MacBook Pro 2016: Should You Upgrade?
There’s a shiny new MacBook Pro in town. But is it worth trading in last year’s Pro or the MacBook Air?
Another fall, another #AppleEvent, and another chance for the Cult of Apple to shake out their wallets and dive between the couch cushions to scrounge up the extra cash for a shiny new MacBook Pro.
On the 25th anniversary of Apple unveiling its first laptop, Tim Cook took to the stage in Cupertino to unveil a new MacBook Pro, which he said is the “thinnest and lightest MacBook Pro ever.”
That’s par for the course at these events, though. The biggest announcement was the inclusion of the Touch Bar — a thin strip that replaces the function keys with multi-touch, app-specific gestures; it’s a neat workaround for anyone put off by the idea of a touch-screen laptop. There’s also a Touch ID power button on the MacBook Pro now, which will tap in to Apple Pay, of course.
But are these additions a) what Apple fans really want, and b) a compelling enough reason to upgrade from your 13-inch MacBook Air or last year’s MacBook Pro?
If you’re concerned about heft, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is 14.9mm thick, 17 percent thinner than last year’s MacBook Pro, with 23 percent less volume. The 15-inch version comes in at 15.5mm thick, which is 14 percent thinner and 20 percent less volume than its predecessor. The new 13-inch is a mere 3 pounds — on par with the MacBook Air — while the 15-inch is 4 pounds. And while the Air is famous for its slim, tapered shape, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro still has it beat; it’s 12 percent thinner and has 13 percent less volume than MacBook Air.
The body is Apple’s familiar sleek aluminum; get it in silver or space gray.
The new MacBook Pro also has a Retina display that’s 67 percent brighter, has 67 percent more contrast ratio, and increases the color gamut by 25 percent. That translates to a 2,560-by-1,600 resolution on the 13-inch — the same as last year’s Pro, but superior to the 1,440-by-900 resolution [corrected] on the Air. The 15-inch comes in at 2,880-by-1,800 resolution.
The keyboard also gets an update with second-generation butterfly switches, while the size of the Force Touch trackpad has been increased by 46 percent.
At the risk of being called a gimmick, the Touch Bar was introduced as an “about time” update to the function keys. The Retina display technology replaces standard system functions, like brightness and volume control, and can adapt to whatever software you’re currently using. So, if you’re browsing in Safari, the Touch Bar will show you buttons for your favorite websites. If you’re in Photos, you can straighten out your crooked photos with a swipe of a finger. When typing, it’ll show you QuickType suggestions for frequently used words — much like an iPhone might.
Professionally, Apple made an appeal to filmmakers, graphic artists, and musicians by demoing the Touch Bar’s integration with popular programs such as Final Cut Pro and Photoshop. But while the Touch Bar is new to the MacBook Pro, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like it. The Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch also replaced the function keys with a similar touch strip called the Adaptive Function Row.
Another more subtle update is the Touch ID power button. With the new MacBook Pro, you’ll be able to login simply by pressing on the Power button. It features a second-generation sensor covered with sapphire crystal and is supported by the Apple T1 chip. Apple was quick to point out that this will make it easy to buy things through Apple Pay; if you share the MacBook Pro, you can switch between users with a tap of your finger.
While Apple was keen to push these two updates as major reasons to upgrade, it’s important to note that the MacBook Pros with Touch Bar and Touch ID opt for four Thunderbolt 3 ports, a headphone jack, and…that’s it. A 13-inch version without Touch Bar/Touch ID has two Thunderbolt ports.
By comparison, last year’s MacBook Pro came complete with an HDMI port, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, an SDXC card reader, and two USB 3.0 ports. The 13-inch MacBook Air comes with a headset jack, two microphones, a MagSafe 2 power jack, two USB 3.0 ports, Thunderbolt 2 port, and an SDXC card reader. Anyone looking to upgrade should be comfortable buying a few extra dongles.
The starting $1,799 configuration of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID features a sixth-generation 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Graphics 550, 8GB of memory, a 256GB PCIe-based solid-state drive, and up to 10 hours of battery life. While this is an improvement from the 2015 MacBook Pro, which had a fifth-generation Intel Core i5, and the Air, it’s still not the most current seventh-generation Kaby Lake processor, a bit of a head scratcher considering the price. And even though we know it has a sixth-generation Intel chip, it’s unclear what the exact Core i5 processor will be.
At the end of the day, that’s what it really comes down to. The 13-inch 2015 MacBook Pro started at $1,299, while the 13-inch Air starts at a neat $999. Does an extra $500 to $800 for the Touch Bar, Touch ID, and four Thunderbolt ports merit an upgrade? (And don’t forget to factor in those dongles!) For most people, probably not. Fans of ultraportability and port options can opt for another MacBook Air or stick with their current MacBook Pro. But if your MacBook is wheezing and on the verge of death, or you’re super excited by Touch Bar and Touch ID, the new MacBook Pro might be the revolutionary high-end ultraportable of your dreams.
Read more: 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro review.
Originally published at www.pcmag.com.
