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Apple 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar review by a long-time MBP user

Note: This article was first published on 24th November 2016.

10 years of MacBook Pro

The MacBook Pro is a modern computing institution. Introduced in 2006, it has been updated continuously over the years, all with the aim of meeting the needs of professionals who depend on it to get work done. Few notebook brands can claim to have a model that stretches back so far.

In these 10 years, I have had three MacBook Pro notebooks. My first was an early 2008 15-inch model. It was the last of the first generation of MacBook Pro notebooks. Later that year, they would announce the new unibody models.

My second MacBook Pro was also a 15-incher, specifically the late 2011 model, which was considered the second generation MacBook Pro and was one of the last models before Apple introduced the ones with Retina display. Much to my misfortune, it was also the one that was plagued by display and graphics issues.

Last year, I took a leap of faith by switching to the smaller 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. One year later, I can say that it was the right choice, as it was a lot more portable. But I made the mistake of not upgrading to 16GB of memory when ordering mine, and so I was looking forward to this year’s update eagerly.

In total, I have been a MacBook Pro user for the past 8 years. I use it at home, at the office, and when I’m on the road covering events like CES and Computex. I use it for work and for play. It is my primary computing device.

And I have to say, I’m a fan of the MacBook Pro. For the most part of the 8 years, the MacBook Pro has provided me with everything I need. I really like last year’s model. It has a great display, a great keyboard, a wonderful touchpad, good connectivity, enough ports, and an SD card reader. I remember my first MacBook Pro, the early 2008 model, didn’t have an SD card reader. And it was a pain to have to use an external SD card reader.

So how do I feel about the latest MacBook Pro with Touch Bar notebooks from Apple? Frustrating would be a good one-word descriptor.

But let me detail what’s new about the latest MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, the actual usage experience and performance before I conclude for all the readers.

**Note: For the sake of brevity, from this point on I’m going to refer the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar simply as the new MacBook Pro. FYI, there is also a new MacBook Pro without the Touch Bar, but has traditional function keys, which is not reviewed in this article.

Design

The design of the new MacBook Pro notebooks are familiar and mostly the same. They still have a unibody aluminum construction; and they still feel solidly built, as if they were solid slabs of metal. But they are also thinner and lighter. There's also a new space grey finish, which looks fantastic, in my opinion. Sadly, the Apple logo on the display cover no longer lights up.

Though the new MacBook Pro takes up 23% less space, in the real world it is only very slightly smaller than last year's model.
Though the new MacBook Pro takes up 23% less space, in the real world it is only very slightly smaller than last year's model.

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro is 23% smaller, weighing 1.37kg and measuring just 14.9mm thick. In comparison, last year’s model was 1.6kg heavy and 18mm thick. Perhaps more impressive is that the new 13-inch MacBook Pro weighs the same as the MacBook Air and is even thinner - the MacBook Air has a tapered design, but it is 17mm at its thickest point.

The new MacBook Pro is only marginally thinner.
The new MacBook Pro is only marginally thinner.

However, in the real world, the effects are less obvious. The new MacBook Pro is certainly more compact than its predecessor, but not by as much as I had imagined. The weight savings isn’t that appreciable either. In my hands, the new MacBook Pro felt a tiny tad lighter. But once I put it into my laptop bag, I couldn’t feel the difference. This is because despite the smaller size, there wasn't enough weight reduction to make the differences obvious; in essence, the density of both notebooks are similar.

Hardware Improvements

Fortunately, Apple has made more improvements under the hood. The new MacBook Pro are equipped with Intel’s sixth generation Skylake processors and feature numerous other performance critical hardware improvements including faster memory and storage.

You might wonder why Skylake processors and not Intel’s newer seventh generation Kaby Lake processors. Apple typically outfits its MacBook Pro notebooks with more powerful processors, and that’s not possible with the current line-up of Kaby Lake processors, which is very limited.

The new MacBook Pro uses a variant of Intel's Skylake processor with better integrated graphics than its predecessor.
The new MacBook Pro uses a variant of Intel's Skylake processor with better integrated graphics than its predecessor.

In the case of the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro, it is powered by the Intel Core i5-6267U processor. Consider that most 13-inch Windows notebook would use Intel’s Core i7-6500U processor, the Core i5-6267U actually has better integrated graphics (Intel Iris Graphics 550 with 64MB eDRAM vs. Intel HD Graphics 520), a higher turbo clock rate (3.3 GHz vs. 3.1GHz), and also a higher TDP (28W vs. 15W). In short, it’s a more powerful processor, so don’t be fooled by its “lower” Core i5 designation.

