As widely anticipated for months now a few hours before the announcement, Apple introduced November 13, 2019, the new MacBook Pro 16 ″, a machine very different from the one it takes over (or old 15.4-inch MacBook Pro), not so much for the design that remains very similar, but for a whole series of technologies that are new or important refinements to what we already know. In an article, we compare the MacBook Pro 16 ″ with the MacBook Pro 15 ″ 2019 and if you are undecided we also put the MacBook Pro 16 ″ with the MacBook Pro 13 ″ against each other.
Page Contents:
Keyboard and screen
One of the most important innovations of the MacBook Pro 16 ″ 2019 is in the screen that goes, as the name implies, from 15.4 “to 16 inches. It is a 16-inch Retina Display with 500 nits brightness, 3072 × 1920 resolution, and 226 ppi. Apple explains that it is the largest Retina screen ever produced.
Also comes a new keyboard of the new type called Magic Keyboard that abandons the butterfly mechanism and returns to the scissor mechanism to cope with the great criticism received from all the machines that from the MacBook 12 onwards have used this technology.
Phil Schiller, head of Apple marketing, explained that this keyboard had been in development for some time and that the choice was to put it into production immediately as soon as the opportunity presented itself with a machine for the professional world, a niche that more of others she complained about the old keyboard with butterfly keys.
Processors
The machine integrates latest-generation Intel processors up to 8 computing cores, video cards with up to 8GB of VRAM, up to 64GB of RAM, Touch Bar, Touch ID fingerprint sensor separated from the multifunction bar, audio system with six speakers, T2 security chip, improved battery thanks to the 100Wh battery, storage unit up to 8 terabytes, a capacity that appears for the first time on a laptop.
Apple explains that the new Mac has the most advanced heat dissipation architecture ever built in a portable Mac, “capable of running the system at high performance for a sustained period of time”. the fans are larger and are able to increase the airflow by 28%. The heat-dissipating grid on the processor is 35% larger. This translates into the MacBook Pro’s ability to support up to 12 watts during intensive sessions.
The processor has 6 and 8 cores (depending on the configuration) that allow speeds up to 2.1 times those of the 15-inch 4-core MacBook Pro. Apple also gives some examples- on multitrack soundtracks, you can have 2.1 times performance on the Amp plug in Logic Pro X and in MATLAB for dynamic system simulations. Xcode compiles 1.8 times faster, editing in Photoshop on complex projects is 1.7 times.
A contribution also gives the graphics card it is an AMD Radeon Pro 5000M which has a 7mm circuitry with GDDR6 memory and options end at 8GB VRAM that reaches this level for the first time. Here too the performance increase is generally up to 2.1 times in the standard configuration. Bringing the configuration to maximum means having 80% better performance than the previous configuration. Compared to the previous 15-inch 8-core machine with the top of the configuration, DaVinci is 1.8 times faster in color trading, 1.6 times faster in Fortnite, Unity’s Fly-through is 1.4 times faster.
Apple also explains that the 16-inch MacBook Pro has a complete audio system redesigned for a high-fidelity rendition that “offers musicians, podcasters and video editors the most advanced experience possible in a laptop”. A special patented technology cancels the vibrations using the two opposite speakers; in this way, the distortion is reduced for a «clearer and more natural sound. The bass can go one octave lower. An updated earthquake of microphones reduces the hiss by 40% and improves the sound-to-noise ratio “making Macs compatible with microphones designed for the professional world and capable of capturing even the smallest details of sound”.
Battery
The battery life dictated by the nearly 100 Wh battery is very high, at least on paper. Apple declares up to 11 hours of wireless browsing and 30 days of stand by. Being a machine that has a very powerful processor that is able to perform even heavy tasks, it is not easy to establish real battery life in various situations. In any case, as we explain below, the battery is the largest of those used in an Apple laptop.
Dimensions and weight
The 16-inch MacBook Pro has a thickness of 1.62 centimeters, a width of 35.79 centimeters and a depth of 24.59 centimeters. It weighs 2 KG. As a comparison, the MacBook Pro 15.4 was 1.55 cm thick, 34.93 wide and 24.07 deep. The weight was 1.83 kg. The increase in size as we can see is modest.
Other details
- The MacBook Pro 16 runs two Apple Pro Display XDR 6K monitors
- It has no standard port like SD or HDMI ( which won’t come back )
- Wi-Fi and Webcam are the same as previous models
- The power supply is 96W
- The battery is 99.8 Wh (11.36 V, 8790 mAh) the largest in the history of Apple laptops
The first tests
At the time of writing, we do not yet have the new machine in our hands and, like us, other sites do not have it, so complete tests and reviews are not yet available. Some international media have had the possibility of some short tests that even without publishing a review have been able to verify that certain machine specifications translate into real advantages. In particular, the keyboard is praised, more immediate to use than the one with the butterfly mechanism seen so far and the audio system of this handset, considered by many to be “stunning” and also “phenomenal”.
Now all that remains is to expect the real reviews that will have to put on the table tests that will already be technical and specific.
Price and availability
The price list remains the same for Italy- in our country, the laptop is offered in two configurations of 2,799 euros, the same starting price as the MacBook Pro 15,4 ″, and 3,299 euros. It can be configured in numerous versions by increasing the memory capacity, the processor and the RAM for prices exceeding 7000 euros.
The first deliveries for this machine are indicated between 26-28 November. The new laptop is purchased from this online Apple Store page.
