Apple’s 16-inch Macbook Pro is here!
November 13, 2019Apple has just unveiled the long rumored 16-inch Macbook Pro. It is also the largest laptop in the company’s current product line up. It will be replacing the 15-inch Macbook Pro too, making it, by default, the flagship device in this category. Evidently, There’s nothing revolutionary here. But the improvements to the hardware are significant enough to make this machine a powerhouse.
The screen, at 16-inches stretches a little more towards the ends of the chassis compared to the 15-inch model, making it seem like an almost bezeless display (3072×1920). Due to this, it doesn’t look or feel any bigger than the model it replaces, albeit the entire body is a few milimeters thicker. The keyboard layout is familiar, safe for the mechanism – it now has a scissor style operation.
It’s an improved design featuring just 1mm of key travel, which Apple calls “Magic Keys”. Inside each key is a dome that is supposed to improve tactility and provide a more confident feel to the experience. The venerable touch strip is present but now, there’s a physical Escape key on left of it, and on the right a power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader.
Flanking the sides of said keyboard are a completely redesigned six-speaker setup that feature Apple-patented force-canceling woofers that reduce unwanted vibrations but deliver high-fidelity audio performance. The mic array has also been improved and is said to deliver 40 percent reduction in noise and other unwanted interference.
Powering the laptop, depending on configuration, is either a 6-core or 8-core 9th-generation Intel processor with Turbo Boost up to 5.0 GHz. Apple also offers up to 64GB of RAM and 8TB of SSD storage, though the basic models will only feature 512GB or 1TB SSD. AMD’s Radeon Pro 5000M discrete graphics is tasked with video work. It’s a 7nm chip with 8GB VRAM.
Overall this is a very powerful work machine. And as such, Apple has fitted it with an improved cooling system that features larger fans, bigger vents and heatsink as well as improved overall air flow. These changes allow the laptop to deliver maximum performance for a longer duration when tasked with intensive workloads.
Apple has also given it a 100Wh battery, making it the largest ever fitted to a Macbook. This is also the battery capacity limit that the United States’ TSA (Transportation Security Administration) allow laptops to have, for air travel. It’s a welcomed improvement from Apple, which detracts from it’s former mantra that lower battery capacity is a good trade off to achieve thinner side profiles.
