Retina MacBook Pro refresh (mid-2014)

Sad Professor

As expected, Apple’s Retina MacBook Pro line received a minor refresh today. The most notable change is the RAM which is now 8GB as standard.

Irish prices are the still the same, apart from the non-Retina 13-inch and the high-end 15-inch Retina, which both dropped by €100.

More details here:

http://9to5mac.com/2014/07/29/apple-refreshes-entire-retina-macbook-pro-lineup-with-improved-processors-and-more-ram-standard/

Anyone pulling the trigger on these? Waiting for Broadwell? Or the MBA update?

Colonel Panic

I'm going to wait for Broadwell. My 2011 MBP is still in good shape. I'm missing out on some of the continuity stuff in Yosemite due to BT support, but I'll survive.

Elessar

Dreadful update. Spending €€€€ on a top range laptop should at least net you the latest GPU!

As I said before, I need to update my 2010 MBP. Doing Java development, running VMs, par-ing massive 10-12GB files from usenet and multiple other things just slows down the computer too much not to mention casual gaming is becoming painful with the 330M (256mb RAM!) and this is my main machine. With another year of college coming up I really need a new one. Lighter would be much better aswell!

So now I'm faced with one of three options:

1) Swallow my pride and convince myself to buy the latest update, even though I can't stomach the thought of handing over €2900 for the top 2.8GHz model knowing it has last years GPU.

2) Forget it and buy a windows laptop. Don't really want to go down this road. I do like OSX. But I'd get more bang for my buck.

3) Put up with my current machine and wait another year until Broadwell+Maxwell. But sure then I might aswell wait for Skylake with DDR4 and a possible re-design...it goes on!

holystungun9

Colonel Panic wrote: »

I'm going to wait for Broadwell. My 2011 MBP is still in good shape. I'm missing out on some of the continuity stuff in Yosemite due to BT support, but I'll survive.

Curious as to what you mean by this. I was checking to see if I have the specs for Yosemite and my mid 2008 is on the list so your 2011 is def covered. What does the BT thing reference?

Colonel Panic

Some of the OS X to iOS Continuity stuff needs a version of Bluetooth the early 2011 Macbook Pros don't have.

Maestro84

Colonel Panic wrote: »

Some of the OS X to iOS Continuity stuff needs a version of Bluetooth the early 2011 Macbook Pros don't have.

Does the late 2011 have it?

FourFourRED

Colonel Panic wrote: »

I'm going to wait for Broadwell. My 2011 MBP is still in good shape. I'm missing out on some of the continuity stuff in Yosemite due to BT support, but I'll survive.

This. I can definitely stretch another year without retina. It's the only thing that makes me want to upgrade. My 2011 runs excellently & battery still impressive.

Dman001

Meh, might pick up a Refurb from the old stock. The 200mhz clock increase isn't exactly a dealbreaker. But would like 16GB of RAM to future-proof it a bit more!

Sad Professor

Maestro84 wrote: »

Does the late 2011 have it?

I’m not too sure. I think that might have been the last MBP mode without BT LE. You can check in Apple System Profiler.

Afaik the only major feature you’ll miss out on is Handoff. Calling/texting from your Mac only needs WiFi.

kevteljeur

I would say that Intel and Apple may have hit a bit of a wall with what they can do with the hardware right now. Apple could be holding out for a more comprehensive upgrade when parts become available, a lot of which is dependent on Intel, which has its own roadmap (and limitations). It reminds me a little bit of how it seemed Apple had stalled back in the PPC era (although this won't last).



Kevin

Elessar

So my thinking is buy now and wait until Skylake (with possible redesign) to consider upgrading. In fairness, the rMBP is a huge step up on the 2010 model I have now, in every department. Needs must!

Zcott

You could end up waiting forever because the next big upgrade is never more than a year away, so good decision :-)

5uspect

I'll probably wait for a 13" rMBP with Broadwell. I got left behind with my C2D powered 13" 2010 MBP when everything else moved to core so it'd be nice to get in the new 14nm fun.

What do people expect, announcement in late October with the launch of 10.10 and release in January/February 2015?

Sad Professor

February/March would be my guess. They won’t announce in advance, though.

Dman001

Are CPU upgrades as significant as they once were? I can understand that to get the longevity out of the machine, you want the latest processor but I'm not aware if they are as big of a leap in speed as the updates once were?

Sad Professor

In terms of speed and power, no. The focus now is more on energy efficiency. With Broadwell the main draw will be graphics performance.

5uspect

There are also rumours of an Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) screens similar to that used in the iPad Air. These III-V materials are more transparent than silicon allowing brighter screens at lower energy consumption.

The combination of a more power efficient CPU/GPU and this screen technology could do a lot for energy efficiency. Apple could probably opt for a thinner MBP and keep battery life as is.

kevteljeur

Just as a follow-up to my comment, this from Jean-Louis Gassée:
http://www.mondaynote.com/2014/08/03/macintel-the-end-is-nigh/

Basically I think the guy follows all my forum comments and then blogs about it ;-) - Macs to move to ARM? A possibility if Intel doesn't start delivering...


Kevin

Hugh_C

Just picked up a refurb 2.3/16/512 - can't wait til it's delivered.

5uspect

I've decided to go with the refreshed high spec 15". Ordered this morning through the EPP in work.
It'll be a substantial update to my 2010 13".

The more I read about broadwell it seems like it's in a bit of trouble and probably not worth the wait. Unless Apple have a redesign planned.

_Redzer_

5uspect wrote: »

I've decided to go with the refreshed high spec 15". Ordered this morning through the EPP in work.
It'll be a substantial update to my 2010 13".

The more I read about broadwell it seems like it's in a bit of trouble and probably not worth the wait. Unless Apple have a redesign planned.

Thinking of getting a 2013 13" refurb myself. The refresh is not worth the extra money because I was always going for the 8/256 model, which is more expensive than the same one last year, and feck all power difference (not that I'd use it anyway).

5uspect

There are educational and company discounts around 10% if you know someone who is eligible.

_Redzer_

5uspect wrote: »

There are educational and company discounts around 10% if you know someone who is eligible.

I can get the education discount but that doesn't cover referbs. I think it's still cheaper to get the referb even with the edu discount.

osnola ibax

Amazon is the cheapest for MacBook pros

_Redzer_

Do you get the €70 BTS voucher with a refurb?

Sad Professor

No.

_Redzer_

Ah well, I'd still consider €1230 a great price for the 8/256 model.

_Redzer_

So I ordered it and it dispatched, but the UPS tracking isn't working.

I remember this was the case for my 5s too....

5uspect

I got my 15" last week . The UPS tracking takes a few hours after the shipment notification. The delivery estimate was as a day over the actual delivery time.

It's goes on a hell of a trip. Once it leaves China mine went form Korea onto Kazakhstan and then Köln Germany in about 24 hours. It sat there for a few days while, I guess, UPS sorted their various country shipments and then onto Dublin overnight..

_Redzer_

5uspect wrote: »

I got my 15" last week . The UPS tracking takes a few hours after the shipment notification. The delivery estimate was as a day over the actual delivery time.

It's goes on a hell of a trip. Once it leaves China mine went form Korea onto Kazakhstan and then Köln Germany in about 24 hours. It sat there for a few days while, I guess, UPS sorted their various country shipments and then onto Dublin overnight..

Mine is a refurb, so there's no exciting journey ahead of it since it's coming from England