Apple just brought Intel’s latest eighth- and ninth-generation chips to the MacBook Pro, making it the company’s fastest ever laptop.
The newest 8-core models deliver up to twice the performance of a quad-core MacBook Pro, and up to 40% more than a 6-core model. They also promise powerful graphics, a T2 Security Chip, super-fast SSDs, and “all-day” battery life.
Apple also addressed problems with the butterfly keyboard, noting that these new models use different materials in the keyboards which will supposedly reduce the well-publicized issues with keys sticking. A teardown of Apple’s latest laptop found some reasons for optimism for this updated keyboard.
‘The world’s best pro notebook’
“Whether it’s college students mastering a course of study, developers building world-class apps or video editors creating feature films, we’re constantly amazed at what our customers do with their MacBook Pro,” said Tom Boger, Apple’s senior director of Mac Product Marketing.
“Now with 8-core processors for an incredible performance boost, along with its stunning Retina display, fast storage, all-day battery life and running macOS, MacBook Pro continues to be the world’s best pro notebook and we can’t wait to get it into our customer’s hands to see what they do next.”
Those new 6- and 8-core Intel chips deliver Turbo Boost speeds of up to 5GHz, while the quad-core 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar can now reach up to 4.7GHz. These massively improve performance inside pro apps, Apple says. An early Geekbench 4 benchmark score seems to confirm that this macOS laptop is almost 30 percent speedier.
A super speed boost
You’ll get to enjoy up to twice as many Alchemy plugins in Logic Pro X. You’ll render 3D scenes up to twice as fast in Maya Arnold. You’ll get to apply complex edits and filters up to 75% faster in Photoshop. And you’ll compile code up to 65% faster in Xcode.
Photo: Apple
What’s more, video editors now have the ability to edit up to 11 simultaneous multicam steams of 4K video in Final Cut Pro X. And you don’t just get new chips.
The new MacBook Pro promises Apple’s best notebook display to date. It offers up to 500 nits of brightness, support for the P3 wide color gamut, and Apple’s excellent True Tone technology. It also packs Touch ID, wide-stereo sound, and a T2 chip.
If you need even greater graphics, there’s Thunderbolt 3 ports with support for up to four external GPUs, or two 5K displays.
Order yours today
The new MacBook Pro lineup is available to order today from the Apple Online Store. Prices start at $1,799 for the 13-inch model with Touch Bar, and $2,399 for the 15-inch model. You’ll find them in Apple Stores later this week.
