The MacBook: is it style over substance?

Apple’s MacBook packs a big punch

While there are plenty of quality devices to get most things done on the go, for any serious work or play, be it managing photos, editing home videos or doing your household budget, life’s easier with a decent laptop. Apple refreshed their laptops at the end of last year, and I was keen to try their new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. The aluminium body is remarkably slim at less that 1.5cms and weighing in at a comfortable-to-carry 3lbs. There’s also a power adapter and USB-C cable for charging. The Mac’s ports are plentiful, but discreet with three Thunderbolt ports and a headphone jack.

Setting up a Mac remains as easy as ever and after selecting a Wi-Fi network and entering the Apple ID I use on my phone, I was ready to go and I noticed familiar names instantly in the contacts app on the laptop.

There’s an obvious spike in performance on this new Mac. The MacBook Pro arrives with around 20 builtin apps including basics like iTunes and the Mail app but also Photos and iMovie. There’s a built in word processor and spreadsheet, Pages and Numbers, Apple’s own-brand products that are compatible with any Microsoft Office documents.

The most noticeable design improvement to these latest Macs is the huge trackpad that you use instead of a mouse. It makes pinching, zooming and simply navigating incredibly easy and intuitive. The trackpad is also two of a kind: MacBook Pro comes in two sizes, 13in and 15in ‘Force Touch’ enabled meaning it’s pressure sensitive for precise control of the cursor.

I was dubious about the usefulness of the Touch bar when Apple announced but I may be a convert. This is a strip of glass just above the keyboard that replaces the old fashioned function keys that are still on many PCs. It gives you access to shortcuts and tools within apps as you use them. One of the most useful elements of the Touch Bar is that it has a fingerprint sensor built-in. It supports multiple users, so a whole family could use the same Mac, logging-in just using their fingerprint.

Performance is great. An Intel i5 is the chip at the heart of this Mac and it also has an Intel graphics card, powering the backlit LED display with a resolution of 2560x1600, supporting millions of colours.

I tested the 256GB flash-drive version with 8GB of RAM, and while you can add more hard-disk or RAM when buying, the standard version was ample for a good amount of photo and video editing as well as standard admin tasks. Apple suggests you can get up to ten hours battery life. I didn’t get quite that much, but I’m certainly getting a full day’s work from it without needing to charge.

The price of Macs generally, has always been a bone of contention for buyers. That said, a Mac like this could last you years. It’s not often that such style comes with such substance.