
Radeon R9 M370X (MacBook Pro 2015) vs. Radeon Pro 460 (MacBook Pro 2016) - mangeletti
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-M370X-Mac-vs-Radeon-Pro-460
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inDigiNeous
What I'm wondering is when will Apple finally update the OpenGL drivers, so we
can take full advantage of the GPUs ?

Of course it's possible to do many things with workarounds, but for example
compute shaders are introduced in OpenGL 4.3 IIRC, and Apple currently
supports only OpenGL 4.1 with some 4.2 extensions, released in 2010 already :P

Any idea if Apple has any plans to update their OpenGL drivers to modern
versions ? Or are they just gonna focus on the more iOS/mobile optimized Metal
?

Sucks anyway to do cross platform graphics development on a Mac laptop soon if
they don't do something about this.

~~~
jsheard
All signs point to "never" with regard to newer OpenGL versions, and there's
no signs of them adopting Vulkan either.

For modern graphics you're stuck with Metal or MoltenVK:
[https://moltengl.com/moltenvk/](https://moltengl.com/moltenvk/)

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mangeletti
I'm a die-hard MacBook Pro fan, and despite the negative press around the new
model's specs, I will somehow find a way to convince myself to buy one.

This comparison is the first good news I found. I just entered the GPU model
from my Retina 2015 MacBook Pro and the highest GPU option from the 2016 line-
up.

I think, for a notebook, this looks pretty good, and it uses about 1/3 the
energy of its desktop counterpart (Radeon RX 460).

A few spec comparisons to the 2015 GPU:

    
    
        1. floating-point - 82% faster
        2. texture mapping - 82% faster
        3. texture mapping units - 60% more
        4. shading units - 60% more
        5. GPU memory - 100% more
    

Radeon Pro 460 (MacBook Pro) vs Radeon RX 460 (desktop):

[http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-RX-460-vs-Radeon-
Pro-460](http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-RX-460-vs-Radeon-Pro-460)

That's not as bad as everyone has made it out to be, right? Or, is it that the
2015 was just terrible?

~~~
robhu
It's a definite improvement, but quite disappointing if you want to use the
GPU for pro use (e.g. video processing), given that there are other pro
laptops out there now that include things like GTX 1060 and 1080 that are up
to 5 times more performant.

It's a good upgrade over what was there previously, but it's disappointing
relative to the rest of the market.

I understand Apple want to optimise for battery life and thinness, but it
would have been nice if there'd been a choice (have this GPU and 10 hours
battery life, or a 1080 and 5 hours battery life)... or dual GPU like before
so you could have a 1080 or 1060 in there but normally use a low power
integrated GPU.

The Razer Blade Pro (17", mechanical keyboard, desktop class graphics, 32GB on
board, ...) is exactly what I actually want in a Macbook Pro. It's just a
shame it doesn't run OS X.

~~~
philjohn
What's the battery life like on those Pro laptops?

Ideally Apple would release an external graphics card that communicates via
TB3 for docked pro use, and then use the discrete Radeon Pro 460 when on the
road.

~~~
nakedrobot2
The battery life is under two hours when you're doing "that kind of work".
Also, the GPU is severely throttled when the laptop is not plugged into the AC
power.

~~~
robhu
Yes, and wouldn't it be good to let the pro buying the laptop make that
choice?

~~~
selectodude
You can make that choice. By not buying the MacBook Pro.

All these articles and comments that imply that Apple has put a gun to their
head seem a bit overblown.

Hell, Apple is still selling the old model if you're really that upset about
USB-C.

~~~
robhu
I am saying from the perspective of a Mac using developer, wouldn't it be nice
if Apple offered them the choice of choosing low end GPU for better battery
life or high end GPU with less battery life, which may (and for many is) more
appropriate for their professional workload.

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boardwaalk
And here I am, just finding out the 15" has discrete graphics after buying the
13" which does not.

Regardless, to me 13" is a much better form factor. I had a 15" years ago and
it seemed to have so much awkward empty space around where your wrists go.

~~~
mangeletti
You've get 14 days of return policy. Assuming you're talking about the new
Touch Bar MBP, you've still got at least a week left.

~~~
boardwaalk
It's a touch bar model which doesn't ship for 2-3 weeks, but thank you.

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samwillis
What I don't understand about Macbook Pros (as an owner of one) is that there
isn't a model with a "Pro" level graphics card - so an AMD FirePro or Nvindia
Quadro. The price bracket they are in has competitor laptops with them, and a
lot of "pro" 3d graphics software only officially support them.

~~~
saidajigumi
Serious question: what outside of legacy (i.e. almost all of it) Windows CAD
software uses or benefits from FirePro cards and the like? I spoke with a dev
of a CAD suite I actually use, one of the few that doesn't have a requirement
to use one of these cards, and asked about this. The reply was preceded by a
snort of disdain: "no _we_ use any DirectX compatible GPU. Get a good gaming
card, it's cheaper and better."

My impression, right or wrong, is that this segment of the graphics card
market mostly serves expensive legacy (and almost entirely Windows) enterprise
graphics packages that don't want to migrate to more modern graphics APIs and
cards.

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skeptic2718
Dell is updating the XPS 15 with a NVIDIA 10 series card soon-ish (December?).
Any one shopping for a decent dGPU on a light laptop should consider it.

~~~
emidln
Their current top-end XPS 15 already supports 32GB RAM, a 1TB NVMe, 4k
touchscreen and has an NVIDIA GTX 960M. I was looking into it recently and it
was on-sale for $2250. Maybe I should wait for the update. I like the idea of
having a 15" screen with a smaller form factor (without the bevels).

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replete
I've just shared my spreadsheet comparing 2016 Laptops.

There's a column listing Gflops, which is relevant to this thread:
[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nnmI9pN9rBMBJHE1gqYA...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nnmI9pN9rBMBJHE1gqYAPfbnfJiZFdA8voah8O2nmNk/edit?usp=sharing)

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finishingmove
Does anyone know what the maximum possible (combined-)output resolution of the
Radeon Pro 460 is? I'm having a hard time finding this info on AMD's website.

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jagger27
I'm most curious how the Radeon Pro 450 stacks up against the Intel Iris 550.