What’s worthy of special mention is the integrated Intel Iris Graphics 550 GPU. This is a markedly different animal to the Intel HD Graphics 520 integrated GPU that is found in so many other 13-inch notebooks. The Intel Iris Graphics 550 integrated GPU has double the number of execution units, 64MB of eDRAM, and runs at slightly higher clock speeds. In terms of pure compute performance, the Intel Iris Graphics 550 is more than twice as powerful as the Intel HD Graphics 520.

Off the shelf, the new MacBook Pro notebooks will come with 8GB of 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory. If that’s not enough, users can order it with 16GB of memory, but that’s the maximum.

8GB is the bare minimum these days. And obviously, I would have prefer 16GB of memory to come as standard, since this is after all Apple’s premium notebook model. 16GB is plenty for my usage, but there’s a lot of chatter amongst developers about how 16GB is barely enough for their work, especially for those who have to work with virtual machines.

I’m no developer, but having dabbled with virtualization software, I can attest to the amount of memory that virtual machines consume. Even so, this issue would probably bother users of the 15-inch MacBook Pro more since the 15-inch MacBook Pro (by virtue of having a much more powerful quad-core CPU) is more suited for developer-type workload. To quell the chatter on the limited memory size, Apple has come forward to explain the why it can't provision more than 16GB of RAM, but we doubt that solves the concerns of those who truly need more RAM.

Finally, the new MacBook Pro notebooks also have vastly improved storage systems. The new PCIe SSDs in the MacBook Pro notebooks can now achieve sequential read and write speeds of over 3GB/s and 2GB/s respectively.

Touch Bar & Touch ID

The Touch Bar sits above the keyboard and replaces the traditional function and media shortcut keys.
The Touch Bar sits above the keyboard and replaces the traditional function and media shortcut keys.

The biggest new feature has got to be the Touch Bar and Touch ID. The Touch Bar is a strip of touchscreen display that sits above the keyboard where the function keys used to be. It’s a Retina display too, with a resolution of 2,170 x 60 pixels, so images look really nice and sharp. But more importantly, it is designed to be contextual so what you see on it changes depending on the app you are using. The idea is to give users the most useful shortcut keys and functions at any one time.

The traditional function keys that Mac users are so familiar with, like media playback shortcuts, screen brightness, and volume are still there. But they automatically contract to the right of the Touch Bar whenever an app is launched. And if you need the function keys, you can still invoke them by holding on to the “fn” key on the keyboard.

In Safari, Touch Bar shows you a tiny preview of your opened tabs. To be honest, they are far too small to be of any use.
In Safari, Touch Bar shows you a tiny preview of your opened tabs. To be honest, they are far too small to be of any use.

What the Touch Bar shows is dependent on the app. For example, in Safari it might show a preview of your opened tabs or shortcuts to your favorite sites. In Pages, the Touch Bar can show you formatting shortcuts and options. And in Photos, you can show you a preview of your photos, which you can scroll through; and it can also display the various editing functions like crop and filters. And as you type, the Touch Bar shows you predictive text options and also gives you quick access to emojis.

For now, I’m not entirely sold on the Touch Bar, because I type by touch and rarely look down on my keyboard. Because the Touch Bar is not tactile and it changes depending on the app, it will take quite a bit of getting used to before I can use it comfortably without having to constantly look down at it.

The Touch Bar gives quick access to emojis. Very useful for those who use messaging services often on their Macs.
The Touch Bar gives quick access to emojis. Very useful for those who use messaging services often on their Macs.

In addition, I don’t find it to be useful all of the times. It’s quite fun to be able to scrub through videos when viewing YouTube, and it’s nifty to be able to quickly select editing functions on Photos. But in Pages, selecting text shows you common formatting shortcuts like bold, italic and underline, which I suspect a lot of users already know by heart.

Right now, I think there’s a lot of hit and miss with the Touch Bar, and I don’t expect everyone to find it useful. That said, I think there’s the potential for it to become a something more, or a game-changer even.

Touch ID finally comes to the Mac, and it is really useful.
Touch ID finally comes to the Mac, and it is really useful.

