Haswell rMBP 13" first impressions

[Bootleg Betty]

Some people reported this on older hardware after upgrading to 10.9, so I don't think it has anything to do with new MBPs.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Hmm, thankfully no keyboard or trackpad lockup issues for me on a 2012 Macbook Air running 10.9.

My guess is that it probably is limited mostly to the new models, and that they'll get an EFI firmware update soon to address the issue.

This reminds me of the screen flickering and black screen issues that plagued the 2013 Macbook Air when it first came out (and were resolved in a couple of months):
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/1...ack_macbook_air_display_with_firmware_update/

 

[StinkyPinky]

Either way, I'm not touching one until it is resolved.

 

[gus6464]

So I am contemplating exchanging my 13" for the base 15". Looks like I can still get the 9 hour battery life but more screen real estate for a not much bigger increase in overall footprint.

 

[Koing]

So I am contemplating exchanging my 13" for the base 15". Looks like I can still get the 9 hour battery life but more screen real estate for a not much bigger increase in overall footprint.

If your cool with the foot print of the 15" go for it. The 13" suits my needs better.

Koing

 

[Bootleg Betty]

Hey, I have a question. Does anyone know, what kind of matrix the rMBP 13" i using? Is it Pentile?

 

[capeconsultant]

Yes, but I guess what I'm getting at is I would prefer something like an Air but with a better screen. I don't need the compute power of the Pro.

In fact, if the Air had had a better non-Retina screen with a more appropriate pixel density and with better viewing angles, I would have bought one years ago.

What's holding me back from the Air is not the CPU/GPU performance. It's the crappy screen.

I agree with this. I would love a R MBA.

 

[TheStu]

Hey, I have a question. Does anyone know, what kind of matrix the rMBP 13" i using? Is it Pentile?

No, it's RGB, just like all their other systems. The only pentile matrices I am aware of are on OLED (and OLED variant) displays, and Apple doesn't use any of those.

 

[Tweak155]

So I am contemplating exchanging my 13" for the base 15". Looks like I can still get the 9 hour battery life but more screen real estate for a not much bigger increase in overall footprint.

If your cool with the foot print of the 15" go for it. The 13" suits my needs better.

Koing

I'd be fine with the 15" myself I think, it's the $700 price difference that stops me in my tracks!

I'll probably be getting the 13" in the next year. Maybe next release? I have no good reason to dump my 13" MBA, but the retina screen calls my name.

 

[Koing]

I'd be fine with the 15" myself I think, it's the $700 price difference that stops me in my tracks!

I'll probably be getting the 13" in the next year. Maybe next release? I have no good reason to dump my 13" MBA, but the retina screen calls my name.

And that

Where is Anands review of the rMBP?!

Koing

 

[Bootleg Betty]

And that

Where is Anands review of the rMBP?!

Koing

Well, thorough review takes time, right?

I'm more curious about notebookcheck review, because those are always full of hard data, like "loudness under max load", "temperature under max load" and similar. Other reviews look more like opinions or impressions compared to that.

Engadget review was like that. Just someone blabbing about how the screen looks great and the speakers are nice but weak, and what ports it has. That's nice, but I'd like to know things I can't just read on the Apple website.

One interesting thing was, that the late 13 13" rMPB is slower than the 2012 one. It has almost twice the battery life in the test, and better GPU performance (which is probably still terrible), but lower CPU performance. The 2013 Air was the same, right?

But, well, if there's any problem with late 2013 rMPB 13", I don't even know what else to buy, so I might just go and order it anyway.

 

[TreVader]

If they made a 13" with dedicated graphics and 4 cores I would take it over the 15" rMBP I have on order. I would settle for just dedicated graphics too.

I had no choice but to buy the highest spec one, and I ended up adding a processor upgrade too so it won't be here till next week.

 

[TheStu]

Well, thorough review takes time, right?

I'm more curious about notebookcheck review, because those are always full of hard data, like "loudness under max load", "temperature under max load" and similar. Other reviews look more like opinions or impressions compared to that.

Engadget review was like that. Just someone blabbing about how the screen looks great and the speakers are nice but weak, and what ports it has. That's nice, but I'd like to know things I can't just read on the Apple website.

One interesting thing was, that the late 13 13" rMPB is slower than the 2012 one. It has almost twice the battery life in the test, and better GPU performance (which is probably still terrible), but lower CPU performance. The 2013 Air was the same, right?

But, well, if there's any problem with late 2013 rMPB 13", I don't even know what else to buy, so I might just go and order it anyway.

I think you're right, that the CPUs took a bit of a step back, but the GPU got a much needed bump, and of course the battery life.

 

[TreVader]

I think you're right, that the CPUs took a bit of a step back, but the GPU got a much needed bump, and of course the battery life.

