Apple 154 Macbook Pro With Touch Bar (Mid 2017 Review

The latest version of the Touch Bar-equipped thirteen-inch MacBook Pro ($ane,799, $1,999 equally tested) is virtually unchanged on the outside, but brings Intel's latest processors and a graphics upgrade this time around. If you're OK with a shallow keyboard and USB-C-only connectivity, the Kaby Lake CPU upgrade makes the new xiii-inch MacBook Pro even more compelling, and it continues to be one of the best ultraportable laptops you tin can buy. Ultimately, however, you can go like specs for a lot less greenbacks with our Editors' Choice, the not-Touch Bar 13-inch MacBook Pro.

This Keyboard Is Fabricated For Tapping

This laptop takes its blueprint cues from the 12-inch MacBook, which was the first Apple tree portable to become all-in on USB-C and transition to butterfly switches for its keyboard. Besides a less comfortable typing experience, the result is likely a need to purchase adapters for your phone, monitor, external hard drive, and other peripherals that don't support USB-C (That includes Apple's own iPhone 7 ($844.99 at Amazon) , which notwithstanding comes with a Lightning-to-USB cable). The entirety of the MacBook Pro'south input/output options corporeality to 4 USB-C connectors and an input/output audio jack. Since more and more devices are migrating to USB-C, though, the lack of other ports will be less of an effect if you plan to upgrade your peripherals.

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Meanwhile, the keyboard might require a more than drastic adjustment. Apple says the butterfly manner of its switches are more than stable than the conventional laptop key switches, which resemble scissors. The event is very shallow central travel. In testing, it took me several pages of typing to get accustomed to the keyboard, which feels more like pecking away on a tablet or phone screen than typing on a laptop. The experience was tolerable—not necessarily enjoyable—just the keyboard (which is also backlit) will likely encounter with your instant approval if yous learned to type on a smartphone rather than a PC.

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One benefit of a shallow keyboard is that it helps your fingers transition betwixt typing on the keys and borer on the Touch on Bar that lies above them. The Impact Bar is Apple'south answer to the full touch screens that accept been present on Windows laptops for years. Gone are the Escape and Function keys, and in their place is a loftier-resolution touch panel with buttons that adapt to the app you're currently using. It besides replaces the Brightness, Volume, and Launchpad controls, hiding them in a virtual tray on the right side that you must tap to open with your finger. Despite its versatility, the Affect Bar isn't for everyone (it's banned from some states' bar exams, for instance), so it'south worth a trip to the closest Apple Store to try out the Bear on Bar and non-Touch Bar models side-by-side earlier you choose one.

A Laptop to Exist Admired

On the other hand, the MacBook Pro'due south overall design aesthetic has universal appeal. It's a gorgeous machine, and if y'all buy it in Space Gray (the color of our exam unit), it bears little resemblance to the silvery MacBook Pros of yesteryear (though it is as well available in argent). Measuring 0.59 by 11.97 past viii.36 inches (HWD) and weighing three.02 pounds, it'southward almost imperceptibly heavier than terminal twelvemonth'due south 2.98-pound version, but significantly lighter than the 2015 13-inch MacBook Pro model, which weighed 3.41 pounds. Microsoft's Surface Laptop ($844.99 at Amazon) has all of them beat out with a base model that weighs just 2.76 pounds. So does the ii.85-pound Dell XPS 13 and the ii.9-pound New Razer Blade Stealth.

Both finish options sport Apple tree's pioneering unibody chassis, and the merely colour variations are the keys and the bezel, which are black. Yous won't run out of tapping room on the giant trackpad, nor will you lot accidentally click, thanks to excellent palm rejection. The trackpad integrates Force Bear upon, which means y'all tin press once to select an icon or other on-screen item, and so press harder for a contextual menu or preview of the item. I notice Force Touch to exist a bit contemporary here, since many of the bones tasks information technology accomplishes can too be performed with a simple double tap on the trackpad. It'southward much more useful on the iPhone, whose input options are more than limited.

A Superb Screen and Solid Sound

The MacBook Pro's 13.3-inch, 2,560-by-1600 display is as stunning every bit the rest of the machine with accurate colors and crisp, bright text, although not at 4K resolution. Like the brandish on the xv-inch model, its support for the P3 wide colour gamut will entreatment to photo editors and videographers, who represent some of Apple's most loyal customers. The screen is decumbent to glare, and while you won't want to apply it exterior for long periods, I plant that its 500 nits of brightness get a long way towards blotting out the reflections of the fluorescent lights in PC Labs.

A new Intel Iris Graphics 650 integrated GPU powers the display in this model, which is the just major component upgrade autonomously from new Intel processors. That's better than both the Dell XPS 13 Touch, which comes with Intel Hd graphics, and the Surface Laptop, which comes with a pick of Intel HD or Iris 640 GPUs. Still, information technology'due south non a discrete graphics card, so don't wait to use the MacBook Pro's gorgeous brandish for loftier-frame rate gaming.

