The fastest small apple macbook pro yet is a force of nature
ByCarrie Marshalllast updated 19 November 20
The 2014 13-inch táo macbook pro was arguably Apple"s best laptop, & the 2015 mã sản phẩm is better still. If your next laptop macbook needs to be reliable, powerful và practical, the newest macbook phiên bản pro is the only way to lớn go.
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The new apple macbook phiên bản pro (late 2020) is powered by Apple"s first máy tính xách tay processor, the M1. Benchmarks show that it makes a wonderful mobile workstation, a jaw dropping music production notebook & a groundbreaking clip editing laptop." data-widget-type="deal" data-render-type="editorial">
Looks familiar? The external design is unchanged from the 2014 mã sản phẩm
The screen resolution is 2,560 x 1,600 pixels, but you actually get the screen real-estate of a 1,280 x 800 pixel-resolution display due khổng lồ the pixel-doubled effect that provides Retina-like sharpness. Apps lượt thích SwitchResX allow you khổng lồ access even higher resolutions than OS X allows, stretching all the way up to lớn 3,360 x 2,100.
Text is too tiny to lớn be legible at that setting, but opting for one in-between, such as 1,920 x 1,200, lets you fit much more of spreadsheets & other apps into the display than any of the default screen resolutions at the expensive of clarity.
Still, even on the four mặc định resolutions there"s plenty of room for even the most screen-intensive pro apps, and OS X Yosemite"s divisive design looks much better on Retina displays than it does on lower density screens.
It"s a shame that táo bị cắn hasn"t shaved even a millimetre or two off the apple macbook phiên bản pro with Retina"s chassis. The 2013 apple macbook pro with Retina was 25% thinner than its predecessor, và it made a huge difference lớn that machine"s portability and overall appeal. Sure, apple has outed the new apple macbook which will attract the thin-and-light máy vi tính die-hards, but those of us requiring power, ports and all of the rest would have still appreciated a slightly slimmer model.
Feel the force
The only external change is something you can"t see: the way the trackpad works. The táo macbook pro has a new, non-mechanical Force cảm biến trackpad, which provides tactile feedback and can detect various levels of force. For example, you might press khổng lồ fast-forward a video clip and press harder khổng lồ speed it up more.
The new Force cảm biến trackpad made the new macbook thinner, but not the macbook phiên bản pro
For now, the haptic feedback simply replicates the feeling of clicking a mechanical trackpad (something it does perfectly – you really feel lượt thích you"re pressing a real button), but over time hãng apple is likely to find other uses for the pressure sensitive technology. You can adjust the sensitivity of the trackpad and the strength of its feedback in System Preferences, & while you"re there you might want lớn re-enable the three-finger drag; it"s switched off by mặc định now.
Interestingly, táo khuyết hasn"t put its new apple macbook keyboard into the Pro models just yet, so you get the familiar chiclet keys with a scissor mechanism underneath. Khổng lồ our fingers they aren"t as comfortable as the non-chiclet keyboards in the first hãng sản xuất intel MacBook Pros, but maybe we"re just being nostalgic. Nevertheless, if you"re all about the typing, the laptop apple macbook Air is a little more comfortable.
There are three standard models to choose from, priced at £999 ($1,299 over in the US, which is around AU$1,690), £1,199 ($1,499 over in the US, which is around AU$1,950) & £1,399 ($1,799 over in the US, which is around AU$2,340).
Each model has a Broadwell processor: a 2.7GHz dual-core fifth-generation vi xử lý core i5 in the £999 and £1,199 models và a 2.9GHz dual-core chip core i5 in the most expensive option. The 2.7GHz processors can run at up khổng lồ 3.3GHz in Turbo Boost mode, and the 2.9GHz processor can run at up khổng lồ 3.4GHz. The model we tested was the stock £999, 2.7GHz one.
All three processors come with 3MB of shared L3 cache & 8GB of 1,866MHz LPDDR3 RAM, and they"re teamed with 128, 256 or 512GB of PCIe-based flash storage and Intel Iris Graphics 6100. Previous laptop apple macbook Pros had Iris Graphics 5100, và Apple claims 20% to lớn 40% improvements in graphics performance.
Spec list
Here is the full spec sheet:
CPU: 2.7GHz dual-core Intel chip core i5 with 3MB L3 cache (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz)Graphics: hãng sản xuất intel Iris Graphics 6100RAM: 8GBScreen: 13.3-inch IPS, 2,560 x 1,600 pixelsStorage: 128GB SSDOptical Drive: n/aPorts: 2 x Thunderbolt 2, 2 x USB 3.0, SDXC card slot, HDMI, headphoneConnectivity: 801.11ac Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0Camera: FaceTime HDWeight: 3.48lbs (1.58kg)Size: 12.35 x 8.62 x 0.71-inches (W x D x H)You can also specify a built-to-order macbook pro with a 3.1GHz dual-core bộ vi xử lý core i7 (with boost khổng lồ 3.4GHz) with 4MB of shared L3 cache, up to lớn 16GB of RAM & up to lớn 1TB of flash storage. Assuming you"re customising the 2.9GHz model, those upgrades cost £170 (around $250, or AU$325), £160 (around $235, or AU$305), and £400 (around $590, or AU$770) respectively.
