At Apple’s Spring Forward event on March 9, the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro lineup was refreshed along with the announcement of the new 12-inch MacBook. Today, we’re taking a closer look at one of the refreshed MacBook Pro model to see what has changed…
Along with some minor bumps in specifications, Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro now features a new Force Touch trackpad that adds functionality to certain apps within OS X. You’re correct in assuming that the Force Touch trackpad is the highlight of the refresh here, but the updated internals do make for some decent performance improvements as well.
In the video below, we take a look at the refreshed 13-inch MacBook Pro. This isn’t the base model though. As far as internal specifications go, this is one of the best 13-inch MacBooks your money can buy (coming in at $2,199). Inside it features a 3.1GHz dual-core Intel i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of PCI-e based flash storage, Intel Iris 6100 graphics, and the new Force Touch trackpad.
Check out our unboxing, overview, and benchmarks video below:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra7uTDmXsZs]
If you’d like to find out more about Apple’s new Force Touch trackpad and Force Click features, we’ve put together a new video to highlight the top 15 hidden Force Click features. This will walk you through all of the need-to-know features that come along with this new trackpad on Apple’s 2015 MacBook and 13-inch MacBook Pro. Also, you can find the Geekbench score from our video here and the Novabench score here.
Other than the slight bump in performance and the new trackpad, there’s not much else to see here. Keep in mind, that these benchmarks are the best you’ll get Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. That being said, this is still a speedy little MacBook. I was able to edit the entire video above in UHD resolution with no issues, but it took a massive performance hit during the video export. Though that was expected due to the lack of dedicated graphics and quad-core processing power within the 13-inch models.
Overall, if you’re looking for power and portability, the top spec 13-inch MacBook Pro is about as good as it gets. Unfortunately, the new 12-inch MacBook won’t be able to handle any power/performance hungry tasks. If you really want a no-compromise experience, it may be best to look towards the top end 15-inch model or a desktop computer. Those looking for everyday use from a MacBook, will benefit from any of the 13-inch models Apple has to offer.
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Would you tell me if this can display 4096 x 2160 at 60 HZ using DP1.2 ?
Yes it does.
Great, but does that mean that this 6100 Gpu can run 2x monitors 4k(4096×2160)@Hz – One off each DisplayPort?
Good question – would also like an answer to this. The Mac site states: “Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display, and up to 3840 x2160 pixels on up to two external displays.” But it does not mention true 4k /Hz /DP. It would be good to have an explanation.
Be nice if apple came out with a force click magic Trackpad so we can use it on our iMacs. My trackpad is slowly dying need to replace it real soon so I hope if they do they hurry up lol.
Oh, I’m sure that’s down the road after they complete the laptops with the Force Touch technology.
And the phones and iPads. Apple seems to be applying more focus on having the screens perform better with digital art and graphic/media design. Once they push haptic and force tech a little further we will have screens that are replicating the feel of different textures for drawing or sketching on. That along with an Apple stylus working in conjunction with the screen tech, communicating with one another. The experience will eventually match up to using typical drawing medias and textures.
I would like a new keyboard for my IMac with that new keyboard technology. That would be cool.
I don’t know if the new keyboard butterfly switch is much better than the current keyboard switches Apple has.
It’s better in the sense that it’s cheaper for them to manufacture, and allows them to make thinner laptops, but they had to sacrifice key travel for thinness.
If they are able to increase the key travel to match their regular keyboards the two keyboards would function identically.
And i doubt Apple would pass along the savings to us.
How cute, some Android bubbleheads. I guess Google can make something worth having. /s
I would be curious about the performance difference between the 13″ MacBook Pro Retina and I 13″ MacBook Air.
Nice review, I misheard the port description @ 1:12…
Well nice unboxing but what’s the point of making a video showing the benchmark results if there’s no comparison available unless I look at the separate tables anyway? ‘Look I really performed the benchmarks!’ – not useful, is it?
As the author of the article typed above, “Also, you can find the Geekbench score from our video here and the Novabench score here.”
To have a top of the line computer like this and only have a dual core processor is ridiculous.
This design is great and all but they’ve been riding for some time now. might be time for them to a complete redesign.
Would there be another refresh for the MBP Retina this year or is this it? seems pretty minor =l