The 16in MacBook Pro has a new “magic keyboard” that moves back to the traditional scissor switches used by older Apple laptops and practically every other manufacturer. I quite liked it, but it was plagued with failures due to dust getting under the keys and stopping them from depressing. The butterfly keyboard introduced with the 2015 MacBook was thinner, crisper, louder and with only a small amount of travel. Much has been written about Apple’s recent laptop keyboards. The Magic keyboard is great, and hopefully will be free of issues from Apple’s butterfly keyboard.
Graphics: Intel UHD 630 + AMD Radeon Pro 5300M or Radeon Pro 5500MĬonnectivity: wifi ac, Bluetooth 5, 4x USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, headphone Processor: 9th gen 6-core Intel Core i7 or 8-core Intel Core i9 The machine now comes with a six-speaker system built into it, which are still laptop speakers and won’t replace a set of headphones or a dedicated sound system, but sound phenomenal for what they are.Ī three-mic array is capable of beamforming, cancelling background noise and is of high-enough quality that you don’t necessarily need to reach for a dedicated microphone for impromptu recording sessions.
On the audio front the speakers and mics have been upgraded. Apple makes the best trackpads in the business and this one is no different. The keyboard has different mechanisms under the keys but is otherwise very similar, as is the gigantic trackpad. It has the same four Thunderbolt 3 ports and still has a headphone socket. This fifth-generation machine is 8.6mm wider, 5.2mm deeper, 0.7mm thicker and 170g heavier than the old version, increasing the screen size from 15.4in to a round 16in on the diagonal. From the outside it looks practically identical, except it’s ever-so-slightly bigger than the 15in MacBook Pro. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardianįundamentally the design of the MacBook Pro hasn’t changed much since the introduction of the fourth-generation machine in late 2016. The design remains broadly the same, despite being larger with some important tweaks to crucial parts.