After about 18 months without an update, and no design change since 2012, the MacBook Pro family finally moved. The headlines are Touch Bar, Touch ID, and a machine that only speaks USB-C.
Touch ID, Touch Bar, and USB-C
The refreshed MacBook Pro brings a new trackpad, keyboard, Touch Bar, Touch ID, and four Thunderbolt/USB-C ports. Still in 13- and 15-inch sizes, it is thinner, lighter, and now available in space gray. Before the details: it has been 25 years since Apple’s first laptop, the PowerBook, launched. Worth a look at the nostalgia video for this Pro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDpOB-OXypQ
Touch Bar
The biggest change is the thin strip of screen where function keys used to live. Controls shift by app, with shortcuts for things you touch constantly: Siri, predictive text like iOS, quick Finder tags. On stage, software chief Craig Federighi scrubbed through full-screen photos from the Touch Bar. You can customize it like a toolbar in Maps, FaceTime, Calendar, Music, iWork, iMovie, GarageBand, and more.
Demos covered Final Cut Pro X, Photoshop, and DJ apps: video, photo, and music workflows.
Touch ID
On the right end of the Touch Bar sits a Touch ID button like the iPhone’s. It also powers the Mac on and off, but with the T1 chip its real job is secure fingerprint unlock, Apple Pay, and switching user accounts. After iPhone, bringing Touch ID to MacBook is a meaningful security-and-convenience step.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BkskUE8_hA
Size and weight
The 13-inch is 14.9 mm thin: 17 percent thinner, 23 percent less volume, 1.37 kg. The 15-inch is 15.5 mm: 14 percent thinner, 20 percent less volume, 1.83 kg.
Trackpad and keyboard
The Force Touch trackpad is twice as large. The butterfly keyboard moves to a second generation that Apple says is easier to type on, even if it will not spell out every change.
Display
The new panel is 67 percent brighter, has 67 percent higher contrast, and shows 25 percent more color, while using less power and getting nearly as thin as the 12-inch MacBook’s screen.
CPU and graphics
The 13-inch uses a 6th-gen dual-core Intel Core i5 with Intel Iris graphics and no discrete GPU. The 15-inch adds a 6th-gen quad-core Core i7 and an AMD Radeon Pro GPU, about 2.3 times faster than the prior model, and can drive two 5K monitors plus two RAID systems at once.
Storage, thermals, speakers
SSDs are about 50 percent faster than before, peaking near 3.1 GB/s with up to 2 TB options. Apple redesigned cooling and speakers so two smaller drivers still put out 58 percent more volume.
USB-C and Thunderbolt
Like the 12-inch MacBook, both Pros only expose USB-C: four Thunderbolt 3 ports, two per side. MagSafe is gone. Any of the four ports can charge the machine.
Battery and color
Apple claims 10 hours on both 13- and 15-inch models. Color options grow from one to two: silver and space gray.
Pricing
With the iPhone 7, Turkey pricing already felt wild; MacBook Pros push that further. Macs usually earn their keep. My mid-2012 11-inch MacBook Air still handles everything. Converted through FX and tax, though, the sticker still stings.
Base configurations, US (pre-tax) and Turkey:
13″ MacBook Pro: $1,499 (5,999 TL)
13″ MacBook Pro (Touch Bar and Touch ID): $1,799 (7,199 TL)
15″ MacBook Pro (Touch Bar and Touch ID): $2,399 (9,499 TL)
