“Apple quietly announced [last month] that its MacBook Pro, which was not updated on stage at its Brooklyn event, will be getting a graphics bump,” Andrew E. Freedman reports for Tom’s Hardware.That comes courtesy of AMD’s Radeon Vega Mobile discrete graphics.”
Freedman reports, “The new update will come [this] month only on the most expensive model: a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar that starts at $2,799 before configuration options.”
“It will be ‘configurable to Radeon Pro Vega 16 with 4GB of HBM2 memory or Radeon Pro Vega 20 with 4GB of HBM2 memory,’ rather than the Radeon Pro 560X that it comes with now,” Freedman reports. “The chip is built on a 14nm process. Apple suggests this will deliver up to 60 percent faster graphics performance.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The options and prices are now active in Apple’s online store:
• Radeon Pro Vega 16 with 4GB of HBM2 memory: $250
• Radeon Pro Vega 20 with 4GB of HBM2 memory: $350
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “TheloniousMac” for the heads up.]
Question is will it lead to additional throttling?
I take it these options will make the already strained thermal profile of the machines under even worse.
Thermal issues are a very real problem in Macbook Pros due to Apple’s dogged pursuit of uber thin & quiet laptops.
The best solution I’ve found is better fan control software to get more air into the unit (this goes for iMacs as well). And, setting the laptop on a short stand gets the bottom of the case off flat surfaces for bottom-of -the-case circulation. Hope this helps.
https://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control
$15 over-heating insurance. Worth every penny.
Typically, the reduction in process size enables better performance at lower power, which translate to lower thermal impact. It is quite possible that that these new GPUs actually run cooler than their predecessors. I don’t know for sure, but it is not safe to assume that they run hotter either.
That is right. But this new Vega – 12 nm GPU is not a direct replacement of the older 560X – 14 nm. The Vega 20 is a 100 watt GPU, and this is a lot on such a small chassis, but I couldn’t find the 560X thermal design. However, it is smaller or more compact and both the 16 and 20 model are specifically designed for the MBP. In the end, we should wait to find out.
You are saying that they are 12nm process yet the bumf above says they are still 14nm. Am I missing something?
Well, I’m about to buy a new MacBook Pro. I will be anxiously awaiting reviews of these new options.