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15-Inch MacBook Pro AMD Radeon Pro Vega Graphics Options Now Available to Order

Wednesday November 14, 2018 6:48 am PST by Eric Slivka
Following its October 30 media event, Apple quietly announced in its MacBook Air press release that new AMD Radeon Pro Vega graphics would be coming to the 15-inch MacBook Pro as of November 14, and the new options have just gone live in Apple's online store.


The high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro can now be custom configured with with Radeon Pro Vega 16 graphics for an additional $250 or Radeon Pro Vega 20 graphics for an additional $350.

Configuring a MacBook Pro with the new Vega graphics pushes delivery estimates to November 20 at the earliest, which is a fairly standard timeframe for custom orders.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tag: AMD
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
[ 416 comments ]


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AngerDanger
10 months ago
Always excited to see MBP updates… until I remember the keyboard.
Rating: 35 Votes
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thisisnotmyname
10 months ago
I miss Nvidia options.
Rating: 29 Votes
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Glockworkorange
10 months ago
At least they are updating chips in-cycle for new buyers.

I imagine people who bought in July are not pleased....
Rating: 18 Votes
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pendragon1984
10 months ago
How much better are the Vega chips?
Rating: 15 Votes
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atoqir
10 months ago

That is messed up for anyone that recently got the top of the line $7,000 Macbook Pro back in August. I am sure they would have wanted this option included.


Why should it be?

You payed and bought for the product at that time for the current price at that time. It is with everything like that. At one point you decide to buy or to wait. If you have to wait until the next revision or model you never have to buy anything :)

I also don’t understand why some Apple consumers say a 2600 dollar product is deprecated or obsolete when the next one comes out with only a few minor changes. It is not like the iPhoneX is total crap and stops working now the the XS is out...
Rating: 14 Votes
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jb-net
10 months ago
Interesting how Apple is charging for any technical improvement. Remember the days when computers got faster at the same price point?
Rating: 13 Votes
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ChrisMoBro
10 months ago
*cough* Nvidia *cough*
Rating: 13 Votes
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brucebrendon
10 months ago

Always excited to see MBP updates… until I remember the keyboard.


– until I remember the Touch Bar (resold mine aSap)
Rating: 12 Votes
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ryanmillercg
10 months ago

Does anyone have useful experience with eGPU that can share?


I use a Radeon RX 580 in a Razer Core X with my 15" MacBook Pro 2017 daily. It's great. I highly suggest going for something like this over the black magic and other premade solutions, since you will want to upgrade your GPU someday, and buying a new enclosure every time doesn't make sense.

I haven't ran benchmarks to see if there would be a dramatic difference between internal/external performance, but I can say it runs very well as I expect.

The eGPU keeps the laptop much cooler. I do fairly heavy 3d game development. Using the internal GPU, my laptop gets to 70 degrees or so. Using the eGPU, it sits around 45 degrees instead.

All in all I strongly recommend eGPUs for Mac users that need graphics power. It solves two of the biggest Mac hardware problems; heat and hardware options.

Honestly, I often wish I got a 13" MBP instead of the 15" - I didn't expect I'd use an eGPU this often, and the 15" seems to have more problems.
Rating: 12 Votes
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PJivan
10 months ago

That is messed up for anyone that recently got the top of the line $7,000 Macbook Pro back in August. I am sure they would have wanted this option included.


But there were no vega mobile back then, so choose, you want frequent updates or one every few years? There is no way around, it's funny tho, you can't make everyone happy but you can make everyone sad.
Rating: 12 Votes

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