IF YOU’VE GOT AN AGING MACBOOK PRO – ESPECIALLY ONE FROM BEFORE 2016’S REFRESH – THEN YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY CONSIDER THIS YEAR’S MODEL.

APPLE’S PRODUCTIVITY MACHINE GETS THE LATEST INTEL TECH.

WHILE IT’S ONLY A MINOR UPGRADE IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, IT STILL MAKES IT THE MOST POWERFUL MACBOOK MONEY CAN BUY RIGHT NOW.

WHILE THE MACBOOK Pro 15-inch (2019) doesn’t look like it will radically change the game compared to its predecessor, it does bring some welcome updates, including an improved keyboard and some of the latest and most powerful processors from Intel.

This gradual improving of the MacBook Pro is in many ways understandable. It’s very unlikely that you’ll be upgrading your laptop every year, so that fact that on the surface the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) doesn’t offer a huge leap over last year’s model isn’t that important.

What is important, though, is whether or not the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) offers a compelling upgrade for people rocking MacBook Pros from years ago. Also, with Windows laptops offering stylish and powerful alternatives (especially in the burgeoning Ultrabook category) – can this year’s model tempt Windows users to switch over to macOS? Let’s find out.

DESIGN

If you’ve ever seen or used a MacBook Pro, then you’ll already know what the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) looks like. The last time the series got a major design change was back in 2016 with the inclusion of the Touch Bar, and the 2019 model looks – on the outside – pretty much identical to previous versions.

This will be good news for anyone who thinks that the MacBook Pro design is pretty much perfect, but it will disappoint anyone who was hoping for an exciting new look.

So, the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019)’s dimensions are 34.92 x 24.07 x 1.55cm, which is identical to last year’s model, and slightly smaller than MacBook Pros launched before 2016’s refresh.

The new MacBook Pro 15 weighs 1.83kg – which, again, is exactly the same as last year’s model.

Colour-wise you’ve again got the choice of only two – Space Gray and Silver, and port-wise you get four Thunderbolt 3/UBC-C ports (two on each side of the laptop) as well as an audio jack port – a rarity on an Apple device these days.

While some people might like the simplicity of only having four Thunderbolt ports – which are fast and versatile (and compatible with many connection types and which can also double as charging ports) – for many other people the lack of ports is an annoyance, especially on a laptop that’s aimed at professionals.

KEYBOARD

Since the launch of the 2016 models of the MacBook Pro, which introduced the ‘butterfly’ switch mechanism to the laptops’ keyboards, there have been complaints that the keyboards can malfunction, especially if debris (like crumbs or dust) gets between the keys.

Last year, Apple added a silicone membrane in a bid to prevent debris from causing havoc, but it didn’t really work. News that some keyboards were faulty understandably worried anyone investing a not inconsiderable sum in

Apple’s latest laptops.

The good news is that the 2019 models of the MacBook Pro have again had tweaks, and while the keyboard still uses the butterfly switches, Apple has said that it has changed the materials used with the mechanism to reduce the likelihood of the keys getting stuck – or not responding when pressed, which were two issues previous keyboards had.

You’ve probably made up your mind about how useful (or not) the Touch Bar is if you’ve used previous MacBook Pros. We quite like it, and since its launch with the 2016 model, more apps make use of it.

Next to the Touch Bar is a fingerprint scanner for quickly and securely logging in to the computer as well as authorising payments. It’s fast and easy to set up, and accurately reads your fingerprint and logs you in without fuss – something that many fingerprint readers on laptops fail to do.

PERFORMANCE

As you’d expect with a brand new MacBook Pro with the kind of specs we were sent, the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) performs very well, with macOS 10.14 feeling fast and responsive during day-to-day tasks.

Of course, you’d be doing a laptop of this level a disservice if all you used it for was regular stuff such as web browsing and writing emails, but even with the more intensive workloads we tried it with – such as transcoding high definition video files – the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) did very well.

As with last year’s model, we noticed that the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) did get quite hot during certain tasks – and you can feel the heat behind the keys while you type. The MacBook Pro’s fans were also prone to kicking in, and while you could hear them whirring away, they weren’t too distracting.

When it comes to the raw stats of our benchmark results, you can see how much of an upgrade this year’s high-end version is compared to last year’s.

In the Cinebench CPU benchmark, the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) scores 3,142 – a big leap over the 2018’s 1,057. The Geekbench 4 processor benchmark showed another big improvement over last year’s model, with a single core score of 5,829 (vs 5,542) and a multi-core score of 30,478 (vs 23,431).

What the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) excels at compared to Windows laptops – as with previous models – is how long it lasts on standby, with Apple claiming up to 30 days of standby time. This means you can close the lid of the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) without properly turning it back off, and even after several days, when you open it back up, there will still be battery left.

VERDICT

So, is the MacBook Pro 15-inch (2019) worth an upgrade from the 2018 model? Absolutely not, but then no one should expect that. However, if you’ve got an aging MacBook Pro – especially one from before 2016’s refresh – then you should definitely consider this year’s model. While it’s only a minor upgrade in the grand scheme of things, it still makes it the most powerful MacBook money can buy right now.

IF YOU’VE GOT AN AGING MACBOOK PRO – ESPECIALLY ONE FROM BEFORE 2016’S REFRESH – THEN YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY CONSIDER THIS YEAR’S MODEL. WHILE IT’S ONLY A MINOR UPGRADE IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, IT STILL MAKES IT THE MOST POWERFUL MACBOOK MONEY CAN BUY RIGHT NOW.