Weird 2013 Macbook Retina Latency Issue

[Moosebear]

I'm about to pull the trigger on a refurb Macbook Pro retina from last February... so any advice appreciated. Yes I want Retina, even tho it's still not yet optimized for Live.

I can afford a new one at $1850, and I prefer it's lighter weight, battery life, speedier SSD...but happy to save the $300 for the refurb, both 8G ram, 512G SSD, i5 at 2.6Ghz. But if the latency is bad in the new one... should I get the refurb?

Or is that moot? Is the trick of plugging in headphones into the new one (which I always do) going to make this a non-issue for me?

Any advice appreciated. I don't feel like I can trust Apple on this issue because they don't even admit the problem.

[pedx1ng]

I don't think anyone can answer that for you. Why not get a new model Retina and test it yourself with your setup. If it doesn't work for you, return it and get the older model refurb.

[pencilrocket]

In some country, that method won't work if apple refuse refund.

[Moosebear]

New post on the Apple forum topic about this issue:

"Re: Strange Issues w/ New 2013 MBPR
5-Dec-2013 2:21 AM
The response I eventually got back from Apple was:

"Yes core audio group has come back to me and have said there will be a software update to address this issue in the future. No date specified for this though!! All I can say is just wait for a software update that will resolve this."

So we wait."

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/55 ... 5&tstart=0

[muthafunka]

good news, thanks for sharing

[Moosebear]

good news, thanks for sharing

Yes, I hope it's good news, it would be better news if Apple actually publicly acknowledged this. This is just a user, quoting an agent, who said it's a software problem...

Meantime, no new Haswell Macbook for me until I know this can be resolved. It could still be a hardware issue. Apple should be more public about these things, if they want my trust and business.

Now I'm kooking at the new Lenovo Yoga pro 2 and Yoga Thinkpads.

[Moosebear]

Well I got tired of waiting and pulled the trigger on a refurb 15" 2012 MBP Retina 512GB ssd, 8GB ram, 2.6Ghz 17, just under $2000. Which is almost what I'd pay for the new 13" with similar config, so it's kind of an upgrade over what I was looking at anyway, what with the quad-core, bigger screen etc.

As much as I'd have liked a new machine, I didn't want to buy something that had latency problems from day one. That's my whole reason for migrating to Mac, along with the legendary support.

I gave it a last chance, calling Apple core audio again to see if this supposed software fix could be confirmed, and they said they had never heard of this latency issue, so no confirmation of anything. Which stretches the bonds of credibility to me, it sounds like those Apple techs are kept on a short leash. Understandable I suppose from a corp perspective. Well I've read their refurbs are great, so here's to hoping.

[hennessey]

I didn't want to buy something that had latency problems from day one

I thought this only affected the laptop speakers? My understanding was that when using an external audio interface or the headphone jack, the latency went down to regular levels. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But it seems like a non issue. I'm not writing/producing or gigging with the laptop speakers.

[richardFM]

I thought this only affected the laptop speakers? My understanding was that when using an external audio interface or the headphone jack, the latency went down to regular levels. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But it seems like a non issue. I'm not writing/producing or gigging with the laptop speakers.

that was my understanding as well. the latency was only related to laptop speakers and not external sound cards. is that right?

[richardFM]

Well I got tired of waiting and pulled the trigger on a refurb 15" 2012 MBP Retina 512GB ssd, 8GB ram, 2.6Ghz 17, just under $2000.

even tho i'm just about to get a 2012 15 inch myself

[pencilrocket]

wut the legendary arrogant support is the reason to get mac???

[Moosebear]

Well here in North America at least, Apple tech support ranks very high for problem resolution. No PC maker even comes close. So yeah, I bought an Apple for the support, and will get Applecare. I've wasted a lot of time on misbehaving PC laptops, and I hate getting stuck. I sure hope my experience will be better with Apple.

[Moosebear]

Does anyone know if it's true that the latency is not an issue when headphones are plugged in? Can anyone who has a new Haswell late 2013 Macbook confirm this?

[hennessey]

Does anyone know if it's true that the latency is not an issue when headphones are plugged in? Can anyone who has a new Haswell late 2013 Macbook confirm this?

New one just arrived. All at buffer size 128 samples, Driver-Error Comp 0:

Laptop Speakers: 14.7 ms
Headphones: 9.75 ms
NI Audio Kontrol 1: 13.2 ms

I would have thought the NI interface would be a little better, but the NI driver isn't the greatest - I've had it crash at a gig,

[Moosebear]

Thanks, Hennessey. Excuse my ignorance... is that way higher latency than what you'd want, if you were going to record with onboard audio? If so, does that mean you are hoping that Apple will come out with a fix for your new box?

My new-to-me refurb mid-2012 MBP retina 15" i7 shows 3.45 input and 5.42 output latency at 128 buffer so overall 8.97 latency... is it the overall number that you are quoting?

What I'm trying to understand is this: is the new MBP a poor choice right now if one wants to use core audio?