MacBook Pro

Apple’s laptop gets a performance boost. Roman Loyola reports

Almost lost in the landslide of product announcements at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote was the reveal the MacBook Pro received an important update: the new laptops have the same design as the previous version, but the laptops feature new processors that should provide a speed boost.

Features

The biggest MacBook Pro news is that Apple is now using Intel’s Kaby Lake processors. Kaby Lake is Intel’s seventh-generation processor, and it replaces

the sixth-generation Skylake processors that were in the previous MacBook Pro.

Apple has also upgraded the MacBook Pro’s graphics hardware. The 13in models that have only an integrated graphics processor use either the Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 or Graphics 650, replacing the Intel Iris Plus Graphics 540 or Graphics 550 in the previous models.

The 15in models upgraded its integrated graphics from an Intel HD Graphics 530 to an Intel HD Graphics 630. They also have heftier discrete graphics: either a 2GB Radeon Pro 555 or a 4GB Radeon Pro 560, which are an upgrade from the 2GB Radeon Pro 450 and 455 and the 4GB Radeon Pro 460 found in earlier models.

The solid-state drives (SSDs) in the new MacBook Pro are faster as well – up to 50 percent over the SSD in the previous models, according to Apple.

Price

Apple offers four standard configurations of the 13in MacBook Pro, and two of the 15in option. All laptops are available in Space Gray or Silver.

13in MacBook Pro

£1,249: 2.3GHz dual-core Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory, 128GB SSD, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 (integrated graphics), two Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, no TouchBar

£1,449: 2.3GHz dual-core Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory, 256GB SSD, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 (integrated graphics), two Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, no TouchBar

£1,749: 3.1GHz dual-core Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory, 256GB SSD, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 (integrated graphics), four Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, TouchBar included

£1,949: 3.1GHz dual-core Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory, 512GB SSD, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 (integrated graphics), four Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, TouchBar included

15in MacBook Pro

£2,349: 2.8GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, 256GB SSD, Intel HD Graphics 630 (integrated graphics), 2GB Radeon Pro 555 (discrete graphics), four Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, TouchBar included

£2,699: 2.9GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Intel HD Graphics 630 (integrated graphics), 4GB Radeon Pro 560 (discrete graphics), four Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, TouchBar included

Apple also sells an ‘affordable’ 15in MacBook Pro, which is based on specifications from a model that sold in 2015 and is available only in silver. The heart of this laptop is a Haswell processor, which is a fourth-generation Intel processor. Here are its price and specifications:

£1,899: 2.2GHz quad-core Core i7 processor (Haswell), 16GB of memory, 256GB SSD, Iris Pro Graphics (integrated graphics), two Thunderbolt 2 ports, two USB 3 ports, no TouchBar