The rumors were hitting our ears for a while that Apple is about to launch a 16-inch Macbook pro. A couple of months ago, IHS Markit analyst Jeff Lin reported investors that the 16-inch MacBook Pro is likely to go into mass production in September and that it would be available in the market by the end of 2019.
In the initial days of October, we got to know that the launching date is around the corner. Finally, Bloomberg reported that Apple would launch it on 13 November; Wednesday and sales will start immediately.
Apple today launched a 16-inch MacBook Pro.
The new Macbook Pro will have the largest screen in the Apple laptop’s family as the company discontinued the production of the 17-inch model back in 2012. The new Macbook Pro has smaller bezels as compared to the 15-inch lineup, which it has replaced.
Is there something new to look up to except screen size and higher price tag, or not? The news is that MacBook Pro is well redesigned, but it would be the first significant update for the lineup since 2015.
Display
The new Macbook Pro will have a ~4% larger display area due to the shrunk bezels. The company is used to improve the display tech whenever it upgrades the product’s design, and it do stick to it this time as well.
The 16-inch Retina display supports P3 wide color gamut. The screen is featuring a resolution of 3072×1920 (~3K), which is higher than the previous 15.4-inch (2880 x 1800) mode, and a higher pixel density of 226 PPI. In other words, the 16-inch Retina display delivers nearly 6 million pixels.
Additionally, 7-nm chips of Radeon 5000M graphic card units power the GPU intensive tasks.
iPad Pro has the support for HDR, but it is not featured on the portable Macs. This move was expected, however, it is not a ‘make it or break it’ thing.
Keyboard
Back then, Apple moved to a comparatively sleeker design and Butterfly keyboard mechanism. Finally, we see updates related to keyboard and performance.
It looks like the company is prone to the scissor-switch mechanism that was present before the butterfly keyboards because Apple received thousands of complaints from its users about it.
The newly redesigned keyboard is called Magic Keyboard. Based on the upgraded above-said mechanism, This new design of the keyboard has an ample 1mm travel distance for each key, which makes you feel a more stable typing feel, as well as a rubber dome that collects more potential energy for a responsive keypress expereince.
Apple believes the new keyboard will provide the most comfortable, satisfying, and quiet typing experience ever in a Macbook Pro. Other minor changes include the comeback of ‘Esc’ key, which was removed in favor of keyboard-wide Touch Bar. The traditional ‘inverted T’ design of arrow keys is back as well.
Storage
The standard Macbook Pro configuration storage size is doubled to 512GB and 1TB. The new Macbook Pro is configurable up to 8TB of SSD storage, which is the most by any laptop in the market at the moment.
Such massive storage will help pro users who are aiming to use this device for photography, animations, or video editing. SD Card Reader is not back yet. Like the previous Macbook Pro, the new model also contains only four Thunderbolt ports with a headphone jack.
Processor
A faster processor to enhance performance is used in the new Macbook Pro. Intel’s 9th-gen Coffee Lake processors with 6 and 8 core processors will power the lineup. The processors can perform up to 5.0 GHz with Turbo Boost speeds, which is around 2.1 times fast than the quad-core 15-inch MacBook Pro. Xcode developers will expereince 1.8 times faster compile-time, and MATLAB users will see a 2.1 times improvement while rendering simulations.
Sound
A new arrangement of six hi-fi speakers is added, which will make you feel the speakers are right next to your ears. Podcasters and musicians will love this improvement. Apple has patented a new force-canceling technology that they have used in woofers in these notebooks. It will remove unwanted vibrations, and music will sound more clear and natural.
Verdict & Price
This new lineup has replaced the 15-inch Macbook Pro lineup. It includes all the elements like Intel i9 fast processors and support of up to 64GB RAM, powered with a 100Wh battery to provide 11 hours of web browsing, to make the MacBook Pro engaging.
The improved graphics processing units will help 1.6 times smoother gameplay in games like Fortnite. Unity developers will see 1.4 times improvement in performance during game development. The Magic keyboard is going to bring back all-time favorite keyboard used in 2015 Macbooks with further enhancements, small bezels with almost similar to the 15-inch model size of laptop body, up to 8TB storage support first time in a notebook, Touch ID, Touch Bar and Force Touch trackpad, all bundled up in this mighty Pro book.
As far as the price is concerned, the price curve would not go higher than the existing 15-inch, and the price starts at $2,399. A top of the line version could cost around $6,099
According to Bloomberg, the Macbooks continues to be a steady seller for Apple, generating about $26 billion in fiscal 2019 or about 10% of Apple’s total revenue, even as Apple pushes more portable devices like the iPad and iPad Pro.
Featured image: Apple