP with the 370X, I'd prefer to keep the discrete option, I'd just not be surprised to see it fall off either. The 370X has been sufficient for me, but I would like to see faster, cooler-running CPUs for VMs and development, so I'm probably upgrading regardless.
I'm a firm believer that Apple needs to revise their notebooks sooner than later. They're 1-2 chipset generations behind on all of them compared to their competition. Granted some of that falls to Intel's inability to launch the Broadwell Quad Cores on time, but the point remains.
I'd be really surprised if we get discrete GPUs this go around. Skylake's new Iris Pro 580 is apparently fairly beefy (compared to past solutions). The 370X of this generation has had so many throttling issues documented, the highest-end Skylake Iris Pro chip may end up being comparable, maybe even an upgrade under very heavy use. I could see Apple spinning the "same or better GPU performance in a smaller package" type marketing message. Hard to say exactly how the 580 performs, since there's limited information out there.
Don't get me wrong -- as someone with a MBP with the 370X, I'd prefer to keep the discrete option, I'd just not be surprised to see it fall off either. The 370X has been sufficient for me, but I would like to see faster, cooler-running CPUs for VMs and development, so I'm probably upgrading regardless.
I'm a firm believer that Apple needs to revise their notebooks sooner than later. They're 1-2 chipset generations behind on all of them compared to their competition. Granted some of that falls to Intel's inability to launch the Broadwell Quad Cores on time, but the point remains.
I doubt it. Sadly Apple has become fat and happy... to just brag about the pile of money that iPhones are creating. They've determined what their buyers will tolerate and they're not about to extend themselves when the rather stale products still sell.