I don't think Crystal Well will be a step back. And I don't think that clock for clock haswell performs any slower

 

[TheStu]

I don't think Crystal Well will be a step back. And I don't think that clock for clock haswell performs any slower

Right, but I'm talking about comparing Ivy Bridge to Haswell. At least on the MBA, the Haswell CPU is a little worse than the Ivy Bridge one. But they made up for it in GPU and battery life. I'm waiting to see some in-depth reviews of the new rMBPs to see if the same is true of them.

 

[Koing]

Right, but I'm talking about comparing Ivy Bridge to Haswell. At least on the MBA, the Haswell CPU is a little worse than the Ivy Bridge one. But they made up for it in GPU and battery life. I'm waiting to see some in-depth reviews of the new rMBPs to see if the same is true of them.

The Haswell MBA seems crazy fast for it's clock speed.

I want to see if the 13 rMBP 13" is worth upgrading to the 2.6GHz spec.

Choices
2.6GHz, 16GB and 512GB
2.4GHz, 8GB and 256GB

Hmmmmm...

4 cores on the 13" would be insane. I read that Ivy bridge had a 4 core that would work in the laptops but it was very expensive.

Koing

 

[TangoJuliet]

I bought the 13" rMBP / 8GB / 256GB on Sunday. I've had the keyboard/trackpad freeze up twice. Apple is working on a fix which is good that its software and not hardware related.

I upgraded from a 2008 13" MBP that I had upgraded to 8gb / 256gb samsung ssd. this thing is way faster and the screen is absolutely gorgeous. The colors are so vibrant and there is almost zero glare. I was always adjusting the screen on the other MBP.

Its also super quiet!

 

[MrX8503]

Got myself a 13" on order. 256GB ssd, 16Gb ram, base cpu. Ty OP for the first impressions. Can't wait to get mine.

 

[gus6464]

From the very beginning Intel said that Haswell was all about power savings and not performance. I don't understand how this is an issue all of a sudden. People act like Haswell is slow crap compared to what's out there. I will take a 50% increase in battery life over a dumb 10-15% in performance any day of the week.

Also Iris and Iris Pro are a huge step up from the GPU in the ULV chips. Just the fact that something as the 15" rMBP can hit 9-10 hours on a charge is outstanding. Most people can care less about gaming. If you want your dedicated GPU go buy a Razer Blade/Pro.

 

[Bootleg Betty]

Right, but I'm talking about comparing Ivy Bridge to Haswell. At least on the MBA, the Haswell CPU is a little worse than the Ivy Bridge one. But they made up for it in GPU and battery life. I'm waiting to see some in-depth reviews of the new rMBPs to see if the same is true of them.

That's the same on rMBP, actually:

This is from Engadget review:

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (late 2013, 2.4GHz Core i5, Intel Iris graphics) 6,288 428 11:18
13-inch MacBook Air (mid 2013, 1.3GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 5000) 6,021 304 12:51
13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (late 2012, 2.5GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 6,812 378 6:07
13-inch MacBook Pro (mid 2012, 2.5GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 6,817 368 6:51
13-inch MacBook Air (mid 2012, 1.8GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 4000) 6,195 321 6:34
13-inch MacBook Air (mid 2011, 1.7GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD Graphics 3000) 5,373 N/A 5:32
15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (mid 2012, 2.6GHz Core i7) 11,591 486 7:49
15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (mid 2012, 2.3GHz Core i7) 11,082 457 9:22
13-inch MacBook Air (late 2010, 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo, GeForce 320M) 2,717 117.38 4:34

It's product, geekbench, xbench (gpu one), battery life with the same task.

Seeing that I'll be upgrading from 2007 macbook that measures about 700 on geekbench, I don't really mind.

EDIT:
6,288 / 2.4 = 2620
6,812 / 2.5 = 2724

So it seems Haswell is clock for clock slightly (about 4 %) slower than Ivy Bridge.

 

[gus6464]

But in performance per watt Haswell mops the floor with Ivy.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Reading on the net, at least the 13" late 2013 models are still using year 2012 LG panels which means the image ghosting problem still exists.

 

[Bootleg Betty]

Reading on the net, at least the 13" late 2013 models are still using year 2012 LG panels which means the image ghosting problem still exists.

There were problem with ghosting on 13" panels? I thought it's only 15" issue.

 

[StinkyPinky]

There were problem with ghosting on 13" panels? I thought it's only 15" issue.

Yes, 15" used either Samsung or LG and 13" uses only LG. The LG panels are the ones with problems.

 

[joshhedge]

Yes, 15" used either Samsung or LG and 13" uses only LG. The LG panels are the ones with problems.

Mines got quite bad IR on my LG panel. Display is flawless otherwise. Will get it replaced towards the end of my 3 year Apple Care though.