MacBook Pro 13-inch 2GHz Late 2016
A new low-end Pro, or a new high-end Air?
$1,499 Manufacturer Apple, apple.com Feature 2GHz Intel Core i5, Intel Iris Graphics 540, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD
You could be forgiven for thinking that the lower-end model of Apple’s newest MacBook Pro is a Pro in name only. When Apple talks about it, it compares it to the MacBook Air, rather than the previous Retina MacBook Pro models. It didn’t equip it with its new Touch Bar control strip. And compared to the two models with Touch Bar, it has fewer ports, and a considerably lower processor speed at 2GHz (the $1,799 13-inch model is 2.9GHz). Apple emphasizes that this new MacBook Pro is actually thinner than the MacBook Air at the Air’s thickest point, has a smaller overall footprint, and is essentially the same weight. Based on a quick glance, you almost feel like it would make more sense if Apple had made this a new 13-inch version of the MacBook, with the Pro name reserved for models with the Touch Bar – it would have made for a clearer line-up, arguably.
As we started to test and use it, we could see why Apple was happy with the Pro name for it, though. Its dual-core Intel Core i5 processor seems like it could be lightweight, but it actually proved to be approximately as powerful as the 2.7GHz processor in the previous-generation entry-level model (which is still available). That machine managed our real-world video encoding test in 57 minutes, while this machine took 55 minutes. This amount of processing power makes it more than capable of mid-range video editing and photo work – impressive to fit in a smaller, lighter frame with the same battery life.
Even more impressive is the big step forward in graphics power of the new chip. Intel’s Iris 540 GPU is a much more advanced design, and this can produce some big results. In our Batman: Arkham City test, we got an improvement in frame rate of more than 50% over the previous model, taking it from a game that you’d have to play with the settings turned down, to one you can happily play with everything on High. This is great for other intensive apps, such as Photoshop or Final Cut Pro, which can use GPU power to speed up certain tasks. It’s still no gaming powerhouse (Batman is quite an
old game, and anything even slightly newer, such as Tomb Raider, can’t be played smoothly on High settings) but it’s a big improvement.
Another huge improvement is the storage, which is now so fast, it’s getting ridiculous. In BlackMagic’s Disk Speed Test, we recorded a speed of 1,241MB/s for writing to the MacBook Pro’s internal SSD (which is almost three times what we recorded in the previous model). We had to switch to Xbench to get accurate drive read speeds (BlackMagic’s tool stops at 2000MB/s…), which recorded around 3,000MB/s at the peak, as promised by Apple. It’s just an astonishingly fast set of storage – perfect for those working with giant media libraries, including video editing and photography.
The machine comes with 8GB of RAM, which should be fine for most people. You can upgrade to 16GB when you buy, and you can also get more than the 256GB of storage it comes with by default, or upgrade the processor to a 2.4GHz Intel Core i7 model – but the $300 price for the latter is the same cost as upgrading to the 2.9GHz Touch Bar model, so just do that instead.
There’s more than just internal changes in the MacBook Pro. There are usability changes throughout the new design, from the screen to the trackpad. The display is still a 2560x1600 Retina display, but is now much brighter and features the wide color gamut seen on the Retina iMacs, iPad Pros, and iPhone 7. This is nice for pros working on cinema-quality video or high-end photographers, though perhaps they won’t be using this particular machine for that work. However, it does let anyone view the wide color photos that the iPhone 7 takes in their full glory. The brightness is something that’s often more subtle, since a lot of time you’ll likely have it down around the half-brightness level just in standard home lighting. But if you’re in a much brighter place at risk of reflection, it can help a lot. Overall, it’s just a really detailed, vivid, stunning screen.
The keyboard is now the new style that premiered with the 12-inch MacBook, though in an updated form, with switches that have a marginally “clickier” feel, offering a bit more feedback. We know the new keyboard is a divisive topic: we really liked it on the MacBook, and this version is slightly improved. We love the crisp feel with the large size of keycap, and find it perfectly accurate and comfortable. But we know the lack of travel (and accompanying
short, sharp feedback) isn’t to everyone’s taste. If you didn’t like it before after giving it a chance, we doubt anything will have changed.
The trackpad has had a size increase too, though again we found this also to be a subtle improvement. More space for dragging your finger around is nice, and the bigger size didn’t interfere with our typing at all, but it’s not quite a revelation. Loudandquiet Apple has also included new speakers, which are a vast, vast improvement. They deliver a much more full sound across the range, with especially improved bass helping to make everything feel less tinny. They also go a bit louder than on the old model. Ironically, in other ways, Apple has made the machine impressively quiet – we only noticed the fans make significant noise when running our Tomb Raider graphics test. Just browsing the internet was silent.
Battery life is fantastic, too. Apple still rates for around 10 hours of usage, so it can last a whole work day, but that depends on what your work entails. We used the machine on and off power without ever pushing it down past 65%. For writing the first draft of this review, we unplugged, wrote in Pages for over an hour with the display at half brightness, and used just 5% of the battery.
All that said, we can’t talk about usability without discussing the ports. Two Thunderbolt 3 ports don’t go very far when one of them is also your power connection. Adapters for basic USB and SD card readers are inexpensive (see p14), but you’ll definitely need to invest in one. For those coming at this machine as a MacBook Air replacement, this will probably seem okay. As a replacement for an entry-level MacBook Pro, it’s a major drop in native connectivity. How much of a problem this is will depend on your setup. If you have quite the command center of connected accessories, you’ll want to look to either the Touch Bar model (which has four ports), or getting a powered hub (which will cost about the same as upgrading).
That idea of approaching this as an Air vs a Pro holds true in a lot of aspects when it comes to judging this machine. As an Air replacement, it’s wonderful – more powerful, more usable, with a Retina display – though it’s also massively more expensive at $1,499 compared to the 13-inch Air’s $999. As a new entry-level Pro, it’s a really nice machine for those who work on the go, but you’d need to value the extra portability and better screen a lot to buy it over the $1,299 previous model still on sale, while also not being willing to spend the extra $300 to upgrade to the superior Touch Bar version.
the bottom line. We really, really like this machine – it’s fast, usable, with a lovely screen. But it’s sitting in a slightly awkward middle ground in Apple’s line-up – one of the other models may suit you better. Matt Bolton