It just works, or does it? (MacBook Pro)
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Apple just released their new MacBook Pro during their October 27th Apple Event. It was interesting and exciting to some people, but a disappointment to most.
What excited most people was the addition of a new feature called the Touch Bar, an OLED multitouch display placed above the keyboard, replacing the top row of button on most keyboards, the function row. It is also worth while to note that the Touch Bar is customizable for each application and includes a Touch-ID Fingerprint Reader.
What disappointed most people was the lack of “pro” (professional) ports on the side of the computer. Gone are the two USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbold 2 ports, SD card reader, and HDMI port from the MacBook Pro 2015 version. Many ports on the older MacBook Pro was a main selling point for some professional users.
Also gone is Apple’s smartest and safest feature invention that was called MagSafe. MagSafe is a way to magnetically charge your MacBook. If you accidentally yanked the cord out of your computer, it was a way to prevent your computer from falling off the table by automatically disconnect.
Replacing all of those ports on the new MacBook Pro are 4 USB-C/Thunderbold 3 ports on the Touch Bar model, and 2 USB-C/Thunderbold 3 ports on the non-Touch Bar model.
Apple showed off the potential of their USB-C ports by showing how it could be used for Power, Thunderbolt, USB, Display Port, HDMI, and VGA. What they didn’t show off was how many “dongles” (adaptors) your MacBook Pro would need to use in order to take full advantage of USB-C.
This begs the question, how many ports can Apple take away, and still call this MacBook Pro, Pro?
Here are specs (specifications) for all three new MacBook Pros, and their respective price ranges:
13 inch (No Touchbar) — $1499
- 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor w/ Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
- 8GB 1866MHz memory
- 256GB PCIe-based SSD1
- Intel Iris Graphics 540
- Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
13 inch with Touchbar — $1799 | $1,999
- 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor w/ Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
- 8GB 2133MHz memory
- 256GB | 512GB PCIe-based SSD1
- Intel Iris Graphics 550
- Four Thunderbolt 3 ports
- Touch Bar and Touch ID
15 inch with Touchbar — $2,399 | $2,799.00
- 2.6GHz | 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor
- Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz | 3.6GHz
- 16GB 2133MHz memory
- 256GB | 512GB PCIe-based SSD1
- Radeon Pro 450 | 455 with 2GB memory
- Four Thunderbolt 3 ports
- Touch Bar and Touch ID
