Apple 16in Macbook Pro
Apple has put a bigger screen on its much-loved 15-inch MacBook Pro, but does bigger always mean better?
The 15-inch laptop has long been the form factor of choice for professionals that need as much power as possible from a portable ultrabook, but Apple is looking to change this up with the new MacBook Pro 16 by adding an inch to this tried and tested form factor.
In reality, Apple is not actually making the footprint of the unit notably bigger – it’s less than 2% larger in each direction – so you probably wouldn’t see a difference unless you were really looking for it. What it has done, however, is reduce the bezels and expand the screen for a greater screento-body ratio and overall screen size. Considering the MacBook Pro 15 is pitched at creatives that want as much power as possible, it’s only natural that those same users would want as much screen as possible – especially when it comes at no extra cost to the device’s overall footprint.
When it comes to being the best on paper an inch is as good as a mile, but Apple seems to have put a lot of effort into genuinely improving the updated MacBook Pro offering. On the hardware side of things the first standout feature is a 35% larger heat sink and 28% more airflow for cooling, which should provide enough overhead to service the powerful Intel Core i9-9880H, or more than enough if you opt for the Core i7 variation.
Apple tends to service the elite end of the market already, but the bigger MacBook Pro variation has some pretty ludicrous upper limits when it comes to configurable specs with options ranging up to 64GB of RAM and an 8TB PCIe
SSD. So your workflow and bank account will have to battle it out to find some acceptable middle ground.
CHOICE GALORE
For those looking at the more affordable end of the spectrum, units with a 9th-generation Intel Core i7-9750H CPU, AMD Radeon Pro 5300M GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB PCIe connected SSD starts at $3,799. If you want one with the 2.4-4.8GHz Intel Core i9 model, the octa-core range starts at $4,399 for units with an AMD Radeon Pro 5500M, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of PCIe SSD storage, but you can overclock this CPU to 3.4-5GHz for an additional $320. We tested the Core i9 configuration with 32GB of RAM, an 8GB Radeon Pro 550M GPU and a 2TB SSD which has an RRP of $6,159.
The 16-inch Retina display is the biggest screen on a Mac notebook ever, so it’s understandable why it is a headlining feature. This 3,072 by 1,920 pixel display sits somewhere between Quad HD and 4K in an aspect ratio that is closer to three by two than 16 by 9. This high resolution Retina display also offers a 500 nit peak brightness and a full P3 colour gamut that is ideal for video production and anything else that requires high dynamic range colour reproduction. Apple has worked on the display’s oxide thin film transistor to
“When it comes to being the best on paper an inch is as good as a mile, Apple seem to have put a lot of effort into genuinely improving the updated MacBook Pro offering. ”
improve colour uniformity and battery draw from earlier MacBook Pro displays, and when everything’s taken together, the screen becomes an ideal workspace for creatives that need to work on-the-go.
BIG CPU AND GPU JUMP
Apple is claiming that the new Core i9 CPU makes the MacBook Pro twice as fast as former quad-core MacBook Pros in software like MATLAB, Blackmagic Fusion Studio and Autodesk Maya. Against the 2019 hexa-core i7 MacBook Pro 15 this equates to a 40% bump in Cinebench R20 CPU scores and it lands within 6% of the Gigabyte Aero 17 which uses a similar Intel Core i9-9980HK CPU. This is a serious amount of processing power that would outpace many desktop units.
While the CPU is undoubtedly impressive, the graphical performance of the MacBook Pro 16 is even bigger, doubling the Compute performance on Geekbench 4 of the MacBook Pro 15 which used an AMD Radeon Pro 555X. While this GPU is definitely a big step forward, the Radeon Pro 550M (8GB) only achieves about half of the performance as laptops that use a Nvidia GeForce GTX 2070 in the same benchmark, so if your workflow is primarily graphically intensive you can do a little better.
The Core i9 variant comes with 1TB of PCIe SSD storage as standard, a factor that actually makes it competitively priced against the few other players in the performance ultrabook space – something we don’t often say about Apple products. We pegged this SSD with read and write speeds of 2,875MB/s and 2,630MB/s respectively, which is on par with most of the good NVMe SSDs out there.
AS BEAUTIFUL AS EVER
While the core functionality of the computer is the most important element of a good PC for us, the appeal of something that looks good is hard to quantify and the MacBook Pro 16’s clean in-line keyboard surround speaker grills, generouslysized trackpad and simple unibody design makes it a standout aesthetically. These features don’t just look good, however, the six speaker sound system has actually been reengineered to deliver bigger bass that reduces rattle by using an inverted woofer array and also offers impressive digital Dolby Atmos surround sound. That oversized trackpad is as smooth and easy to use as ever, and the keyboard has returned to an earlier Magic keyboard design with a physical escape key thanks to popular demand.
Where Apple really hopes to distinguish itself is with the integration of software and hardware. This synergy is easily expressed in the Touch Bar, which is included as stock on both variants of the MacBook Pro 16. Apple has at least 24 key apps that include touch bar integration which allows power users to get that little bit extra productivity out of anything from Excel to Final Cut Pro.
To round out what is a really impressive feature list is a 100Wh Lithium polymer battery that Apple claims gives you 11 hours of web browsing or movie playback, which is an impressive feat for a device this powerful. By comparison the similar Gigabyte Aero 17 only manages to last three hours and 45 minutes in our 1080p movie playback test, despite having a similar 94Wh battery.
Apple seem to have conceded on a few divisive issues with earlier MacBook Pro models while at the same time taking big strides in graphics, thermal and battery life performance – all while increasing the screen size and keeping the price in check.