Ars Technica had a chance to look at the new 13" and 15" MacBook Pro models, the ones with the touch enabled strip at the top of the keyboard. What is more interesting is the hardware inside, both lines use Skylake processors, the 13" dual core CPUs and the Pro models a four core processor. Ars Technica looks at the various hardware features, peripheral attachments and software in their preview but it is on the third page that we get some interesting information about the discrete GPU Apple chose for the 15" Pro models.
Instead of onboard Intel HD Graphics, you choose between a Radeon Pro 450, 455 or 460. All are 35W Polaris chips which were chosen for their ability to send signal to up to six screens simultaneously; Intel's onboard GPU can only drive three. That allows you to drive a pair of 5K Thunderbolt 3 monitors as well as the laptop display, Intel's APU can only power a single 5K display in addition to the integral display. As we are still stuck with DisplayPort 1.2, 5K monitors are treated as two separate monitors by the GPU, though to your eyes they are a single seamless display which is what gives AMD the advantage. There are other benefits such as support for 10-bit 4K HEVC decoding support, though the gaming performance will be somewhat limited.
Check out their full preview here.
"The new design of the MacBook Pros is nice, and Apple’s decision to put in nothing but Thunderbolt 3 ports has prompted a fresh wave of dongle talk, but the signature feature of the new MacBook Pros was always going to be the Touch Bar."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Samsung flings $8bn at buyout of connected car biz Harman @ The Register
- Shazam Keeps Your Mac's Microphone Always On, Even When You Turn It Off @ Slashdot
- Apple is reportedly building Google Glass-style AR glasses @ The Inquirer
- Pwnfest drops a nasty surprise on VMware @ The Register
- Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro: System Performance & HDD vs. SSD Testing @ Techgage
- Secret Backdoor in Some US Phones Sent Data To China @ Slashdot
- Facebook and Google to tackle fake news plague @ The Inquirer
- Software Defined Networking Fundamentals Part 1: Intro to Networking Planes @ Linux.com
Gaming on an Apple with
Gaming on an Apple with whatever Radeon Pro drivers that were frankensteined together by AMD and Apple is not an option. Apple/AMD have tuned these GPU SKU’s drivers for Graphics workloads and not gaming workloads, and Apple’s Kit is way overpriced compared to some HP/Dell/others portable workststion offerings with AMD’s FirePro/now Radeon Pro WX SKUs. Gaming laptops are for gaming, portable workstation/Laptops are for real work and Apple is in a gray area inbetween Regular non gaming laptops and Workstation/Laptops. Some professional work can be done on Apple’s Macbook Pro top end SKUs but not anything that may require a Full Function portable workstation SKU!
Not sure why you’re going on
Not sure why you’re going on about gaming. The MacBook Pro has never been considered a gaming machine. Jeremy mentions “the gaming performance will be somewhat limited” and the source article at ArsTechnica says, “none of them will be suitable for high-end gaming, and they come nowhere near the minimum requirements for VR”.
Their spleen was probably
Their spleen was probably swollen.
Did you see the “is not an
Did you see the “is not an option” part, first sentence last part of the sentence of the post that you replied to. Yes gaming on Apple laptops is not supported very well by Apple. The macbook is for graphics workloads not gaming! No the post that you replied to says that Apple is not for gaming, it’s for graphics related work and not play in that respect. Real high powered work requires though a much better workstation/laptop non Apple SKU with much better thermals and a much better cooling solution than Apple’s overpriced kit.
Gaming is not an option for Apple, and most Apple users use the Macbook for light/middle level NON Gaming graphics work. Really Apple could have not included the integrated graphics on its high end Macbooks and instead used the Intel dual TB3 Alpine Ridge controller chip in a link aggregated manner with an Apple Branded External PCIe box and a custom Apple full power RX 480 Radeon Pro WX based SKU and really sold that to professional graphics users.
Apple could have built an external TB3/Dual TB3 cable external GPU enclosure with 2 40GBs TB3 ports and link aggregated the 2 TB3 controller chips to offer 80Gbs of full 80Gbs bidirectional bandwidth with some Apple Branded full RX 480 Redeon Pro WX graphics options for the professional graphics market, with no other GPU SKUs but the Apple’s Branded external AMD/Radeon Pro WX SKUs whtelisted to work. They would have sold plenty of these(Macbook Pro/fat AMD WX GPU based dual TB3 PCI external enclosure) SKUs to graphics professionals on the go.
Apple really needs to be looking at any of AMD’s Zen/Polaris or Zen/Vega APU’s that will be coming online in 2017 for a better MacBook(All Mackook SKUs) graphics solution and add the ability to get an Apple Branded dual TB3 link aggregated external PCIe GPU box for any Apple Branded GPU SKUs. That solution will be a real winning solution for Apple and Pro Graphics wotkloads.
Are you seriously arguing
Are you seriously arguing about how much we all agree with everything above this comment?
Hard to guess what Apple will do next at this point, but I would bet on new workstation class before gaming class or external GPU.
To JW, Yes, and for some of
To JW, Yes, and for some of the laptop Graphics software users that do not give 1/10th of a Rat’s shiny red A$$ about gaming!
All the necessary content and
All the necessary content and explanations are within the main body of the article, but I agree with the poster above in the sense that the headline seems misleading.
From “check out that GPU” I expected an article on how Apple had somehow pulled a miracle and actually put real GPU performance in one of their laptops, but the reality is their failure to do so will continue to be what makes these strong under-performers for their price class.
Yes so if Apple wants to be
Yes so if Apple wants to be so damn thin and light, anorexic in my opinion, with their laptops there will never be enough thermal headroom for running any discrete mobile brand of GPU in their laptops unless it’s maybe using AMD’s Zen/Polaris or Zen/Vega APUs. Apple is using Intel’s Alpine Ridge dual TB3 controller in their Macbook pro SKUs so why not make an external TB3 PCIe expansion box that comes with a full RX 480/Newer Radeon Pro WX SKU for the graphics professionals. And I do not mean any old Gaming GPU SKU for the expansion box as Apple is capable of branding an external PCIe box that only allows for Apple’s approved Professional GPU SKUs from AMD/Other.
It’s very likely that any Zen interposer based APU is only going to feature Vega Graphics because there will be a new Vega GPU Micro-Arch with even lower thermal requirements while still allowing for more performance and the Zen APUs are coming out after Vega graphics is available. But for those Apple customers that need extra GPU power Apple should brand and offer a dual TB3 External PCIe enclosure with an ability to link aggregate the 2 TB3 in one Alpine Ridge TB3 controller for 80 Gbs of Bidirectional bandwidth with an Apple PCIe external GPU box. Link Aggregation can be done with a driver Tweak for most of the Protocol driven standards.
Tim Cook is no visionary, and even Apple’s customer base of graphics professionals want more functionality over form for the Macbook pro higher end offerings!
Making a personal assumption
Making a personal assumption is not me purposfully misleading you. This is the first we have seen of these three GPUs in a system, so ya … check out that GPU.
Smaller Polaris cards just
Smaller Polaris cards just mean there is going to be more heat. Definitely not for gaming with only Polaris 450, 455, and 460 inside. And only at 35 watts for 460. How did AMD manage that?
Its better to call experts
Its better to call experts from Apple Customer Service for assistance in configuring the MacBook such as entering details for connecting to network. A groundbreaking Retina display. Powerful dual-core and quad-core Intel processors. Ultrafast flash storage. High-performance graphics. Great built-in apps. And the revolutionary new Force Touch trackpad and even longer battery life with support from. Whatever you can imagine, MacBook Pro with Retina display gives you the power to create.