This morning’s Apple product showcase event saw the company unveil their new lineup of Macbook Pro laptops.
In line with earlier leaks, the function keys have been replaced with an interactive OLED touch strip that Apple is branding the Touch Bar.
They confirmed that a number of developers on the software side would be bringing customized support for the Touch Bar to their applications, including Adobe Photoshop, DJ Pro, Microsoft Office, Pixelmator, Sketch, and DaVinci Resolve.
In contrast, rumors about Apple dropping the headphone jack from this iteration of the notebook have ended up proven wrong. It’s still there, alongside four Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports.
There’s also a new TouchID sensor built into the power button that allows you to quickly and securely use Apple Pay
In Apple tradition, the new models are 14-17% thinner than their Retina MacBook Pro predecessors. There have also been improvements made to the display, which is supposed to be 67 percent brighter and offer a 67 percent higher contrast than the last generation of Macbook Pro’s.
The 15-inch model is powered by a quad-core Intel i7 processor, 2,133Mhz RAM and Radeon’s Polaris graphics chipset (which can hold up to 4GB of video memory). Meanwhile the 13-inch version is powered by dual-core i5 and i7 processors and an Intel Iris Pro graphics chip. Apple says these specs leave it twice as fast as the previous model.
“For 25 years we’ve been redefining the notebook. And today we’re going to do it again,” Said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
The MacBook 13-inch with Touch Bar is priced at $1,799, while the 15-inch version sits at $2,399. There’s also a non-Touch Bar model of the 13-inch Pro which is priced at $1,499.
Apple says its already shipping the model without a Touch Bar and will roll out the new Touch Bar Macbooks over the next two-to-three weeks.
No mention was given to a refresh of the company’s iMac and Macbook Air ranges.
