Apple has announced its new group of MacBook Pro notebooks, complete with Intel’s newest 8th and 9th generation Core processors as well as a revamped ultra slim butterfly keyboard with new enhancements to substantially reduce issues users may experience with stuck or unresponsive keys.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro was updated no less than twice in 2018, with one update after the 2018 Worldwide Developers Conference and another in November that added Vega graphics to the notebook. With the new announcement, Apple’s top tier MacBook Pro has gained Intel’s 9th-gen 45-watt Core i7 CPUs.
The $2399 model is jumping 400MHz to a 6-core i7-9750 CPU with Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz, while the $2799 model now uses an 8-core i9-9980 CPU at 4.8GHz.
Users can also snag a custom configured 15-inch MacBook Pro with Intel’s 8-core i9 processor overclocked to run at 5GHz. The new processors are designed to deliver “desktop caliber performance on the go,” according to Intel’s marketing.
Apple’s latest 15-inch Retina Display MacBook Pros continue to feature 220ppi 2880 by 1800 screens with P3 Wide Color Gamut, 500-nits of brightness, and the company’s True Tone display technology. They are equipped with Radeon Pro 560X or Vega 20 graphics with up to 4GB of HBM2 memory; 16 or 32GB of DDR4 RAM; and 512GB or 1, 2, or 4TB SSD storage options.
The current models also feature four Thunderbolt 3 ports with support for USB-C connectivity of all types, as well as four 4K or two 5K external displays via DisplayPort 1.4.
The $1799 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar has also received a 300MHz boost in CPU speed and now utilizes Intel’s 8th Generation 15 Watt Core i5-8365 CPU with a Turbo Boost speed of 4.1 GHz.
The custom option for an Intel i7 is also getting upgraded by 300MHz to Intel’s Core i7-8665U.
Apple’s latest 13-inch Retina Display MacBook Pros continue to feature 227ppi 2560 by 1600 screens with P3 Wide Color Gamut, 500-nits of brightness, and True Tone display technology. They also use Intel’s premium-tier Iris Plus integrated graphics with 128 MB eDRAM; offer 8 or 16GB of RAM; and either 256, 512GB, or 1 or 2TB SSD storage options.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro also features four Thunderbolt 3 ports on the 13-inch model with support for two 4K displays or one 5K external display. The 13-inch MacBook Pro also includes the same T2 chip, Touch Bar, and Touch ID authentication.
As with the 15-inch models, Apple is addressing keyboard concerns with an enhanced design intended to improve its ultra slim butterfly mechanism so as to substantially reduce issues users may experience with unresponsive or double-typing keys.
Both new MacBook Pro lines are available to order through Apple now, and will be in stores later this week.
The revamped MacBook Pro notebooks also include Apple’s custom T2 chip, which generally functions as a variant of the A10 processor used in iOS devices. The 64-bit ARMv8 chip runs its own “bridgeOS” operating system closely related to watchOS.
The T2 chip drives the graphical Touch Bar input system as well as Touch ID authentication, provides a secure enclave for encrypted keys, enables users to lock the system’s boot process, and includes an Image Signal Processor for the FaceTime camera and audio use as well as hardware-accelerated disk and media encryption and decryption, and supports “Hey Siri” functionality.
The updated MacBook Pro are now available for pre-order.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider and store.apple.com