Like MacBook - and iPhone and iPad before it - you now get a polished stainless steel logo embedded in the center of the casing instead. What Apple didn't manage to cram in is their signature glowing logo.
I'd still prefer 1080p on a MacBook Pro - even if it takes a camera bump to do it. It's a stark improvement over the anemic 420p camera in the MacBook.
No more staring at a blank screen for a few seconds, fumbling with a power button trying to figure out what state it's in, or worrying the chime will go off in a meeting - lift and you're good to go.ĭespite the thinness of the new display, Apple did manage to cram in a 720p FaceTime camera.
In other words, it no longer matters if your Mac was off or just asleep, you open it and you log in, and it's terrific. It's gone now, a concession to the new auto-boot feature that makes powering up functionally indistinguishable from waking up. That's right, the classic chime no longer greets you on startup. Unibody MacBooks have proven their durability over time and, if anything, the new MacBook Pro feels like the most durable to date. There's a rigidity to it that I really appreciate when picking it up and moving it around. But that aluminum it's carved out of feels stronger as well. That means you can carry it around longer without wrenching your shoulder or breaking your back, and it'll fit more easily into your bag or onto your tray table. Sure, it's lighter and smaller - MacBook Air-level lighter and smaller. The first thing you notice about the new MacBook Pro is how dense it feels. Otherwise, I like that we're moving toward universality in charging. Hopefully, Apple can bring the best of MagSafe to the USB-C cable and brick eventually.
I can handle wrapping the cord - I've been doing it with iOS devices for years - but I miss the extension cord, the wrappers, and the magnetic ending. There's also no easily detachable magnet on the end. On the downside, there's no bundled extension cord, which is disappointing in a premium product like MacBook Pro, and no more fold-out wrappers on the brick, which made for clean cable storage. It's also easier and more flexible to pack. Notably, if your cable frays or otherwise fails, all you have to do is get another cable, which is much, much cheaper than a new MagSafe all-in-one cable and brick. The new charging setup has some advantages. I suspect, for the vast majority of people, they will. For others, like me, they'll be absolutely terrific and once again deliver on the future, right now, today.Įither way, unless you loved the new MacBook Pro at first sight, I strongly encourage you to try before you buy, and when you buy, push them as hard as you need to, as fast as you can, so you can see if they meet your real-world needs. For some, the new MacBook Pro will be absolute, heart-crushing deal breakers.
What this means to you will depend entirely on your personal preferences and professional requirements. And they're priced at a significant premium.
They've got Touch Bar and Touch ID but not a touch screen, and there's no option for anything but Apple's incredibly flat, incredibly divisive new keyboard. They've got a 16 GB memory limit that, while mitigated by compression and SSD speed, won't prove enough for the most demanding professionals. But memory and graphics constraints, the lack of legacy ports, and an ultra-flat keyboard threaten the needs of some of Apple's traditional pro customers right now.īut they've got graphics that, while they can run dual 5K displays at the high end, can't run VR or the highest end games. No surprise there: It's almost Apple's battle cry at this point.Ĭinematic color gamut, unified ports, ludicrously fast storage, and that new Touch Bar - a capacitive multitouch strip that provides for dynamic controls - define the company's vision for the future of the MacBook Pro. So, how does the MacBook Pro respond? By going even faster, thinner, lighter, and brighter. In that time the MacBook has been reimagined, macOS has been renamed, and the iPad has gone Pro.
That covers the range of Apple's most recent update to their professional laptop line - an update 18-months in the making. This weekend, it was the 15-inch Model, also with Touch Bar and Touch ID.
For the second week, it was the 13-inch model with Touch Bar and Touch ID. For the first week, it was the 13-inch model without Touch Bar and Touch ID. For the last two weeks I've been working full-time on the new MacBook Pro 2016.