Apple says the new MacBook Pro gets up to 10 hours of battery life, and while I could get that one day with very basic use (web browsing, email) it seems like average use puts the battery life more around 8 hours consistently. Josh McConnell / National PostĪs for the battery life on the new MacBook Pro, things are more complicated than they should be. So, again, point goes to the 15-inch if you need power.
You’ll be able to do plenty of professional work on either model, just the 13-inch won’t be as fast or capable than the 15-inch.Īlso, the 13-inch MacBook Pro can output to either one 5K display or two 4K displays at the same time, while the 15-inch can do two 5K displays and two high-performance RAID arrays. The 13-inch integrated card is still up to 103 per cent faster than before (according to Apple), while the 15-inch is supposed to be up to 130 per cent faster. While it’s still very capable of doing professional tasks such as photo and video editing or the odd game, it’s not a dedicated Radeon Pro graphics card like the one found in the 15-inch model. The 13-inch model uses Intel’s integrated Iris Graphics, which is somewhat unfortunate for what is supposed to be a Pro laptop. That changes with the graphics cards inside the units. Up until this point on the review, there haven’t been too many things that set the 13-inch and the 15-inch MacBook Pro models apart from each other other than physical real estate. Graphics capabilities, battery life and lack of ports This means things like copying large files and opening apps feel quicker, which generally seems to be the case during testing.
The 13-inch model is up to 100 per cent faster read and write speeds from the last generation, while the 15-inch unit is up to 50 per cent faster. The solid state internal hard drives within the units have also received a boost. The 15-inch does sound more clear than the 13-inch, but even the smaller model is a substantial boost from past models. The audio sounds clearer, with better bass and quality even as you continue to crank the volume up. Because they’re now connected directly to system power, they can pump out to to three times more peak power, Apple says. Then there are the speakers, which also have been redesigned within the new MacBook Pro and right away change is noticeable. Sometimes when I want to pull up Expose, it doesn’t want to work because my palm is now slightly on the trackpad. While this is great for multitouch gestures that continue to be called upon more frequently in MacOS, it does take a bit of getting used to as resting your palm or finger slightly on it can make it do things you don’t want it to do. It’s 46 per cent larger on the 13-inch and double the size on the 15-inch compared to past years. The trackpad now uses Force Touch, meaning instead of actually being a physical button it uses a vibration mechanism inside it to feel like it is being pressed - similar to the screen and home button in newer iPhones or the trackpad on the 12″ MacBook.
Pulling up photos shot with the iPhone 7 Plus on both screens give the distinct advantage to the new 2016 models in terms of colour - something particularly important for creative professionals working with video and photo editing. While I was unable to measure those specs with specific accuracy, when comparing the new 2016 models side-by-side with the previous generation there is a very clear difference. Apple says the screens are also 67 per cent brighter and has 67 per cent higher contrast ratio. Like with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, it now has a wider range of colour (25 per cent more) that gives more pop to colours like reds and greens. The retina display has been boosted in both models as well.
Apple may have found the proper mix of physical size and internal specs. My main laptop for the past four years has been a 2012 15-inch MacBook Pro and I’ve always enjoyed the extra screen real estate, but comparing these two new sizes side-by-side the 2016 13-inch is just too compelling now. The added weight and physical space is definitely noticeable though when compared to the 13-inch model. The 15-inch model is 15.5mm thin, or 14 per cent thinner than last time, and weighs four pounds. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.