MacBook Pro: The biggest and baddest Mac laptops

Tests by freelance video editor Peter Wiggins, who runs the fcp.co website, show that the new 15-inch MacBook Pro is almost twice as fast at video rendering as the original 2012 Retina model.

On to a project rendering test with Final Cut Pro X. All the machines used the same Library and were connected to the same Thunderbolt drive where the ProRes 422 was rendered. Before each test, the render files were deleted.

The project was a one and a half minute sequence made up of multicams, chromakey, drop shadow, repositioning and Motion effects […] So a rough bit of maths and you’ll see that the new 15″ MacBook Pro is nearly twice as fast as the 2012 model.

While the comparison is with the first-gen Retina machine, rather than the most recent one, that’s probably a reasonable real-life comparison as most people keep their machines for 4-5 years …

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While the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar models are still not on display in UK Apple Stores, the first UK orders have now started shipping. My own order status this morning switched from ‘Processing’ to ‘Preparing for Shipment,’ and some are reporting an update to ‘Shipped’ status with tracking details …

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The new MacBook Pros have been met with a wide array of responses thus far, with some praising the new machines and others viewing them as a step back for a variety of reasons. One common question since the announcement of the new models, however, has centered around why the machines max out at 16GB of RAM.

While Phil Schiller originally penned this limitation on battery life concerns, a new email from the Apple executive offers a bit more insight as to the reasoning…

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TB3 enabler is a brand new hack from Khaos Tian that enables unsupported Thunderbolt 3 devices on the latest MacBook Pro.

As explained by Tian, Apple impedes support for some categories of Thunderbolt 3 devices by implementing a software block. TB3 enabler allows users to bypass that software block, enabling access to previously unsupported Thunderbolt 3 devices.
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While some in the U.S. have been fortunate enough to take delivery of their shiny new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar models, those of us in the UK are getting a rather more gradual unveiling. Most Apple Stores don’t even have display models yet, and even in the Regent Street store they only had one of each model, tucked away inside a perspex tube running demo loops.

My MacBook Pro Diary series is, then, getting a rather more drawn-out ‘first impressions’ treatment than usual. But there is an upside to that: there’s actually quite a lot to discuss with this new machine, and so far the focus has been very much on the specs. The loss of ports, whether Apple should have waited for Kaby Lake, whether the Touch Bar is a useful innovation or a gimmick … plus the ‘has Apple lost touch with its professional user roots?’ debate.

Those are all issues worthy of discussion, but I do feel the machine has perhaps missed out a little on the more usual (admittedly superficial) first impressions of its design …

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In this week’s top stories: MacBook Pro reviews, iOS 10.2 beta 3, iPhone 8 OLED reports, Apple’s new design book, and we go hands-on with the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar in this week’s top video…

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I’ve spent a considerable amount of time with both the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro that features standard function keys. The machines share some noteworthy differences, but there are numerous similarities as well.

One unfortunate similarity is the fact that the three-finger drag trackpad gesture doesn’t work like it should. In other words, if you’re having a problem with the three-finger drag gesture on your shiny new MacBook Pro, it’s not just you.
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The Touch Bar is the flagship feature for the new MacBook Pro. It’s a small touch surface that offers dynamically changing content based on the current app you’re using.

The Touch bar is simple to use, but it’s somewhat deeper than it may appear at first. In this walkthrough video, we’ll discuss 15 tips and tricks for the new MacBook Pro Touch Bar to help you get started.
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iFixit has completed its third teardown of the new MacBook Pro models, following the entry-level and Touch Bar 13-inch units with the top-of-the-range 15-inch version. The tl;dr is that the machine’s innards are almost identical to the 13-inch model.

One interesting find, also present in the smaller version, is a ‘connector to nowhere’: a port on the logic board that isn’t connected to anything. Comments on the previous teardown speculate that this might be to pull data from the soldered-in SSD …

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I don’t generally bother with AppleCare. My usual view is that, like any other extended warranty, it offers poor value for money. You’re paying a lot of money upfront for coverage you’ll likely never need.

Most Mac faults are going to make themselves known well inside the first year of standard Apple warranty coverage. The likelihood of a major fault occurring in the interval between the standard warranty expiring and AppleCare doing the same is very low. (There’s an additional factor at play in the EU, which I’ll get to later as it won’t be relevant to U.S. readers.)

But I am opting for it this time. Because the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is not only non-upgradable, but also pretty much non-repairable …

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Apple’s new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar has slowly been making its way into the hands of consumers gradually over the past week and many have already started to offer up their opinions on the new machine. While the new Touch Bar models first hit retail stores earlier this week, they are now available for pickup in store via Apple’s website, as well.

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Apple has just shared a new TV commercial to its YouTube page, called ‘Bulbs’. The ad shows a series of lightbulbs exploding around the world, ending with a tag line ‘Ideas push the world forward’ and a few short shots of the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.

The ad highlights human inventions like fire, harvesting, woodwork, trains, transport, television, robots and space travel, finishing with a few glimpses of Apple’s newest MacBook Pro which it calls “a tool for all the ideas to come”. Watch the minute and a half spot after the jump …

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There is a bit of confusion over what displays are supported via the new MacBook Pro’s Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports. If you don’t have a display that uses a Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port— like the new 4K and 5K LG displays being sold exclusively by Apple for the new MacBook Pros— then you’ll need an adapter to go from Thunderbolt 3 to whatever I/O your display has (DisplayPort, HDMI, Thunderbolt 2, etc). Something like Apple’s Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, for example. 

But here’s where some users have been confused and accidentally purchased the wrong adapter:

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After going hands-on with the Late-2016 13-inch MacBook Pro sans Touch Bar, I was finally able to spend some significant hands-on time with the real MacBook Pro for this generation, the Touch Bar-equipped version.

Outside of a few obvious differences, the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar shares the same form factor and design as the version without Apple’s fancy new input method. Therefore, I’m going to avoid rehashing topics that I’ve already covered, such as in-depth impressions of the keyboard, trackpad, display, build quality, etc. If you want a hands-on synopsis of the overall design of the Late-2016 MacBook Pro, then be sure to read our original hands-on post.

These impressions will focus on the areas that differentiate the Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pro from the entry-level model. It is here where you’ll find my hands-on impressions of the Touch Bar, Touch ID, faster processors, additional USB-C ports, and more. Have a look at our full video walkthrough for all of the details.
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The new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is the first of Apple’s Macs to include a Touch ID sensor built-in for Apple Pay, unlocking the Mac with your fingerprint, and authentication purposes in third-party apps.

Other Macs can use Apple Pay, but they need to use a nearby iPhone or Apple Watch to authenticate and complete the purchase.

Here’s how it works:

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Apple’s new flagship MacBook Pro replaces the function key row with a dynamic multi-touch display called Touch Bar. This new screen changes based on which app you’re currently using and enables quick access to additional functionality throughout macOS.

One example of this is how Touch Bar handles screenshots. Whether you’re using the system keyboard shortcuts to create a screenshot or using the optional screenshot button on Touch Bar, you can assign the app or folder where you want the screenshot to save to on-the-fly.

And since Touch Bar is actually a second display, you can create a screenshot of whatever Touch Bar is displaying using a new system keyboard shortcut…

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