The MacBook Pro might seem like an overpriced machine right now, but it is going to get better with time thanks to Intel’s latest development of its Coffee Lake processors. Unfortunately, users will still not be able to upgrade their total RAM count to 32GB and here is why.
Apple’s MacBook Pro Lineup With 10nm Cannon Lake CPUs Will Support up to 32GB RAM but They Will Only Be Readily Available by 2019
Intel recently warned its 10nm ‘Cannon Lake’ series of processors would not be readily be available till 2019, which means being able to see a MacBook Pro that can be configured up to 32GB is not going to be possible this year. In its quarterly earnings report, Intel highlighted its focus on the delivery of 14nm chips this year. Even though the processors using the 10nm production process will begin shipping this year, they won’t be widely available till 2019.
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Brian Krzanich, Intel’s CEO said that availability problem stems from issues with achieving high yields of the chips using the 10nm process. A significant amount of wafers used in manufacturing could be wasted too. Intel wants to solve these issues before venturing into mass production.
Cannon Lake, the first series of Intel processors to use the 10nm process will provide power efficiency and performance improvements. These improvements would make the chip ideal for notebooks manufacturers because of prolonged battery life and low heat generation.
Cannon Lake will also provide support for LPDDR4 memory, so Apple can incorporate it in the MacBook Pro with 32GB of memory without going through with the DDR4 route. Despite similar naming conventions, these two technologies are very different. Since the Intel chips currently powering the MacBook Pro does not support LPDDR4, the current generation of MacBook Pro models can only go up to 16GB of RAM. Apple will probably wait for the Cannon Lake family instead of adding a new RAM controller with DDR4 to increase memory.
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Why Is This Still a Good Year to Upgrade to the MacBook Pro?
Intel’s Coffee Lake processors support up to 6 cores and 12 threads so you already have terrific computing performance that could later be seen in the 15-inch MacBook Pro models. Content creators and professionals will definitely enjoy seeing the higher core count for a wide number of tasks.
Plus, the 15-inch notebooks featuring Thunderbolt 3 ports will give you a lot of throughput although it will require you to purchase a wide set of dongles to get the job done. If that was not good enough, the previous-generation MacBook Pro models can be sold for a much cheaper price so in the end, you might actually end up getting more value for your money.
Source: PC Gamer
