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2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar vs 2015 MacBook Pro
Apr 30, 2024
More Apple news: http://www.cultofmac.com Is the new 2016 MacBook Pro really worth the upgrade from the 2015 MacBook Pro? Well in this video we put both entry models head to head. 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar Review - https://youtu.be/pcK0bh5n8dc Follow us! Twitter: https://twitter.com/cultofmac Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cultofmac Instagram: https://instagram.com/cultofmac/
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Hey what's up guys, Stephen Culls of Mac here and in this video I'm going to put the brand
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new 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar head to head against the 2015 MacBook Pro
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They're both baseline stock models, so in the 2016 MacBook is the 2.9GHz Intel Core
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i5 processor with 8GB of RAM and the Intel Iris 550 graphics card and a 256GB SSD
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In the 2015 MacBook Pro is the 2.7GHz Intel Core i5 with 8GB of RAM and the Intel Iris
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6100 and a 128GB SSD drive. Opening up both MacBook Pros side by side and the first thing that stands out is the
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thinner bezels on the new MacBook Pro as well as that all new Retina display
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Both displays are 2560x1600 Retina displays but the new MacBook Pro is 200 nits brighter
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than the previous generations and it now has that P3 wide colour gamut
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When placing both MacBooks side by side, the screen isn't going to look any clearer
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as there's absolutely no increase in resolution. But I can definitely see a great increase in saturation and brightness on the new MacBook
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Pro and the blacks are much deeper with the high contrast ratio
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The first thing I wanted to test out was the boot up speed. I was pretty sure that the new MacBook Pro would be faster upon booting up thanks to
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the new faster SSDs. Booting them up side by side, the new MacBook Pro was very slightly faster as you can see
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by the stopwatch times but not enough for anyone to really notice
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Both are super quick. The new MacBook Pro has the new low profile keyboard, similar to the one found in the
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MacBook range, although this is a second gen butterfly mechanism. As I mentioned in my full review, it still feels great to type on but there's definitely
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more feedback on the older MacBook Pro keyboard, it just takes a little while to get used to
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There's also the larger trackpad which is almost double the size of the previous gen and is now non-mechanical but has taptic feedback in its place
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It's easily the best trackpad I've ever used, again though, it just takes some time to get
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used to, to stop leaning on it when using it. Apple has built in palm rejection technology to combat this but I still find it recognising
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my palms from time to time. Of course you've got the new touch bar interface replacing the top row of function keys with
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a secondary display. It customises to each app you're using, including third party apps in the near future and also
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has touch ID. Again you can see my full thoughts on the touch bar and touch ID in my full review
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The most controversial part of the new MacBook Pro is easily the lack of conventional ports
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It's replaced all of the USB ports, HDMI ports, SD card slots and Thunderbolt ports with just
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4 USB C ports. So until the rest of the world catches up, you're going to need adapters
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On the inside is where it matters though. There's a new, faster dual-core Core i5 chip in the new MacBook Pro, both of 8GB of RAM
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while the new MacBook Pro is clocked faster at 2133MHz compared to 1866MHz
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The new MacBook Pro comes with a 250GB SSD as standard which is PCIe based as is the
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2015 MacBook Pro's SSD but the throughput is much faster on the new one
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On the new MacBook Pro, read speed is over 2GB per second versus 1.4GB per second on
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the older gen. Again write speeds are improved with 1.3GB per second versus 680MB per second on the
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old model. Which means booting up, installing and opening applications will be much quicker on the new
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MacBook Pro. Running a Novabench test shows that the increase in performance isn't as great as most of us
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would like. With the 2015 MacBook Pro scoring 707 overall with the 2016 model coming just in front with
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a total of 727. The main increase being in graphics performance, managing 149 frames per second with the 3D
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graphics test compared to the 2015's 95 frames per second. Everything you do on the new MacBook Pro will obviously be faster
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You've also got improved speakers which are slightly louder and much clearer with more bass
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The battery life is around the same as my previous MacBook Pro, I get around 6-8 hours
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depending on what I'm doing. Despite the smaller capacity on the new MacBook Pro which will no doubt be down to better
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software optimisation. Overall I'd go for the old one. The prices will start falling as Apple begin to produce less of them so you'll be able
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to hunt out a bargain. It's not dramatically slower and you've not got to compromise with USB C. For me it's
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a no brainer. Well, that's it for this video but let me know in the comments down below which MacBook
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you'd go for, 2015 or 2016. If you enjoyed this video or found it useful, go ahead and hit that like button and don't
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forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss a single video from Call To Mac. I'll catch you in the next one
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