Apple has announced today that it is upgrading the MacBook Pro with faster 8th- and 9th-generation Intel Core processors. This revision marks the first time that the MacBook Pro has been available in an 8-core configuration. The new MacBook Pro models also feature a revised keyboard design.
The new 8-core MacBook Pros deliver two times faster performance than a quad-core MacBook Pro and 40 percent more performance than a 6-core MacBook Pro.
“Whether it’s college students mastering a course of study, developers building world-class apps or video editors creating feature films, we’re constantly amazed at what our customers do with their MacBook Pro,” said Tom Boger, Apple’s senior director of Mac Product Marketing.
“Now with 8-core processors for an incredible performance boost, along with its stunning Retina display, fast storage, all-day battery life and running macOS, MacBook Pro continues to be the world’s best pro notebook and we can’t wait to get it into our customer’s hands to see what they do next.”
In addition to the faster processors, Apple says the new MacBook Pros feature a new iteration of its Butterfly keyboard technology. Apple is including the new keyboard on the new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros released today. Apple didn’t offer any details on whether or not the new keyboard design would also make its way to other Butterfly keyboard Macs, such as the MacBook Air.
The Verge reports:
Apple says that it is using “new materials” in the switch mechanism that should significantly reduce the occurrence of double and missed key presses. It will ship on the new MacBook Pro 15-inch and MacBook Pro 13-inch with Touch Bar that it just announced.
The company had no announcements on whether it would use this “new material” on other MacBooks it sells going forward.
This is Apple’s fourth butterfly keyboard revision. With the 2018 MacBook line, Apple included new silicone guards in an attempt to mitigate the many problems users were facing with the keyboard design. Earlier this year, however, Apple acknowledged that some users were still having reliability issues. Whether or not today’s keyboards fix those issues remains to be seen.
In terms of performance improvements, Apple says the new 8-core MacBook Pro offers these improvements over the fastest quad-core 15-inch MacBook Pro:
- Music producers can play back massive multi-track projects with up to two times more Alchemy plug-ins in Logic Pro X.
- 3D designers can render scenes up to two times faster in Maya Arnold.
- Photographers can apply complex edits and filters up to 75 percent faster in Photoshop.
- Developers can compile code up to 65 percent faster in Xcode.
- Scientists and researchers can compute complex fluid dynamics simulations up to 50 percent faster in TetrUSS.
- Video editors can edit up to 11 simultaneous multicam streams of 4K video in Final Cut Pro X.
The new MacBook Pro is available in 13-inch and 15-inch versions starting at $1,799 and $2,399 respectively. For $1,799 you get a quad-core 2.4GHz 8th-generation Intel i5 processor. The new 8-core configuration is available only in the 15-inch MacBook Pro and starts at $2,799.
You can order today from Apple.com. In addition to the new MacBook Pros, Apple is also expanding its Keyboard Service Program to the 2018 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.
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