Audio quality is very good cheers to the laptop's 2 rather large up-facing speakers, which hug either side of the keyboard similar brackets. They deliver articulate, crisp sound fifty-fifty when the volume is maxed out—it's non quite room-filling, but it's close.

Storage options start with a 256GB PCIe-based solid state drive, simply our exam unit of measurement comes with a 512GB SSD, a $200 option. You can also configure your machine with a 1TB SSD for a painful $600 premium. Memory capacity starts at 8GB and maxes out at 16GB for an additional $200; our unit has 8GB. Similar all MacBook Pros, this one is not user-serviceable, so you lot're stuck with the memory and storage options you lot choose at purchase time.

The MacBook Pro's current operating system is macOS Sierra, although macOS High Sierra, an iterative update, will be available every bit a costless upgrade once Apple releases it this fall. The MacBook Pro also comes with Bluetooth 4.two, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and a one-twelvemonth warranty.

Productivity Powerhouse

Our test unit of measurement is built around a iii.1GHz dual-core "Kaby Lake" seventh-generation Intel Core i5 processor, though you can opt for a Core i7. We put it through our suite of criterion tests—with the exception of the Windows-based tests that information technology tin't run—and it offered few surprises. Information technology clocked 39 frames per second on our Valley video game criterion test with settings prepare to medium quality. That'due south barely in a higher place the 30fps needed for enjoyable gaming, only significantly meliorate than the Dell XPS 13'due south 23 fps or the Surface Laptop's 27fps. Turning the settings upwardly to ultra brought the frame rate downward to fourteen, and the similar Heaven video game benchmark offered comparable results. Serious gamers won't likely be considering a laptop without a dedicated graphics chip, merely it's worth noting that the previous thirteen-inch MacBook Pro outperformed competitors when information technology comes to frame rates, and the slight graphics performance crash-land means that the new one is even better.

Productivity is the MacBook Pro'southward strength. It'due south designed for smooth multi-tasking also every bit processor-intensive applications like rendering video and manipulating photos. With a new CPU generation, we expected the laptop to perform better than its predecessor, and it does not disappoint. On our Handbrake video rendering test, the MacBook Pro completed the task in two minutes and ane second, an identical fourth dimension to the previous generation and several seconds faster than its closest Windows competitor, the Dell XPS 13 Touch, which clocked in at two:08.

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Both the Cinebench benchmark and Photoshop epitome manipulation examination testify again that the new processor generation does brand a divergence. The MacBook Pro accomplished a 381 Cinebench score (up 43 points from last yr'due south model) and completed the Photoshop test in three minutes and 59 seconds, shaving 17 seconds off its predecessor'south time. These scores are better than all of the MacBook Pro's Windows-based competitors except the Dell XPS xiii, which managed a class-leading 3:42 on the Photoshop test.

On our battery rundown test, the MacBook Pro lasted 14 hours and thirty minutes. That's first-class for whatsoever laptop, allow solitary one with a reasonably powerful Core i5 processor. But even more impressive is its 35 per centum comeback from the previous generation, which recorded a fourth dimension of 9 hours and 28 minutes. In general, Mac laptops are known for their bombardment life, with the 15-inch MacBook Pro and the MacBook each surpassing fifteen hours. The merely recent ultraportable nosotros've tested to post longer bombardment life is the Microsoft Surface Laptop, with 16 hours and 44 minutes.

To Bear upon or Not to Touch?

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is an excellent ultraportable laptop with some unique features that won't appeal to all shoppers, but it has i unequivocal weakness: its price. The non-Bear on Bar version is $ane,299, $500 less expensive than the Impact Bar-equipped starting price (it'southward our Editors' Selection). If you have $one,799 to spend on a MacBook Pro and don't need or want a Touch on Bar, you can configure the base of operations version with an Intel Core i7 processor and 256GB of storage for the same price. From a pure computing perspective, that is a better value than spending $1,800 on the base Touch on Bar model, which has a Core i5 and the same amount of storage. Meanwhile, if you store your documents in the deject, don't need actress processing oomph, and can make do with 2 USB-C ports instead of four, y'all tin can save $500 and still walk out of the Apple Shop with an excellent laptop.

Don't get me wrong: There are countless ways to utilize the Affect Bar (here are 15 to start with), many of which could simplify the workflows of creative professionals. But almost users likely won't get an extra $500 worth of enjoyment or productivity out of the Affect Bar-equipped model. If that's you, we recommend the not-Touch Bar version. Or, if yous're not beholden to macOS, the New Razer Blade Stealth or Dell XPS 13 Touch are worth a wait. While the MacBook Pro is a venerable ultrabook and a processor upgrade makes it an even more compelling pick for Mac fans and creative pros, it is no longer in a course by itself.

Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch (2017, Touch Bar)

Cons

The Lesser Line

The thirteen-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar gets even better with a processor upgrade, vastly improved battery life, and a slight graphics bump. Only the entry-level, non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro is a much better value.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/apple-macbook-pro-13-inch-2017-touch-bar