New MacBook Pros vs. old MacBook Pros vs. MacBook

macbook touchbar

For a lot of people, today has been a long time coming: Apple announced completely redesigned MacBook Pros. The new models are thinner and lighter, but also come with a Force Touch trackpad a brand new shortcut interface called the Touch Bar. There’s even a fingerprint sensor for using Touch ID.

If you’re considering a new Mac, you have a lot of options in regard to price and specs.

Price

On paper, you are going to need at least $1,299 to get into a new Mac. The 12-inch MacBook and last year’s 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina screen can both be had for that price. But the newer Macs announced today start at $1,499. If you want that nifty Touch Bar (which you do) then, the price steps up to $1,799. And if you want a bigger screen, a 15-incher will run you at least $2,399.

Screen

Really there’s three choices, and all have a Retina display. There’s the super svelte 12-inch MacBook, the new 13.3-inch MacBook Pro and for those who love big screens (or who have older eyes) there’s the 15-inch MacBook Pro. It should be noted that all these Macs are simple to connect to a monitor or television (though you will most likely need an adapter of some kind).

Haswell vs Skylake processors

One of the biggest updates are the processors. Apple jumped from using Intel Haswell processors to Skylake. The benefits are more efficient power management and even faster performance — which is great for multitaskers, video gamers and creative professionals. Of course, until we get our hands on the new Macs we won’t know for sure just how much faster they are.

Chassis

You can now get a pro laptop from Apple that’s not just Silver — there’s also Space Gray. Apple also made the MacBook Pros even thinner and lighter. The 15-inch model has 20 percent less volume. This is great news for mobile professionals. It’ll make travel even easier. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro comes in two body options: one with the Touch Bar and one without.

Touch Bar

There were a lot of rumors that Apple would remove the function keys and replace it with a touch strip. Well, they did. The Touch Bar is a thin Retina display that is multitouch friendly. Depending on the app you’re using, different buttons and controls appear on the Touch Bar. One of the cooler uses Apple demoed was using the Touch Bar to edit an image in Photoshop.

As exciting as the Touch Bar is, it only comes on the 15-inch MacBook Pro and the higher end 13-inch MacBook Pro. The 12-inch MacBook doesn’t have one. But if you want that new body design without the Touch Bar, there is a lower end 13-inch option.

Goodbye MacBook Air – well, kind of

During the Apple announcement, Phil Schiller made a point of showing how the new MacBook Pros compared size-wise against the much beloved MacBook Air. Let’s just say, the MacBook Air looked a bit chunky next to the new models. But Apple has decided to keep the MacBook Air around — well, just the 13-inch model. The price is now $999.

Source: CNET