Haswell-based MacBook Pros expected to ship in September - report
The highly-anticipated MacBook Pro refresh is said to already be in production, setting the stage for a possible unveiling alongside new iPhones at Apple's rumored Sept. 10 event.
Taiwanese manufacturers have begun to ship components for new MacBook Pros based on Intel's fourth-generation Haswell processors to assembly plants, according to a Thursday report by Hong Kong-based supply chain monitor EMSOne.
The Haswell architecture, which made its Apple debut at WWDC 2013 in the MacBook Air, is designed to take advantage of improvements in transistor manufacturing processes to increase power efficiency and computational performance. Like its predecessor Ivy Bridge, Haswell chips are manufactured using a 22-nanometer process.
Apple's 2013 MacBook Air demonstrated the substantial power savings that can be realized with the new architecture. Despite maintaining the same battery capacity as their 2012 counterparts, the 2013 Airs run significantly longer on a charge - the 13-inch model gained five hours of battery life after the Haswell update, while the 11-inch model gained four hours.
Haswell-based MacBook Pros are expected to see similarly impressive gains in graphics performance. Benchmarks have revealed that we can expect to see Intel's Iris Pro 5200 GPU ? the chipmaker's top-of-the-line integrated graphics option that is intended to compete with discrete GPUs from nVidia and AMD ? in the new models.
The future of non-Retina and hard disk-based MacBook Pros remains unclear. While Apple is not expected to discontinue either model, the report does not specify which variants will benefit from the September refresh.
Taiwanese manufacturers have begun to ship components for new MacBook Pros based on Intel's fourth-generation Haswell processors to assembly plants, according to a Thursday report by Hong Kong-based supply chain monitor EMSOne.
The Haswell architecture, which made its Apple debut at WWDC 2013 in the MacBook Air, is designed to take advantage of improvements in transistor manufacturing processes to increase power efficiency and computational performance. Like its predecessor Ivy Bridge, Haswell chips are manufactured using a 22-nanometer process.
Apple's 2013 MacBook Air demonstrated the substantial power savings that can be realized with the new architecture. Despite maintaining the same battery capacity as their 2012 counterparts, the 2013 Airs run significantly longer on a charge - the 13-inch model gained five hours of battery life after the Haswell update, while the 11-inch model gained four hours.
Haswell-based MacBook Pros are expected to see similarly impressive gains in graphics performance. Benchmarks have revealed that we can expect to see Intel's Iris Pro 5200 GPU ? the chipmaker's top-of-the-line integrated graphics option that is intended to compete with discrete GPUs from nVidia and AMD ? in the new models.
The future of non-Retina and hard disk-based MacBook Pros remains unclear. While Apple is not expected to discontinue either model, the report does not specify which variants will benefit from the September refresh.
Comments
Anyway I kinda doubt we'll see these announced at the iPhone event. That event is already going to be pretty packed with the iOS 7 unveil, and 2 new iPhones.
Originally Posted by blackbook
I wonder if the old school MacBook pros will hang around and recieve a price drop or something if they don't get a hardware update.
I'd imagine so. The rMBPs can't be priced to match yet and the uMBPs have received the last two updates alongside the retinas.
Quote:
we can expect to see Intel's Iris Pro 5200 GPU — the chipmaker's top-of-the-line integrated graphics option that is intended to compete with discrete GPUs from nVidia and AMD — in the new models.
So, no more real graphic cards in "pros". Whatever Intel benchmarks are their drivers & features & implementation were always disastrous. Can you imagine Intel graphics for OpenGL pro apps. Hilarious.
Good luck anyway
Can't wait !
I am looking forward to this anyway! Can I wish for a fingerprint sensor on these too?
Just stop. Please.
Intel's GPU on-die with the CPU will never compete with AMD or Intel.
Yes I can imagine and frankly it isn't pretty. However I'm willing to give Intel a chance. Some of the reports about OpenCL performance and the like are encouraging but again we need unbiased reports. I'm really hoping the long delays in driver updates from Apple are an indication that Apple and Intel have hammered hard on the drivers to get them to a point where they aren't an embarrassment.
Never is a very very long time. At this point we only need to wait for unbiased reporting, but one thing that is obvious is that Iris is a huge improvement for Intel.
Hallelujah!
Quote:
Originally Posted by derekmorr
Good to see. I've been waiting for the Haswell Pros to upgrade - my 2010 Core2Duo-based Air is really long in the tooth.
Not as long as my 2004 iBook and 2007 Vista HP desktop, LoLz.....
...Gotta buy. Hope this update hits a a good value/guts/price point I can live with for the next 4-5 years!
(The initial rMBP's were a good engineering milestone for their tech time, but too pricey for what they deliver IMHO)
A few days ago my Mum spilled tea all over her Dell laptop, it looks pretty 'Done' to me, have some issues now.
So I've given her my 2010 11inch air, hopefully a haswell 13 rMBP could be my replacement
Really? Because economies of scale surely suggest that it will in a few more years.
We've seen this kind of story repeat for various architectures all the time...
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
Just stop. Please. Intel's GPU on-die with the CPU will never compete with AMD or Intel.
Hate to burst your bubble, because it was my bubble up until a few months ago, too, but that's not… entirely accurate. Give it ~two years, at least on Apple products.