For now TouchBar is primarily tuned to the company’s own
software offerings but developers are able to add support for the new feature
in their own apps. Key partners including Adobe and Microsoft are committed to
adding support in Creative Suite and Office.
There’s a dedicated virtual button for Siri on the main
TouchBar screen, and users can further customize the bar by dragging and
dropping buttons from a Notification Center-like pane that pops up from the
bottom of the screen. Over to the right is the Touch ID sensor covered in
sapphire glass, allowing users to login with just their fingerprint — the
feature supports multi-user setups so you can quickly switch between accounts
with a finger scan.
Aside from password-free logins, Touch ID can also be used
to authenticate Apple Pay purchases, so you can skip all the form filling
process on sites that support the payment option. All sensitive data and
private keys required for Touch ID to work will be kept on a new T1 chip that
includes a secure enclave, similar to how this works on the iPhone and iPad.
In terms of design, this is the thinnest and lightest
version of the Pro to date. The 13-inch model is just 14.9 millimeters thin, or
17 percent thinner than the previous generation. It's also 23 percent smaller
in volume, and weighs 3 pounds, almost a half a pound less than its
predecessor. The 15-inch model is 15.5 millimeters thin, or 14 percent thinner
than the last model. It also has 20 percent less volume, and weighs in at 4
pounds.
The redesigned Force Touch trackpad is twice as large as the
trackpad on the previous generation — it’s ridiculously large. The keyboard has
also been updated with the second-generation of Apple’s “butterfly” switch
mechanism that debuted on the 12-inch MacBook.
The new Pros come with Intel’s sixth-generation Core i5 and
Core i7 processors, Intel Iris or AMD Radeon Pro graphics, fast SSD storage and
a new cooling system.
Both the 13- and 15-inch have four Thunderbolt 3 ports in
USB-C form factor and any one of them can be used for hooking up peripherals,
displays, storage or for charging (MagSafe is gone). The headphone jack is
still there in case you were worried, but the SD card slot isn’t.
The new MacBook Pro’s display is 67% brighter and shows 25%
more color than Apple’s previous generation Pro laptop, while battery life
remains at 10 hours.
The 13-inch models start at $1,799 featuring
a dual-core, 2.9 GHz Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage and
integrated Iris graphics. The 15-inch models will set you back at least $2,399 for
a quad-core 2.6 GHz Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage, and
discrete AMD Radeon Pro 450 graphics.
Apple is also selling a version of the 13-inch Pro with
conventional function keys for $1,499, though it also drops the number of ports
to two and uses an Iris 540 GPU instead of the 550.
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