MacBook Pro 2018: Teased Intel Coffee Lake chips carry same 16 GB RAM issue of 2016 model

With the Worldwide Developers Conference fast approaching, most are keeping their fingers crossed for the much-talked about release of an upgraded MacBook Pro. While most know that the refreshed notebook will most likely sport an Intel Kaby Lake chipset, it seems logical that an eventual MacBook Pro 2018 will come with a more powerful chipset.

Coffee powered MacBook Pro in 2018?

According to Apple Insider, the Cupertino company teased the potential release of a MacBook Pro 2018 backed by an Intel Coffee Lake SoC. This would be Intel’s 8th generation processor, pegged to be 30 percent faster than the current Intel Kaby Lake chipset.

Those should be angles worth looking into, though the amount of power in the Intel Coffee Lake chipsets comes a bit of a surprise. This is mainly because of the fact that Intel previously claimed that the next chips would offer performance improvement of only 15 percent.

Intel brands the Intel Coffee Lake as an optimisation of the current Intel Kaby Lake. They are targeting the second half of 2017 to release these new chips.

Going back to the fate of future MacBook Pros, the release date of the Intel Coffee Lake will be crucial. Most know that the Intel Skylake-backed MacBook Pro 2016 garnered disappointment. A lot of it had to do with the timing of the release of the Intel Kaby Lake chipset, something that only stabilised earlier this year.

The 16 GB RAM problem is back

While the added power to a MacBook Pro 2018 should be something, there may be bumps ahead. The problem rekindles an issue tied to the MacBook Pro 2016 – the RAM.

In the event that the MacBook Pro 2018 comes with Intel Coffee Lake, it will not include support for LPDDR4. This means that such would allow quantities of memory to be used without requiring the use of a new RAM controller.

Instead, it may be best for the MacBook Pro 2018 to consider using the Intel Cannon Lake. These are chipsets produced using a 10-nm process – something that offers a reduction in power usage. The only problem is that there is no certainty when these chips will be shipped.

For now, it would be best to focus on whether an upgraded MacBook Pro 2017 will be shown at the WWDC 2017 on June 5. A launch could hamper the regular schedule of the Cupertino company and may eventually dictate when to expect a MacBook Pro 2018.