To the right of the Touch Bar is a small button with a Touch ID sensor. This button doubles up as the power button. But you will find that you won’t have to use it often because the new MacBook Pro automatically powers up whenever you lift its display. That said, you will still need the button for the times when the MacBook Pro becomes unresponsive and requires a restart.

Unlike Touch Bar, the Touch ID sensor is useful right from the start. Setting it up is the same as setting up Touch ID on your iPhone, and once it is setup, it can be used in place of your password. You will still need to log in with your password when your MacBook Pro starts up from a cold boot, but thereafter, Touch ID takes over and you can use it to login to your MacBook or for the times when it requires user authentication, such as when downloading and purchasing apps from the App Store or using Apple Pay for online shopping. Up to five fingerprints can be saved to work with Touch ID. It is also very fast and recognizes your fingerprint almost as quick as the latest iPhones do.

Ports & Connectivity

Arguably the biggest change to the new MacBook Pro has to do with connectivity, specifically the ports. The last generation MacBook Pro offered a good selection of ports. It had two USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, a full-sized HDMI port, an SD card reader, a headphone jack and MagSafe 2. The new MacBook Pro, on the other hand, gives you four USB Type-C ports that support Thunderbolt 3. It is restrictive, but also very fast. Maximum throughput, thanks to Thunderbolt 3, is a mind-boggling 40Gbps, that is double that of Thunderbolt 2, and four times that of USB 3.1 Gen 2.

There are two USB Type-C ports supporting Thunderbolt 3 on both sides of the MacBook Pro, enabling transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps.
There are two USB Type-C ports supporting Thunderbolt 3 on both sides of the MacBook Pro, enabling transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps.

These four ports are also extremely versatile. All four of them can transmit data and power. In other words, all four ports can be used for charging, transferring files, and outputting video and sound. For some users, this versatility can make it easier for cable arrangement. And because they are USB Type-C, they are also reversible - say goodbye to fumbling around and trying to get your peripherals to fit.

On paper, this sounds great, and to be honest, I think it won’t affect most people since many things can be done wirelessly these days. If you are also an iPhone user, there’s Apple’s AirDrop; and if you are thinking of backups, most routers today support wireless backups; and for transferring large files, there’s Google Drive and Dropbox. Think about it, how often do you use your ports these days?

On the right, there's also a standard 3.5mm audio jack.
On the right, there's also a standard 3.5mm audio jack.

That said, a good number of people will also miss the convenience of the regular USB Type-A ports and the good old MagSafe 2. I'll get into this in greater detail at the end of the review. For now, just know that these new ports are extremely fast and adaptable.

Strangely, the new MacBook Pro also includes a 3.5mm audio jack for connecting to headphones and speakers. However, unlike older MacBook Pro notebooks, this 3.5mm audio jack no longer supports optical audio out. This detail is unlikely to be missed by many, since I suspect many users are not even aware of its existence. Nevertheless, audiophiles who used to depend on the audio jack to output to an external DAC should take note.

As for wireless connectivity, the new MacBook Pro supports the latest 802.11ac wireless standard and speeds of up to 1300Mbps, and also Bluetooth 4.2.


Other improvements (display, keyboard, trackpad, and speakers)

There are numerous other improvements in the new MacBook Pro. Just like the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, the display of the new MacBook Pro has been upgraded to show a wider color space, specifically the DCI-P3 wide color gamut. This means more vivid and life-like colors. It’s also 67% brighter, delivering up to 500 nits of brightness; and has a higher contrast.

The display supports a wider color space and looks brilliant.
The display supports a wider color space and looks brilliant.

And to save power, it also has a variable refresh rate, just like the iPad Pro. For example, when browsing documents or emails, the refresh rate would drop to 30Hz, And in instances where there are animations or videos, the display would automatically adjust its refresh rate to 60Hz to make everything look smooth and fluid. Apple’s Retina display is already brilliant and these little upgrades make it even better than before.

The keyboard has undergone a huge change. The new MacBook Pro now has a keyboard with what Apple's calls "second-generation butterfly mechanism". It is similar to the keyboard on the super thin MacBook, but it feels slightly more rigid and consistent. According to Apple, it’s four times more stable, and it’s also more responsive.

Why do I like this keyboard even though it has almost zero travel? This doesn't make sense!
Why do I like this keyboard even though it has almost zero travel? This doesn't make sense!

