DAY 01
TWO WEEKS WITH THE NEW MACBOOK PRO 16IN
from £2399 / stuff.tv/MacBookPro16Apple’s flagship laptop has grown a little on the outside but made big steps on the
inside... Craig Grannell spends some time with the new star in the aluminium hood
With its latest iPhones, you might
wonder if Apple is now welding
the word ‘Pro’ to product names
with merry abandon. But when
you unwrap the new MacBook
Pro 16in, there’s no doubting this
is the real deal: a full-fat high-end
laptop for creative types.
It’s also a message. This is
Apple’s retort to people who say
it never listens. Although this
Mac might not outwardly look
that much different from its 15in
predecessor, keen eyes will soon
notice the changes, and they
become more apparent as you
start to get properly acquainted...
which is why we felt we needed
a solid fortnight to get properly
under its silvery skin.
If you’ve ever wasted quality
time yelling at the virtual escape
key on a Mac with a Touch Bar,
prepare for your swear jar to go
hungry. The return of the physical
escape key is bliss (as is the‘inverted T’ arrow key layout) for
everything from smashing out
words to programming.
But the keyboard as a whole is
the real revelation. A new scissor
switch mechanism replaces the
butterfly one and, whether this
will prove more durable, it feels
more comfortable – and tapping
away no longer deafens everyone
in the immediate vicinity.
There’s also a slightly smaller
Touch Bar, a separate Touch ID
button (like on the MacBook Air),
and a multitouch trackpad the
size of a dinner tray.
Oh, and did someone say 16
inches? This unit shaves thebezels to pack in a bigger display.
It has 3072x1920 resolution
at 226ppi, up from 2880x1800
at 220ppi in a frame that’s not
meaningfully bigger.
Video types should be pleased,
as you can adjust the refresh rate
to match footage. Major negatives
are no Face ID and no FaceTime
camera upgrade, meaning more
crummy 720p video calls.
By the way, see the word ‘from’
in that price? It’s a big ‘from’. Our
review laptop – 2.4GHz octa-core
i9 CPU, 32GB of RAM, 2TB SSD,
AMD Radeon Pro 500M with 8GB
of RAM – weighs in at £3789. I’ll
try not to drop it...Inchy strider
The keyboard is the real revelation: the
scissor switch mechanism feels more
comfortable and is no longer deafeningPorts are
Thunderbolt 3
USB-C all the
way... and that’ll
mean dongles.