Skip to main content

Apple unveils all-new, redesigned MacBook Pros with OLED Touch Bar, larger trackpad, USB-C, more

Apple has officially unveiled the new redesigned MacBook Pro at its special event in Cupertino, California. The new design is all metal like the 12-inch MacBook (no plastic along the hinge) and available in space gray (looks darker than 12-inch but we’ll see) and traditional silver. 13-inch and 15-inch options are available. Much more below:

Here’s what we’ve been tracking before today’s announcement:

And here’s what we now know:

  • 13-inch is 17% thinner, 23% less volume, 3 pounds, nearly 1/2 pound less than previous version
  • 15-inch is 15.5 mm, 14% thinner, 20% less volume, 4 pounds, 1/2 pound less
  • USB-C ports
  • Force Touch trackpad, 2x larger

  • All-new keyboard with 2nd-gen butteryfly mechanism like 12-inch MacBook (more responsive, improved travel)
  • Function keys replaced with dynamic Touch Bar, a Retina OLED display panel above the keyboard
  • Touch Bar adaptive to specific applications, color display changes based on context

  • Touch ID available on new MacBook Pros, a first
  • Supports log-ins, sapphire crystal, second-gen version like iPhone 6s
  • Apple T1 Chip supports Touch ID, includes Secure Enclave for Apple Pay
  • Siri key added to Touch Bar with default system keys

  • Control Strip lets you manage system controls like brightness and volume
  • Touch Bar supports emoji, QuickType typing
  • Photos use of Touch Bar looks especially promising with scrubber for photos in a collection and finding place in a video

  • Touch Bar can be customized (example includes Finder, Control Strip)
  • Touch ID on new MacBook Pros support profiles (Phil Schiller’s fingerprint logs him into his account, Craig Federighi’s fingerprint pulls up his account)
  • Touch Bar supports most (if not all) Apple apps including Terminal, Xcode
  • Developers can program Touch Bar support
  • MacBook Pro display is 67% brighter, 67% higher contrast ratio, 25% more colors, display as thin as 12-inch MacBook display

  • 15-inch includes Intel Core i7 (6th gen, quad-core, 2133MHz memory), Radeon Pro, up to 4GB VRAM, up to 2.3x faster, Superfast SSD up to 2TB, up to 50% faster, advanced thermal architecture (for fan), all-new speaker design, 2x dynamic range
  • 13-inch includes Intel Core i5 or i7, Intel Iris Graphics, Superfast SSD

  • Four Thunderbolt 3 ports (USB-C connector), headphone jack, any of four ports is charging port (RIP MagSafe)
  • Can support two 5K displays externally
  • New version of Final Cut Pro that supports Touch Bar coming, Adobe will also support Touch Bar with Photoshop, and djay Pro from Algoriddim shows support

  • Microsoft Office is working on Touch Bar support for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Skype for Business
  • Affinity Designer and Pixelmator also working on support, Sketch, DeVinci Resolve as well

  • Up to 10 hours of battery life in both models
  • MacBook Pro 13-inch will also be available in a version without Magic Bar
  • $1499 for non Touch Bar version, $1799 for 13-inch Touch Bar model, and $2399 for 15-inch Touch Bar model
  • Today for new models without Touch Bar, 2-3 weeks shipping for Touch Bar models
  • All models available to order starting today!
  • That’s a wrap for MacBook Pro unveiling, stay tuned for more in depth coverage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJdeVtnUxuk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDpOB-OXypQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVPRkcczXCY

Apple Unveils Groundbreaking New MacBook Pro

Revolutionary Touch Bar, Breakthrough Performance in Apple’s Thinnest & Lightest Pro Design Ever

CUPERTINO, California — October 27, 2016 — Apple® today introduced the thinnest and lightest MacBook Pro® ever, along with a breakthrough interface that replaces the traditional row of function keys with a brilliant, Retina®-quality Multi-Touch™ display called the Touch Bar™. The new MacBook Pro features Apple’s brightest and most colorful Retina display yet, the security and convenience of Touch ID®, a more responsive keyboard, a larger Force Touch trackpad and an audio system with double the dynamic range. It’s also the most powerful MacBook Pro ever, featuring sixth-generation quad-core and dual-core processors, up to 2.3 times the graphics performance over the previous generation, super-fast SSDs and up to four Thunderbolt 3 ports.

The Touch Bar places controls right at the user’s fingertips and adapts when using the system or apps like Mail, Finder®, Calendar, Numbers®, GarageBand®, Final Cut Pro® X and many more, including third-party apps. For example, the Touch Bar can show Tabs and Favorites in Safari®, enable easy access to emoji in Messages, provide a simple way to edit images or scrub through videos in Photos and so much more.

