MacBook Pro: The biggest and baddest Mac laptops

Most MacBook stands on the market fall into one of the few aluminum-based styles that have become commonplace. That’s why we jumped at the chance to go hands-on with Yohann’s MacBook and MacBook Pro Stand that breaks the mold with both its material choice and striking design. Follow along for a closer look at this beautiful way to elevate your MacBook.

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Acer has today teased the latest version of its Swift 7 laptop at IFA. The company hasn’t revealed much about it as yet, but The Verge reports that it has shared a few details.

This latest model is less than 10mm thick and includes an edge-to-edge display. The display is now 92 percent screen-to-body ratio, and overall the laptop weighs less than 2.2 pounds. Acer is shipping this new Swift 7 with an 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor, and it’s claiming that it’s the world’s thinnest laptop.

Not all MacBook Pro owners will agree than thin is necessarily good. There are those who argue that thicker batteries and more passive cooling capacity would result in a more useful machine. But the thing that does stand out for me about the Swift 7 is those ultra-thin bezels …

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Whether you love or hate the idea of dynamic keyboards, it does seem that Apple is moving gradually in that direction. We’ve seen the company design ever slimmer keyboards with less and less movement, and of course the MacBook Pro range got Apple’s first implementation of touchscreen keys in a Mac: the Touch Bar.

It’s no surprise, then, that concept designers keep imagining what a MacBook Pro might look like with a full touchscreen keyboard …

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In theory, all USB-C cables should be the same: that’s the whole point of having a standard. In practice, there are different versions of the standard. More worryingly, many cables being sold as USB-C don’t fully conform to that standard – and that can be seriously bad news …

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The CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 Mini Dock is a dock made specifically for connecting to two 4K displays simultaneously. Available in HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2 versions, this bus-powered dock makes it easy to connect your MacBook Pro to a 4K monitor. Watch our hands-on video for more details.
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Lacie’s Rugged RAID Pro is an external portable RAID-enabled HDD that’s primarily aimed at photo and video editors who often find themselves on-the-go. Donning an unmistakable bright orange shock-resistant rubber sleeve, it fits right in with the Seagate-owned company’s other storage-centric options.

On paper, the Lacie Rugged RAID Pro won’t light up the scoreboards. Even in the RAID 0 performance mode, it features a rather pedestrian 250 MB/s max read speed. But where the drive lacks in speed, it makes up for in the sheer amount of storage offered — 4TB — stuffed inside a rugged chassis. It also comes with a feature that sets it apart from other bus-powered external drives on the market: a built-in UHS-II SD Card reader — extremely handy for MacBook Pro users.

Does the Lacie Rugged RAID offer enough to make it worthy of consideration? Have a look at our hands-on video review for the details.
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Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pro has been available for almost a month now and despite the fact that the update was announced via a press release, this year’s revision brings some notable changes. While everything looks the same on the surface, the 2018 MacBook Pro packs more power, an improved keyboard, and more.

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As a MacBook Pro user, having access to external SSD storage is important given the price of build-to-order SSD upgrades. For example, a 4TB SSD upgrade alone on the 2018 MacBook Pro can set you back $3400, more than the price of the laptop itself.

With this in mind, such upgrades can’t be reasonably justified for many users, which means relying on external storage where necessary. Thankfully, there is no shortage of external storage solutions for the MacBook Pro, with many of them featuring bus-powered USB-C connectivity for plug and play functionality.

SanDisk’s Extreme Portable SSD, available in various storage capacities, is one such product. Watch our video hands-on for the details.
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Now that new quad-core and hexa-core MacBook Pro models are here, I’ve been eager to see how they pair up with an AMD Vega 64-powered eGPU setup. Specifically, I’d like to see how such a setup compares with the recently released Blackmagic eGPU.

Using the Razer Core X, an enclosure I rated as the best overall external graphics chassis for Mac users, I ran a variety of benchmark tests with both the 13-inch and 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro. What did I learn? Watch the video for the details.
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There are a lot of laptop stands on the market, but the majority of them aren’t very convenient to travel with, or use on the go. That’s why Satechi’s folding Aluminum Laptop Stand caught my eye. With a solid, simple build, colors to match all MacBook and MacBook Pros and more, this useful accessory is worth checking out.

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Just as one glitch with the 2018 MacBook Pro gets resolved, another one appears, although so far only for a very limited number of users.

