Apple today announced its redesigned MacBook Pro lineup featuring a new chassis and powered by the new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips.
The new aluminium enclosure has been engineered to otpmize internal space and improved thermal efficiency. Apple claims the new chassis design can 50 percent more air at lower fan speeds.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro is just 15.5mm thin, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro is 16.8mm thin.
Apple has also done away with the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pros. Instead, there’s now a full-size keyboard with a full-height function key row containing shortcuts for Spotlight, Siri, and Do Not Disturb. The Touch ID button now has a tactile ring so that you can easily distinguish it.
Apple is also bring back the ports, with the new MacBook Pros featuring a dedicated HDMI port and SD card slot. There are also three Thunderbolt 4 ports, a headphone jack with support for high impedance headphones, and a MagSafe charging port. It will also be possible to charge the new MacBook Pros over USB-C.
The redesigned 14-inch MacBook Pro will support up to 2 additional Liquid Retina XDR, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro can power 3x Pro Display XDR and a 4K TV at the same time.
For the display, Apple has reduced the bezels by 24 percent. They also feature rounded corners, with a notch around the improved and larger FaceTime camera. The f/2.0 1080p FaceTime camera offers up to 2x better low-light performance.
Apple is calling the mini-LED panel on the new MacBook Pros as the Liquid Retina XDR that’s capable of 1000 nits of sustained brightness and 1,600 nits of peak brightness. There’s also 120Hz ProMotion support.
On the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, Apple has redesigned the sound system and it now packs a 6-speaker sound system with 4 speakers and 2 tweeters. There’s also Spatial Audio support to deliver outstanding music quality.
In terms of performance, the new 16-inch MacBook Pro is up to 2x faster than the Core i9 model. The GPU performance is also as much as 4x times better than the Intel model.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro can also be configured with the M1 Max chip offering up to 3.7x faster CPU performance.
The SSD performance is also being improved, with read speeds reaching up to 7.4GB/sec. The maximum storage size still tops out at 8TB though.
New MacBook Pro Battery Life
Apple claims up to 2x better battery life while using Lightroom on the new MacBook Pros. The 14-inch MacBook Pro offers 17 hours of video playback, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro can last for up to 21 hours. There’s also Fast charge support, so you can charge the new MacBook Pros to 50 percent in just 30 minutes.
New MacBook Pro Price and Availability
The 14-inch MacBook Pro will start at $1,999, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro starts from $2,499. They will be available in Silver and Space Gray colours. Pre-orders start today, with retail availability scheduled to start from next week.
