Today’s Apple event has had the internet a buzz. Last month, Apple unveiled iPhones and a new Apple Watch. This time around, the main attraction of Apple’s “Hello Again” event has been the new 2016 MacBook Pro. When we say new, we mean new. The MacBook Pro has been fundamentally redesigned for the first time in a long time.
So, what’s different?
The MacBook Pro now has metal on all sides in the new design. This new MacBook Pro will be the thinnest and lightest yet. It measures at 14.9mm of thickness and only 3 lbs. This thin and light model will come in silver and space gray color options. Some of the biggest buzz has been surrounding the OLED touch strip at the top called the “TouchBar”. To the right of the TouchBar, there is a Touch ID fingerprint authentication module protected by a sapphire glass cover.
There will also be a much larger Force Touch trackpad. The two models will be 13 inch and 15 inch. The 13 inch model will have either sixth-gen Core i5 or i7 processors and Intel Iris Pro graphics. The 15 inch model has a quad-core sixth-generation Intel Core i7 chip and 2,133mHz of memory. It has an ATI Radeon Pro graphics card with up to 4GB of RAM. You can get up a 2TB SDD that’s up to 50 percent faster and the 15-inch model comes with 16GB of RAM. The 13 inch also has the faster memory as the 15 inch, but only has 8GB of it.
As far as battery life goes, it will be up to ten hours for both models. Both also boast a new display that is 67 percent brighter and shows 25 percent more color than before. Both MacBook’s will also include four Thunderbolt 3 USB Type-C ports. They do include a headphone jack, but no SD card slots or any other types of ports. Why? Well, Apple says the USB-C ports are to replace power, Thunderbolt, USB, DisplayPort, HDMI, and VGA ports.
There is a third model that Apple is introducing. This third model is also a 13 inch without the TouchBar. This model is designed to take the place of the MacBook Air. This model has two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports instead of four.
If you’re wondering about buying, you can order today but shipping times vary. The entry-level model is shipping now, but the other two TouchBar models will ship in a few weeks. Price wise, the models vary. The entry-level Macbook Pro to replace the MacBook Air starts at $1,499. The 13 inch model with the TouchBar starts at $1,799 and the 15 inch version starts at $2,399.
What did you think of Apple’s announcements about the new MacBook Pro? Will you be buying? What do you think of the USB-C ports and the TouchBars? What would you have liked to see that you didn’t? Comment below!