Some owners are reporting repeated kernel panics – as often as once or twice a day. The same issue has been experienced by a number of iMac Pro owners, with some clues suggesting it may be the fault of one component found only in these two machines …

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The 2018 revision of the MacBook Pro is here, and as usual it arrives in two sizes, a 13- and 15-inch version. On the surface, Apple’s new laptops look exactly the same as previous generations, but there are significant upgrades to be found under the hood.

Most importantly, a new 3rd-generation butterfly switch keyboard has been introduced, and Apple notes in its press materials that it results in a quieter typing experience. Thankfully, that doesn’t appear to be the only benefit of the new keyboard, as an internal repair document shows that a new membrane has been put in place to help prevent debris ingress.

Apple’s Mid-2018 MacBook Pro establishes two firsts for its laptops: quad-core CPUs on all 13-inch models, and hexa-core CPUs on all 15-inch models. These changes are made possible thanks to Intel’s 8th generation Coffee Lake architecture, of which the Core i5, i7 and i9 CPUs found in every new MacBook Pro are card-carrying members.

Another first for the MacBook Pro? DDR4 memory is now standard on 15-inch models. This allows buyers to finally, if desired, configure this machine with up to 32GB of memory.

While the MacBook Pro didn’t undergo a major new physical redesign, there are quite a few notable changes in this revision that will extend real benefits to users. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for the details.
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Apple is today pushing out an update for its brand new MacBook Pros released earlier this month to address a bug that resulted in performance issues related to the machines’ thermal management system under certain conditions. Specifically, the bug affects the new MacBook Pro’s thermal management system and drives clock speeds down lower than necessary under heavy workloads.

Apple provided us with the following statement:

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Alongside the new MacBook Pro launch and Blackmagic eGPU, Apple also released a new Leather Sleeve for its flagship laptop, albeit to significantly less fanfare and/or controversy. The MacBook Pro Leather Sleeve follows in the footsteps of similar leather-based offerings for the 12-inch MacBook and iPad Pro.

Comprised out of high-quality European leather, the MacBook Pro Leather sleeve is available in one of three colors for both 13- and 15-inch models. Should you consider dropping $179 (13-inch) or $199 to protect your MacBook Pro in style?
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Update: Whether the Redditor is right or not, it was indeed the case that Apple was able to resolve the issue with an update.

A Redditor argues that the CPU slowdown experienced with the 2018 MacBook Pro is not caused by thermal throttling of the processor itself, but rather by power throttling of the voltage regulator module (VRM).

They go on to demonstrate that the value can be overwritten, boosting performance, indicating that it is potentially something Apple can fix with an update …

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The controversy over the 2018 MacBook Pro delivering less than its claimed base speed continues as ExtremeTech notes that Intel has long held the view that it’s ok for laptop manufacturers to deviate from stated CPU specs …

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Update: Earlier this morning Apple pulled the videos from YouTube. As noted by users on Reddit, the videos can still be downloaded – at your own risk – on torrent site Mega.

A slew of Apple internal repair videos have leaked, with detailed descriptions and walkthroughs on how to repair everything from the iPhone X to iMac Pro.

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An internal Apple repair document obtained by MacGeneration appears to be the most direct evidence yet that the silicone covers found underneath each keycap in the 2018 MacBook Pro really is intended to make the keyboard more reliable, rather than ‘quieter’ as Apple marketed it.

In an article targeted at repair technicians, Apple writes ‘the keyboard has a membrane under the keycaps to prevent debris from entering the butterfly mechanism’. It also explains that spacebar design has changed and will require a new repair process.

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It seems like there’s always some controversy surrounding new Apple hardware. These devices are some of the most popular in the world, which means that they’re bound to get closely scrutinized, perhaps more so than any other tech product on earth.

With that said, there’s a brewing controversy over CPU throttling in the new MacBook Pro. Of course, throttling on a laptop as thin as the MacBook Pro is to be expected, but issue has been taken with the amount of throttling present in Apple’s high-end 6-core Core i9-powered machine.

The scrutinization is warranted, especially when you consider that the least-expensive Core i9 MacBook Pro sells for $2,700. If you opt to max out the GPU, RAM, and SSD storage, the price quickly balloons to nearly $7000 after tax.

Just how bad is CPU throttling on the 2018 MacBook Pro? Let’s do a brief export test with Final Cut Pro X to investigate further. 
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Last week, Apple announced new versions of its 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models with Touch Bar. Perhaps most notable is the new power that is now available with the 15-inch, including the Intel Core i9 processor.

A new video, however, raises concerns about whether or not the MacBook Pro can handle the heat of the i9 processor…

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