Apple is introducing new MacBooks with powerful processors and an updated keyboard as part of its refresh program. The announcement was made on Apple’s official website which shows that the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros will be getting Intel’s 9th generation processor.
The biggest changes are coming to the 15-inch MacBook Pro model which will get Intel’s 9th generation processor, bringing eight cores to the MacBook Pro for the first time. The new MacBook Pro will now deliver two times faster performance than a quad-core MacBook Pro and a 40% performance boost over a 6-core MacBook Pro making it the fastest MacBook Pro ever.
“Now with 8-core processors for an incredible performance boost, along with its stunning Retina display, fast storage, all-day battery life and running macOS, MacBook Pro continues to be the world’s best pro notebook, ” said Tom Boger, Apple’s senior director of Mac Product marketing.
15-inch MacBook Pro
The new base model now starts with a 2.6GHz, 6-core i7 processor which can turbo boost up to 4.5 GHz. The next step-up model features a 2.3GHz, 8-core i9 processor, which is the first ever on a MacBook Pro. This processor can turbo boost up to 4.8GHz. Finally, for the most powerful MacBook Pro model, Apple will offer a customized configuration of an even more powerful 8-core i9 chip with 2.4GHz base speed. This can be boosted all the way up to a whopping 5.0 GHz and is called by Apple as the “fastest Mac notebook ever”.
13-inch MacBook Pro
The 13-inch MacBook Pro touch bar models are also getting a ‘refresh update’. The base model (13-inch) will now feature a 2.4GHz 8th Gen quad-core i5 processor which can be boosted up to 4.1 GHz. A decent upgrade when compared to last year’s model which had a 2.3GHz 8th Gen quad-core i5 processor and could be boosted up to 3.8GHz. The top configuration of the 13-inch MacBook Pro includes a quad-core i7 processor which can be boosted up to 4.7 GHz. Unfortunately, the rest of the MacBook Pro is the same compared to last year with no improvements or updates in GPU.
Improved butterfly keyboard
Perhaps the most talked about point for the MacBooks in the last three years has been the ever-fragile crippled butterfly keyboard mechanism on the otherwise decent MacBook line-up. According to Apple, it’s now building a part of a mechanism for the butterfly keyboard with a new raw material which should reduce problems. The design, however, is pretty much the same, it should be noted that Apple also released a marginal update with the 2018 MacBook pro butterfly keyboard by installing a rubber membrane of the inside of the keys to protect them from dust.
Needless to say, that did not work and eight months after the refreshed release, Apple had to issue a public statement where the company acknowledged that some of its customers were facing stagnant performance because of the butterfly keyboards which was plaguing the overall seamless experience of a Mac Notebook.
