At the recent event, Apple has unveiled the new version of MacBook Pro nearly after 18 months. New MacBook Pro comes with new OLED touchscreen on the keyboard and some updates for its laptop lines.
The new MacBook Pro is thinner, lighter and comes with all new touchscreen inbuilt in the keyboard. Like last year, Apple has used four USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports two on both sides which are used for both power and connectivity. However, the new laptop doesn’t have SD card reader, HDMI port and USB-A ports that last models had. Additional adaptors will be required to use existing accessories. USB-C have replaced the MagSafe power adapter. 3.5 mm headphone will still exist, unlike iPhone 7.
The biggest change to the design is new OLED touch panel, which replaces the function keys. It allows shortcuts to functions such as volume control and window management.
Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Apple, said: “It’s a retina display, multitouch, responding to gestures and taps. We call it Touch Bar. First, it replaces the standard system functions, but it goes way beyond that. It adapts to whatever software you’re using.”
Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering for Apple, showed that the Touch Bar could be used for navigation in browsers, photo manipulation and test suggestions when typing. It can also suggest and insert emojis without leaving the keyboard.
Power button now integrates Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint scanner on the right end side of the strip. The fingerprint scanner is similar to the one fitted on the iPhone and iPad, which can be used to unlock the laptop and for payments. Now the new Force Touch trackpad is bigger than the previous model.
The new 13in MacBook Pro is equipped with dual-core Intel i5 or i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB storage, and Intel’s Iris 550 integrated graphics chip. The MacBook Pro will have 103% faster gaming performance and 76% faster video editing and 3D graphics performance than its ancestor.
The new 15in MacBook Pro will even more powerful, with quad-core Intel 6th generation i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It will have an AMD Radeon Pro 450 graphics chip with 4GB of video RAM. The new 15in model will have 130% faster 3D graphics, 60% faster gaming, and 57% faster video editing. Both the models will have up to 10 hours of battery life.
The new MacBook Pro is ready for sale, will be shipped within two to three weeks. The 13in MacBook costs $1799 in the US and £1749 in the UK and the 15in costs $2399 in the US and £2349 in the UK. Besides these two new models, there is another lower specification 13in model also. There will be no OLED Touch Bar, Touch ID and only two Thunderbolt ports. The price is $1499 in the US and £1449 in the UK, which will ship immediately.
There will 13in MacBook Air, but the smaller 11in version has been dropped by Apple. There weren’t any announcement regarding the Mac Pro or iMac desktop computers.
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