“This week marks the 25th anniversary of Apple’s first notebook; through the years each generation has introduced new innovations and capabilities, and it’s fitting that this all-new generation of MacBook Pro is the biggest leap forward yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With the groundbreaking new Touch Bar, the convenience of Touch ID, the best Mac display ever, powerful performance, improved audio, blazing fast storage and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity in our thinnest and lightest pro notebook yet, the new MacBook Pro is the most advanced notebook ever made.”

Thinnest and Lightest MacBook Pro Ever
Building on innovations pioneered in MacBook®, the new MacBook Pro features an entirely new enclosure design and all-metal unibody construction that creates an incredibly rigid and dense notebook that is amazingly thin and light. At just 14.9 mm thin, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is 17 percent thinner and 23 percent less volume than the previous generation, and nearly half a pound lighter at just three pounds. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro, at just 15.5 mm thin, is 14 percent thinner and 20 percent less volume than before, and weighing just four pounds, is nearly half a pound lighter.

Touch ID Comes to the Mac
Integrated into the power button is the convenience and security of Touch ID, one of the great features customers have come to know and love from their iPhone® and iPad®. Once you enroll your fingerprint in Touch ID on your MacBook Pro, you can quickly unlock your Mac®, switch user accounts and make secure purchases with Apple Pay® on the web with a single touch. Touch ID enables a quick, accurate reading of your fingerprint and uses sophisticated algorithms to recognize and match it with the Secure Enclave in the new Apple T1 chip.

Apple’s Brightest, Most Colorful Notebook Display
The best Mac display ever delivers images that are more vivid, reveal even greater detail and appear more lifelike than ever. As thin as a MacBook display at .88 mm, the Retina display on the new MacBook Pro at 500 nits of brightness, is an amazing 67 percent brighter than the previous generation, features 67 percent more contrast and is the first Mac notebook display to support a wider color gamut. And with power-saving technologies like a larger pixel aperture, a variable refresh rate and more power-efficient LEDs, the display consumes 30 percent less energy than before.

The Most Powerful MacBook Pro Yet
Powerful processors, cutting-edge graphics, blazing-fast SSDs, high-speed memory and an advanced thermal architecture deliver amazing pro-level performance in a dramatically thinner enclosure. Sixth-generation dual-core Core i5 with eDRAM, dual-core Core i7 with eDRAM and quad-core Core i7 Intel processors deliver pro-level processing performance while conserving energy. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro features powerful Radeon Pro discrete graphics delivering up to 2.3 times more performance than the previous generation; while the 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with Intel Iris Graphics that are up to two times faster than before. All models feature SSDs with sequential read speeds over 3GBps and Thunderbolt 3 which consolidates data transfer, charging and twice the video bandwidth in a single port — allowing users to drive a 5K display and power their MacBook Pro with a single cable.

The New MacBook Pro Also Offers:
Much larger Force Touch trackpads — 46 percent larger on the 13-inch MacBook Pro and twice as large on the 15-inch MacBook Pro;
More responsive and comfortable typing on the keyboard with a second-generation butterfly mechanism;
Louder, more true-to-life sound through speakers with double the dynamic range and improved bass;
macOS™ Sierra, the world’s most advanced desktop operating system, with new features like Siri® integration, Universal Clipboard, Apple Pay on the web and Photos, which helps you rediscover your meaningful memories, organize your library and perfect shots like a pro.

Pricing & Availability
The 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,499 (US), features a 2.0 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1 GHz, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage, and ships today.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro with the revolutionary Touch Bar and Touch ID starts at $1,799 (US), and features a 2.9 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3 GHz, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage, and ships in two to three weeks.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,399 (US), features the revolutionary Touch Bar and Touch ID, a 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.5 GHz, 16GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage, and ships in two to three weeks.
Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at apple.com/macbookpro.

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s four software platforms — iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.

Press Contacts:
Bill Evans
Apple
bevans@apple.com
(408) 974-0610

Starlayne Meza
Apple
starlayne@apple.com
(408) 974-3391
Apple, the Apple logo, MacBook Pro, Retina, Multi-Touch, Touch Bar, Touch ID, Finder, Numbers, GarageBand, Final Cut Pro, Safari, MacBook, iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Pay, macOS and Siri are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.

Manage push notifications

notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
You are subscribed to notifications
notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
You are subscribed to notifications