Everything You Need To Know About The New MacBook Pro

Yesterday, Microsoft unveiled its vision for 3D content creation and interaction by introducing a more powerful Surface Book and the new Surface Studio All-In-One computer. Today, it was Apple’s turn to update its hardware lineup.

Apple TV

Apple unveiled a new app for the Apple TV, simply called “TV”. This aggregates all the TV shows and movies from all the media apps installed on Apple TV such as HBO, Starz, and others. The TV app is also available for iPhone and iPad for watching on the go. There is also Siri integration to allow spoken queries such “what football games are on?”.

MacBook Pro

There were leaked photos earlier this week of the new MacBook Pro showing a touch panel above the keyboard. Those leaks were officially confirmed as Apple (finally) unveiled new 13” and 15” MacBook Pros. To start off, both versions are slimmer and lighter than their predecessors, feature a touchpad that is twice as big as before, and feature second generation butterfly keyboard switches that were originally introduced on the 12” MacBook.

The 15” version has a quad core Intel i7 processor with AMD Radeon Pro (Polaris) graphics. Apple says the 15” MacBook Pro has 130% faster 3D graphics performance than the outgoing model, 60% better gaming performance, and 57% faster video editing. The 13” version has an i5 or i7 processor and Intel Iris integrated graphics. Both MacBook Pros feature four USB Type C ports which support Thunderbolt 3 as well as other display technologies such as HDMI, DisplayPort, and VGA.

The star of the show was the new touch panel above the keyboard called the “Touch Bar”. This is a touch screen strip across the top of the keyboard that can change what it displays depending what application is open. For example, if a music app is open, the Touch Bar will display music playback controls.

In an email app, the Touch Bar can show relevant email shortcuts for sending, composing, and adding contacts to the email. While typing, the Touch Bar can even do word suggestions like you can on the iPhone/iPad keyboard. Finally, Touch ID was built right into Touch Bar on the far right. This not only enables authentication for logging in but also allows Apple Pay authentication in the browser. Siri also has a dedicated space on the Touch Bar. Many applications already have Touch Bar support including the Microsoft Office suite and Adobe Photoshop.

But wait there’s more! For all of you who were waiting for a new MacBook Air, you’re in luck…kind of. Since it’s been awhile since Apple has made updates to its Air line (see what I did there?), Apple made a version of the new 13” MacBook Pro that eschews the Touch Bar for traditional function keys and only has two USB-C ports. That means the MacBook Air brand is officially dead with the only brands going forward being MacBook and MacBook Pro. Regardless, the Touch Bar-less MacBook Pro should be a worthwhile upgrade for MacBook Air stalwarts.