It’s very flat and has almost non-existent travel, and yet I find myself liking it a lot, which is odd because my keyboard of choice is the mechanical Matias Mini Tactile Pro - the two couldn't be more different. There’s a very nice affirmative click action that lets users know when they strike a key, and I got used to typing on it quite quickly. In comparison, my old MacBook Pro’s keyboard now feels mushy and somewhat imprecise.

The Force Touch trackpad has also been enlarged. On the 13-inch MacBook Pro, it is 46% larger. And on the 15-inch MacBook Pro, it is actually twice as large! Apple’s trackpads have also been superb and it is business as usual with the new MacBook Pro notebooks. It is absolutely buttery smooth to use and it is wonderfully responsive and precise.

Look at that humongous trackpad.
Look at that humongous trackpad.

The last generation MacBook Pro already had very good built-in speakers, insofar as notebooks are concerned, but Apple has gone ahead and improved the speakers in the new MacBook Pro notebooks. Most crucially, the new speakers have twice the dynamic range and also reduced distortion at the highest volumes. It won’t replace my Klipsch ProMedia desktop speakers, but they are good enough for the times when I need some entertainment away from home.

Performance Benchmarking

I tested the MacBook Pro using our standard benchmarking utilities, which meant that I had to install Windows 10 using Bootcamp. This will allow me to peg its performances against comparable Windows notebooks that we have reviewed. Here is the list of benchmarking software used:

  • PCMark 8

  • 3DMark 2013

  • Tomb Raider

I can't wait to see how the new MacBook Pro matches up against last year's model. I'm expecting to see big improvements in graphics performance thanks to the more powerful Intel Iris Graphics 550 integrated GPU in the new MacBook Pro. Here's how the new MacBook Pro measures up against last year's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

  • Intel Core i5-6267U (2.9GHz, 4MB L3 cache)

  • Intel Core i5-5257U (2.7GHz, 3MB L3 cache)

  • Intel Core i5-5250U (1.6GHz, 3MB L3 cache)

  • macOS Sierra

  • Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite

  • Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite

  • 8GB LPDDR3 2133MHz

  • 8GB 1866MHz LPDDR3

  • 4GB 1600MHz LPDDR3

  • 13.3-inch Retina display (2560 x 1600 pixels)

  • Intel Iris Graphics 550

  • 13.3-inch Retina display (2560 x 1600 pixels)

  • Intel Iris Graphics 6100

  • 13.3-inch (1440 x 900 pixels)

  • Intel HD Graphics 6000

  • 256GB PCIe SSD

  • 256GB PCIe-based SSD

  • 256GB PCIe SSD

  • None

  • None

  • None

  • 802.11ac/b/g/n/a (Up to 1.3Gbps)

  • Bluetooth 4.0

  • 802.11 ac/b/g/n (3x3)

  • Bluetooth 4.0

  • 802.11ac/b/g/n (2x2)

  • Bluetooth 4.0

  • Built-in stereo speakers

  • Stereo speakers

  • Dual microphones

  • Stereo speakers

  • Dual microphones

  • 4 x Thunderbolt 3 via USB Type-C

  • 2 x USB 3.0 ports

  • 2 x Thunderbolt 2.0 ports

  • 1 x HDMI port

  • 1 x headphone jack

  • 2 x USB 3.0 port

  • 1 x Thunderbolt 2.0 port

  • 1 x SDXC card slot

  • 1 x audio jack

  • Lithium-ion, 49.2Wh

  • 74.9wH lithium-ion battery

  • 54wH lithium-ion battery

  • 304.1 x 212.4 x 14.9mm

  • 314 x 219 x 18mm

  • 325 x 227 x 3 ~ 17mm

  • 1.37kg

  • 1.58kg

  • 1.35kg

  • Force Touch trackpad

PCMark 8

Given that the new MacBook Pro is powered by a more powerful processor and that it has both faster RAM and storage, so it wasn’t surprising at all to see that the new MacBook Pro was mostly faster than last year’s model. It was also mostly quicker than other popular comparable Windows notebooks like the Dell XPS 13 and the new HP Spectre.

3DMark 2013

According to Apple, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro provides up to 103% faster graphics performance than last year’s model, and the results on 3DMark confirms that graphics performance has been dramatically improved. The new MacBook Pro recorded substantially higher scores than last year’s model. On Cloud Gate, it scored over 33% more; and on Fire Strike, its score was over 55% higher. The new MacBook Pro was the highest scoring notebook here by a fair margin.

