Macbook Pro (15-inch, mid 2019)

Now with eight cores to play with

From £2,799 from Apple, apple.com/uk features 2.3GHz eightcore Intel Core i9 processor (2.4GHz tested), 16GB 2,133MHz memory (32GB tested), 512GB storage (4TB tested), AMD Radeon Pro 560X (Vega 20 tested)

While the 13in Pro is the entry-level choice, the new 15in Pro takes things to their logical conclusion – only this latest model is armed with a ninth-generation Intel Core i9 with eight cores of processing power.

The key specs are otherwise unchanged from the previous model. However, our review unit was also festooned with build-to-order options, including a faster 2.4GHz i9 processor (£180), 32GB of RAM (£360), AMD’s Radeon Pro Vega 20 graphics card (£315) and a 4TB SSD (£1,260), bringing the total price up to an incredible £4,914.

And, of course, this thing flies – it sailed through all our benchmarks, smashing the previous six-core’s records on everything from Handbrake video conversion to DaVinci Resolve rendering – as it should. You want scores? In Geekbench 4, it chalked up 5,800 points compared to the six-core’s 4,181. It ripped through a video in 13 minutes in Handbrake, as opposed to the six-core’s 16 minutes, and tore though our effects-laden Resolve render in just 18 minutes 30 seconds (the 2018 15in Pro managed 25 minutes 48 seconds).

It’s no slouch on the gaming front either, thanks to the presence of the aforementioned Pro Vega 20 GPU, which delivered an eminently playable 30fps in Rise of the Tomb Raider at 1920x1200, with the graphics quality set to High. This machine’s a gaming and graphics powerhouse – no question.

More questionable, though, is the shallow-travel keyboard. While it’s an improvement over the previous generation, it still takes some getting used to, along with the Touch Bar.

YMMV.