Apple Unveils Redesigned MacBook Pro With Touch Bar

October 27, 2016 – Apple today introduced the thinnest and lightest MacBook Pro yet, along with a new interface innovation that replaces the traditional row of function keys with a Retina-quality Multi-Touch display called the “Touch Bar.” The new MacBook Pro features what Apple claims is its brightest and most colorful Retina display yet, the security and convenience of Touch ID fingerprint sensing, a keyboard claimed to be more responsive, a larger Force Touch trackpad, and an audio system with double the dynamic range. It’s also the most powerful MacBook Pro ever, featuring sixth-generation Intel Core “Skylake” family quad-core and dual-core processors, up to 2.3 times the graphics performance over the previous generation MBPs, super-fast SSDs and up to four Thunderbolt 3 ports.

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The Touch Bar places controls right at the user’s fingertips and adapts when using the system or apps like Mail, Finder, Calendar, Numbers, GarageBand, Final Cut Pro X and many more, including third-party apps. For example, the Touch Bar can show Tabs and Favorites in Safari, enable easy access to emoji in Messages, provide a simple way to edit images or scrub through videos in Photos and more.

“This week marks the 25th anniversary of Apple’s first notebook; through the years each generation has introduced new innovations and capabilities, and it’s fitting that this all-new generation of MacBook Pro is the biggest leap forward yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With the groundbreaking new Touch Bar, the convenience of Touch ID, the best Mac display ever, powerful performance, improved audio, blazing fast storage and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity in our thinnest and lightest pro notebook yet, the new MacBook Pro is the most advanced notebook ever made.”

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Thinnest and Lightest MacBook Pro Ever

Building on innovations pioneered in the 12-inch MacBook with Retina Display, new MacBook Pro features an entirely new enclosure design and all-metal unibody construction that creates a rigid and dense notebook that is still amazingly thin and light. At just 14.9 mm thick, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is 17 percent thinner and occupies 23 percent less volume than the previous generation MBP, and is nearly half a pound lighter at just three pounds. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro, at just 15.5 mm thick, is 14 percent thinner and takes up 20 percent less volume than before, and weighing just four pounds — nearly half a pound lighter than its predecessor.

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Touch ID Comes to the Mac

Integrated into the power button is the convenience and security of Touch ID, one of the features iPhone and iPad users have become accustomed to. Once you enroll your fingerprint in Touch ID on your MacBook Pro, you can quickly unlock the laptop, switch user accounts and make secure purchases with Apple Pay on the web with a single touch. Touch ID enables a quick, accurate reading of your fingerprint and uses sophisticated algorithms to recognize and match it with the Secure Enclave in the new Apple T1 chip.

Apple’s Brightest, Most Colorful Notebook Display

What Apple clains is the best Mac display ever delivers images described as more vivid, revealing even greater detail and appearing more lifelike than ever. As thin as a 12-inch MacBook display at .88 mm, the Retina display on the new MacBook Pro at 500 nits of brightness is 67 percent brighter than the previous generation, features 67 percent more contrast, and is the first Mac notebook display to support a wider color gamut. With power-saving technologies like a larger pixel aperture, a variable refresh rate and more power-efficient LEDs, Apple says the display consumes 30 percent less energy than before.

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The Most Powerful MacBook Pro Yet

Apple says the new MacBook Pro’s powerful processors, cutting-edge graphics, fast SSDs, high-speed memory and an advanced thermal architecture deliver pro-level performance in a dramatically thinner enclosure. Sixth-generation dual-core Core i5 with eDRAM, dual-core Core i7 with eDRAM and quad-core Core i7 Intel processors deliver pro-level processing performance while conserving energy. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro features more powerful Radeon Pro discrete graphics delivering up to 2.3 times more performance than the previous generation; while the 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with Intel Iris Graphics that are up to two times faster than before. All models feature SSDs with sequential read speeds over 3GBps and Thunderbolt 3 which consolidates data transfer, charging and twice the video bandwidth in a single port allowing users to drive a 5K display and power their MacBook Pro with a single cable.

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The New MacBook Pro Also Offers:

– Much larger Force Touch trackpads 46 percent larger on the 13-inch MacBook Pro and twice as large on the 15-inch MacBook Pro

– More responsive and comfortable typing on the keyboard with a second-generation butterfly keyswitch mechanism;

– Louder, more true-to-life sound through speakers with double the dynamic range and improved bass;
the macOS Sierra desktop operating system, with new features like Siri integration, Universal Clipboard, Apple Pay on the web and Photos, which helps you rediscover your meaningful memories, organize your library and perfect shots like a pro.

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The base 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,499 (US), and features a 2.0 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1 GHz, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage, and is shipping immediately.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID starts at $1,799 (US), and features a 2.9 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3 GHz, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage, and ships in two to three weeks.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,399 (US), and features the Touch Bar and Touch ID, a 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.5 GHz, 16GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage, and ships in two to three weeks.

Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at http://apple.com/macbookpro

Source: Apple