The macbook Pro"s battery has been improved too. On paper it doesn"t look lượt thích much – it"s a 74.9Wh battery compared khổng lồ its predecessor"s 71.8Wh – but the new macbook pro delivers significantly improved battery life. Táo khuyết claims 10 hours of wireless website browsing and 12 hours of iTunes movie playback.
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Last but not least there"s 802.11ac Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0, which deliver Apple-specific features such as AirDrop tệp tin transfer and Continuity/Handoff communication with quả táo apps & communications.
The apple macbook phiên bản pro is significantly faster than its predecessor, and while we still wouldn"t recommend the 13-inch apple macbook phiên bản pro (or any other machine with integrated graphics) for serious gaming, our benchmarks show that graphics performance has improved.
Here"s how the apple macbook pro 13-inch with Retina display fared in our benchmark tests:
Benchmarks
Cinebench R15 Single Core: 124 cb; Multi Core: 310 cbGeekbench 3 Single Core: 3287; Multi chip core 7107Xbench (CPU & disk): 491.26NovaBench Overall: 41; Graphics: 95;Unigine Heaven 4.0 FPS: 21.3; Overall: 41Battery, streaming 1080p video clip via Wi-Fi: 12 hours 4 minutesThe macbook phiên bản pro with Retina comfortably beat the equivalent 13-inch model from 2014 in all benchmarked areas. In Xbench, which provides an indication of a Mac"s overall performance, it came in at 9% faster than the 2014 model"s Haswell variant. Geekbench, which tests the CPU, saw the new laptop apple macbook score 7,107 points on the multi-core kiểm tra compared to its predecessor"s 6,852.
The new laptop macbook has seen an tăng cấp from hãng sản xuất intel Iris Graphics 5100 lớn Iris Graphics 6100, which includes an increased number of execution units (48 lớn 40) but sees clock tốc độ reduced from 1200 khổng lồ 1100MHz. In NovaBench, it scored 95 in the Graphics kiểm tra versus lat year"s 79, signalling an 18% improvement.
Even with improved integrated graphics onboard, the táo macbook pro remains a poor choice for serious gamers. It will certainly be capable of running older titles at 60Hz in a Boot Camp installation on Windows (think games using Valve"s Source engine — such as Counter Strike and TF2), but don"t expect anything lượt thích Battlefield: Hardline khổng lồ play smooth as butter.
The biggest surprise was the battery, which was still happily streaming 1080p clip over Wi-Fi after more than twelve hours. It finally ran out of puff after a truly impressive twelve hours và four minutes. Not everybody is happy with the new 13-inch laptop macbook Pro"s performance, however. Some users have reported UI lag và significant battery drain.
Bundled software
As with all new Macs the macbook phiên bản pro comes with Apple"s own iWork & iLife apps, including:
iPhoto (soon khổng lồ be replaced with Photos)
iMovieGaragebandPagesNumbersKeynoteSafariMailMessagesFaceTimeCalendarContactsApp StoreiTunesiBooksMapsPhoto BoothTime MachineThe apple macbook phiên bản pro hasn"t undergone a dramatic reimagining, but then there wasn"t anything particularly wrong with it in the first place. Improvements lớn its performance mean it"s better value than before, và the noticeably improved battery life makes it even more of a mobile workhorse.
As ever the cost of adding memory and storage soon sends the price tag into orbit, but even the stock £999 ($1,299 over in the US, which is around AU$1,690) macbook phiên bản pro is an incredibly versatile computer và arguably Apple"s best ever laptop. The new macbook may be more portable, but the Pro has all the power.
We liked
Apple has taken an already impressive laptop and made it better. It"s faster, it lasts longer và the screen is superb. It"ll be interesting to see whether the Force touch trackpad gets any must-have applications too.
We disliked
We"re not huge fans of current Mac máy tính xách tay keyboards, and for now the Force touch trackpad feels more lượt thích a gimmick than anything particularly useful – it isn"t making the apple macbook pro any thinner or lighter và doesn"t have any compelling reason lớn exist just yet. If you haven"t embraced the (i)Cloud, 128GB of storage may feel a little constrained too.
Final verdict
Where the new laptop apple macbook sacrifices performance và ports for portability, the macbook pro makes no such compromises. It"s lightweight enough that you needn"t fear a dislocated shoulder from lugging it around, và the improved performance & battery life will delight road warriors & coffee siêu thị loungers alike.
It"s more expensive than an Ultrabook – for example, Dell"s excellent XPS 13 is almost half the price – & the non-Retina táo macbook pro is £100 (around $150, or AU$190) cheaper, but the former won"t tempt OS X fans & the latter means going without that superb screen. We wouldn"t. Unless you need serious storage, the 13-inch táo macbook pro offers an incredible amount of bang for your bucks.