Tomb Raider

To put the new MacBook Pro’s graphics capabilities to further test, I ran the game Tomb Raider. It might be an old game, but it’s still challenging enough for most integrated GPUs. Astonishingly, the new MacBook Pro was the first notebook with integrated graphics to record above 30fps - the threshold of playability. On Normal settings and at Full-HD resolution, it achieved an average frame rate of 35.8 fps, which is pretty impressive. That’s nearly double that of last year’s MacBook Pro. On High graphics settings, it achieved a respectable 24.3 fps. Though this was under the playable threshold of 30fps, it was again nearly double that of last year’s model. All in all, it is safe to say that the new MacBook Pro has very much improved graphics performance.

Battery Life & Power Consumption

An interesting thing to note about the new MacBook Pro is that it has a substantially smaller battery compared to last year’s model. While last year’s model came with a 74.9Wh capacity battery, this year’s model only has a 49.2Wh capacity battery - a reduction of over 34%. The 2015 MacBook Pro has one of the largest battery of any 13-inch notebook, but this is no longer the case.

Unsurprisingly, battery life has suffered quite significantly. While last year’s model managed 323 minutes on our battery life test, the new MacBook Pro could only muster 231 minutes, which is about an hour and a half shorter. On the bright side, 231 minutes is nearly four hours, which is quite impressive actually when you consider that our battery test regime consists of a wide range of tasks including video editing and gaming - two incredibly draining tasks. Still, it doesn’t hide the fact that the new MacBook Pro’s battery life is very much shorter.

In terms of power consumption, the new MacBook Pro is actually about 8% more efficient, thanks to the use of Intel’s more efficient Skylake processors.

Portability Index

Our Portability Index factors in battery life, weight and volume so you can see which notebook is the most worthwhile to carry around. The scores for the new MacBook Pro and last year’s model were quite similar. Even though the new MacBook Pro has a much shorter battery life, it managed a slightly higher score thanks to its lighter weight and smaller overall volume. In terms of overall volume, the new MacBook Pro is about 23% smaller. If portability is high on your priority, the MacBook Air is still superior. But if you don’t mind using Windows, then the new breed of Windows notebooks are worth checking out, because they score even higher.

A great, but pricey 13-inch notebook

If you are only concerned about performance, battery life and portability, then worry not. The MacBook Pro is a class-leading notebook. Performance is best in its class, especially where storage and graphics are concerned. And battery life, though not as impressive as last year’s model, is still pretty good and should be sufficient for most users. In my own tests and based on my usage, which is a mixture of web browsing, music, videos, emails, and writing, I got around 8 hours.

Build quality is, as you would expect from Apple, simply faultless (though it's generally the same as previous models). Overall portability has been also improved, even though there are certainly more portable alternatives around - especially from the Windows camp. The display is fantastic, and the keyboard and trackpad are both great. Oh, and the new MacBook Pro is also easily one of the best sounding notebooks around.

Touch Bar and Touch ID are two of the biggest new features of the MacBook Pro, and I found Touch ID to be immediately useful. It makes logins and authentication a breeze. Touch Bar, on the other hand, is a bit of a hit and miss right now. It’s useful in some apps like Photos and Mail, but less so in others like Pages and Safari. That said, it is a promising piece of technology and I have the feeling that once MacBook Pro owners get used to it and developers start experimenting and fine-tuning it, it is going to become one of the defining features of this new generation of MacBook Pro notebooks.

The new MacBook Pro is a great notebook, offering class-leading performance, but it also happens to be very pricey.
The new MacBook Pro is a great notebook, offering class-leading performance, but it also happens to be very pricey.

That said, a major consideration to these new notebooks is the price. There’s no way to sugar coat it, the new MacBook Pro notebooks are considerably more expensive than the models they replace. To sum things up succinctly, here’s a table comparing the new MacBook Pro configurations with the old. I have also added the new non Touch Bar model as a gauge.

2015 MacBook Pro

Processor

Memory

Storage

Price

Core i5-5257U (2.7GHz, 3MB L3 cache)

8GB 1866MHz LPDDR3

128GB

S$1,688

Core i5-5257U (2.7GHz, 3MB L3 cache)

8GB 1866MHz LPDDR3

256GB

S$1,988

Core i5-5287U (2.9GHz, 3MB L3 cache)

8GB 1866MHz LPDDR3

512GB

S$2,388

Even the cheapest new MacBook Pro, the none Touch Bar model, comes in at S$2,188, which is a whopping S$500 more than last year's entry-level MacBook Pro. If you want the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, the most affordable model comes in at S$2,588, but thankfully this model has a faster processor and more storage.

And if I wanted an off the shelf model with the same 512GB SSD as the MacBook Pro that I’m currently using, I would have to get the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro with Touch Bar that’s S$2,788. Last year, I paid S$2,388 for mine. So yes, the new MacBook Pro notebooks are incredibly pricey.

The issue about ports

Price aside, the new MacBook Pro also has a serious problem with its ports. Though I suspect it will bother professionals who rely on their MacBook Pro for work more than it will regular users.

Apple has never been one to shy away from controversial decisions. When the first unibody MacBook Pro notebooks were introduced in 2009, Apple boldly decided to ditch removable batteries for non-removable ones so that it could maximize space. And in 2012, when they introduced the first MacBook Pro notebooks with Retina display, Apple once again ditched more ports, this time the Ethernet port and also optical drives, much to the chagrin of its users. However, there’s a sense that Apple went a bit too far this time by removing all the ports and only offering Thunderbolt 3 USB Type-C ports.

Last year's MacBook Pro had regular USB Type-A ports and speedy Thunderbolt 2 ports. It also has a full-sized HDMI port, an SD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio jack that doubles as an optical line-out.
Last year's MacBook Pro had regular USB Type-A ports and speedy Thunderbolt 2 ports. It also has a full-sized HDMI port, an SD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio jack that doubles as an optical line-out.

Users like me who have been using the MacBook Pro for years have accumulated a vast amount of peripherals that will require numerous adapters and dongles so that it can work with the latest MacBook Pro. This not only adds to the cost, but it also means we have more stuff to carry around.

I would probably be less annoyed by this if the new MacBook Pro was substantially thinner and lighter, but it isn’t, at least not by as much as the measurements suggest. Once you put it in the bag, you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference. It's no LG Gram for sure.

In comparison, the new MacBook Pro only offers four USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack. Deal with it.
In comparison, the new MacBook Pro only offers four USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack. Deal with it.

The workaround to this, apart from getting adapters and dongles, is to go wireless. That’s quite easy if you have already invested yourself in the Apple ecosystem. iPhones and iPads can transfer stuff to Macs easily with AirDrop, and you can also sync and share files with iCloud. But for everything else, it gets tricky.

The biggest problem for me would be my camera. I really wished the new MacBook Pro had an SD card, because even though my camera supports wireless transfer via Wi-Fi, the interface and app is unintuitive and a real pain to use. This concern will likely echo throughout the digital camera community, because frankly, that's the state of wireless transfers on cameras today.

Perhaps the most ironic thought of all is this: if you just bought a new MacBook Pro and a new iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, you will find that you cannot connect your new iPhone to your new Mac without an adapter. The benefits of the Thunderbolt 3 interface are obvious and USB Type-C ports may very well be the port of the future, but I don’t think we are quite ready for it just yet. Nevertheless, judging from how well sales of the new MacBook Pro is, it seems like the lack of ports isn’t going to bother most users.


Closing Thoughts

I have been switching between the new MacBook Pro and my old MacBook Pro for the past two weeks and my feelings are mixed. I really like the speedier performance and the feeling of typing on the new keyboard. Typing on my old MacBook Pro now feels totally unsatisfying. The new Touch Bar also proved to be useful from time to time, if not fun.

Looks like my 2015 MacBook Pro is going to be sticking around for a little longer.
Looks like my 2015 MacBook Pro is going to be sticking around for a little longer.

However, I hate that I need dongles to transfer files and perform backups. And whenever I think about ordering one, I cannot help but think of how just how pricey these new notebooks are. And how much more I would have to cough up for all the adapters I would need. Fortunately, Apple is offering discounts on USB-C accessories right now, and it helps that some of them are quite substantial. Unfortunately, the offer is short lived.

I think the easiest way to think of the new MacBook Pro notebooks is this: if you don’t mind the ports and the high price, then the new MacBook Pro notebooks are one of the best notebooks you can buy. It’s fantastically well made; it has a wonderful display, keyboard, and trackpad; and it offers really great performance for a 13-inch notebook with no discrete graphics.

Myself? I think I'm going to stick with my trusty 2015 MacBook Pro for another year.