MacBook Pro lousy performance increase?

[Buck]

It seems that the current top of the line MacBook Pro Retina 15" 2.8GHz is only 15% faster than the almost 3 year old original model - mid 2012 MBPR at 2.6 GHz. Shouldn't that be closer to double?

Is there a giant leap in the works?
Is Intel falling behind, or Apple?

My company wants me to test some things, and I told them OK, but only on a new machine. It would be easier to justify if the new one was much better.

[testcase]

It has to be more than a decade since Motorola & IBM promised Steve Jobs that they'd deliver 3.5GHz PPC chips (and then couldn't). Even today, most chips haven't reached 3GHz. 2.4GHz ~ 2.6GHz seems to be the "sweet spot". I believe heat and power consumption are the main issues holding back clock speed.

[JoeH]

CPU clock speed is not the only contribution to processing speed. The newer generation Intel i7 used in the current model MBP is more efficient and even if it was at the same clock speed would be faster. But double, that has not happened in mobile x86 based CPU's from Intel or AMD over that time period. Based on Geekbench scores, the 2014 MBP is about a third faster than the 2012 model.

[C(-)ris]

It isn't just about raw clock speed. There are many other factors that go into if a model is faster than a previous generation.

[jdc]

Next giant Intel leap won't be until late this year.

Broadwell chip will be in the next MBP, but its not revolutionary. And its been delayed a few times, so it might make the next MBPs even farther off

Skylake is supposed to be something big?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2683392/p...ylake.html

[robfilms]

i would also like to see better/larger/faster graphic cards in laptops

-and all desktops=

especially as the need to push many more pixels across a screen-

-think 4k-

forces onto the gpu greater work loads.

ymmv

be well.

rob

[jdc]

robfilms wrote:
i would also like to see better/larger/faster graphic cards in laptops
-and all desktops=
especially as the need to push many more pixels across a screen-
-think 4k-
forces onto the gpu greater work loads.
ymmv
be well.
rob

Top of the line 5K iMac has a 4GB Radeon R9 M295.

Maybe the next MBPs will move to the GT780?

[robfilms]

jdc wrote:
[quote=robfilms]
i would also like to see better/larger/faster graphic cards in laptops
-and all desktops=
especially as the need to push many more pixels across a screen-
-think 4k-
forces onto the gpu greater work loads.
ymmv
be well.
rob

Top of the line 5K iMac has a 4GB Radeon R9 M295.

Maybe the next MBPs will move to the GT780?
jdc-

i did not realize 4gb was a $250 bto option on the 5k imac.

thank you.

depending upon needed use, a 4gb graphics card could be money well spent rather than going from i5 to i7.

ymmv

be well.

rob

[jdc]

it would have to be very specific.

http://barefeats.com/imac5k6.html

Several more "tests" on their site.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

I was just looking at a laptop review that had dual GTX980M cards. In some games it was faster than a single desktop GTX980 card. It cost just a little more than the top MBP, but it only had 2 hr. battery life and the power adapter was rated for 300 W. miley-shocked003: