Apple took the stage at its "Hello Again" press conference in Cupertino on Thursday to announce the launch of its redesigned flagship laptop, the Macbook Pro.
Marking the first time the MacBook Pro has received a fresh upgrade in more than four years, it was the most anticipated product launch announcement since the unveiling of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus—and Apple did not disappoint.
The company unveiled the brand new lineup of MacBook Pros, which are being called the "thinnest and lightest" Pros designed, with features like the integration of Touch ID and its new OLED strip called Touch Bar.
The MacBook Pro now comes in a 13- and 15-inch option, complete with the new touch display strip that brings shortcuts and controls right at users fingertips to provide a "totally new experience."
The Touch Bar is located right above the keyboard, replacing the notebook's physical control buttons. When the user is in an app, the Touch Bar automatically displays the most popular or relevant controls such as bringing up brush size and hardness controls in PhotoShop (the features coming to the program by the end of the year). By using one hand on the track pad and one on the Touch Bar, creatives have a more seamless and natural way of working in the program.
Final Cut Pro users are able to drag through their project timeline, tap to move to section and zoom in all from the Touch Bar. Microsoft also plans to feature Touch Bar support for Office to bring the shortcut controls to Word and Excel.
Working in apps like Mail, Calendar and Finder, the Touch Bar can do things like show Favorites in Safari or bring up emojis in Messages. It can also be customized to bring the most relevant features to each specific user's fingertips.
First look! #MacBookPro #appleevent pic.twitter.com/LCaX1VKbP4
— CloudApp (@cloudapp) October 27, 2016
And speaking of fingers, the new MacPros are the first Macs to feature Touch ID.
The security feature is integrated into the power button to unlock the laptop or make purchases on the web using Apple Pay.
Multiple user's fingerprints can also be stored, using Touch ID to quickly switch between accounts.
The notebooks also have a larger trackpad with Force Touch and more responsive keyboard.
The 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros have an all-metal aluminum body that makes is ultra-thin and super light. The 13-inch MacBook Pro is 17 percent thinner and has 23 percent less volume than the previous generation 13-inch option.
And while many consumers love the MacBook Air for how light and thin it is, in comparison, the 13-inch new MacBook Pro is 12 percent thinner than the Air, with both weighing the same at 3 pounds.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro is equipped with an Intel Core i5/i& dual-core processor, 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage.
The new 15-inch MacBook Pro is 15.5 mm thin, making it 14 percent thinner than the previous generation, and weighs in almost a pound lighter at a total of 4 pounds.
It's the "most powerful we've ever made" with faster graphics, memory and storage. It has an Intel Core i5/i7 processor with up to 2133MHz of memory. With its Radeon Pro 14 nm GPU, graphics are 2.3 times faster than the previous 15-inch Macbook Pro.
This means performance for 3D graphics is 130 percent better, gaming is 60 percent better and video editing is 57 better than the previous 15-inch Pro.
It also has faster memory with up to 3.1GB per second, making it 2 times as fast as the previous generation.
The display on both models is 67 percent brighter, has 67 percent higher contract ratio and 25 percent more color. There is louder sound thanks to its speakers with with twice the dynamic range of audio and improved bass. Both options also have four Thunderbolt 3 ports for charging, HMDI, display or USB.
The MacBook Pros run on macOS Sierra, with Siri integration and have up to 10 hours of battery life.
Apple is offering two versions of its 13-inch MacBook Pro, one with the new Touch Bar and one without. The 13-inch without the new feature is equipped with a 2.0 GHZ dual-core Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage. This option is available for $1,499 with shipments starting today.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID starts at $1,799. Preorders start today, and the notebook is expected to ship in two to three weeks.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID starts at $2,399, with preorders also available today. It will shop in two to three weeks.
