MARCH2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE385
THEINTRODUCTIONOFa16in MacBookkkPro
isn’t technically as much of adeparture asssit
might seem. The 15in model released last year
actually has ascreenthat measures 15.4innn
diagonally,and since this one is exactly 1 666 in,
it’s only 0.4in bigger.
Still, it’s easy to embrace even small
improvements when this new MacBookPPPro
is among the most portable and compact
high-power laptops moneycan buy.It’s a
mere 16mm thick, 246mm deep and 358mm
wide,and while its 2kg makes it no
featherweight, considering the power
squeezed inside –including an octa-core
Intel Core i9-9980HK processor –that’s not
enough to be offputting.
FLYAWAY
Layout-wise,it’s similar to the 15in model,
which is to sayit’s fairly minimalist around
the edges. There are four Thunderbolt 3
ports and asingle 3.5mm audio jack, which
might disappoint anyone wanting full-size
USB ports or the return of the SD card slot,
but at least you’re getting maximum transfer
speeds and versatility from those multiple
Thunderbolt connectors.
Open the lid and you’re faced with a
standard-sized keyboard flankedbyapair of
broad speaker grilles, topped with Apple’s
TouchBar and an enormous Force Touch
touchpad immediately underneath. We’re glad
to seethe physical Escape keyisback, after it
was removed from the 2017 MacBook Pro,
and Apple has also wisely returned to an
inverted Tarrangement forthe cursor keys.
In fact, the keyboard has been overhauled
completely,using traditional scissor switches
insteadofthelowprofilebutterflyswitches
APPLEMacBookPro16in
★★★★★
£3,789•From http://www.apple.com/uk
MACOSLAPTOP
of other recentgenerations.Weneverhadthe
samedistastefor butterflyswitches as some
users,bbbutttttthhhiiisiiisstttiiillllllaniiimprovementtt,maiiinllly
thanks to the deeper keytravel distance.
The touchpad, too, stands out. Its
integrated buttons use pressure sensors
instead of atraditional click mechanism,
which comes in handy forcreative apps
such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
that support pressure-sensitivity for
brushes and selections.
The slightly enlarged screen, meanwhile,
comes in at a3,072x1,920 resolution. Like all
MacBook screens, it’s been factory-calibrated
and is better forit, hitting afantastically low
delta-E of 0.49 and full 100% coverage of the
sRGB colour gamut. Peak brightness and
contrast are both great as well, measuring
471cd/m^2 and 1:364:1 respectively.
Video editors will also be pleased to
discover that it’s now possible to adjust the
refresh rateofthe built-in displaytomatch
that of their content so it doesn’t stutter
during playback. Youcan choose between
60Hz, 59.94Hz, 50Hz, 48Hz and 47.95Hz.
The only disappointment is alack of
HDR support, although there are no such
oversights when it comes to audio quality. The
six-speaker setup delivers sound quality that’s
frankly astonishing foralaptop, with bundles
ofbodyclarityand volume,and even the
crophone arrayimpresses as
nough forrecording voice-
asts, let alone being a
for Skype calls and suchlike.
this, if you haven’t already
eratthe topofthe page,is
dn’teven test the very top
Book Pro 16in and it still
better part of £4,000; the
st, with aCorei7chip,16GB
DRadeon Pro 5300M GPU
CI-E SSD storage,will set you
le the most you can spend
,769.
n’t as faroffasthe price
est: it has the same CPU
and Radeon Pro 5500M GPU, but with 32GB
of RAMinstead of 64GB and a1TB SSD
iiinsttteadddofff 888 TTTBBB.IIIttt’’’sasfffastttasiiitttsounddds,tttoo:
its overall score of 249 in our benchmarks is
anew record, and the SSD recorded a
sequential read speed of 2,764MB/s and a
sequential writespeed of 2,890MB/s. For
getting work done,nothing is better –but
you’ll have to payfor the privilege.
Beefiercomponents often mean lower
battery life, andit’s true that the MacBook
Pro 16in’s 7h 22m in our benchmark is more
average than anything, but then it could have
been even worse had Apple not fitted such a
huge battery.Ithas agargantuan capacity of
99.8Wh, which isn’t enough to match the
MicrosoftSurface Book 2’s 11h 33m, but is
still quitethe technical achievement.
BIGGERAND BETTER
Saywhat you like about Apple,but it certainly
knows how to put together ahigh-quality,
high-powered laptop.The MacBook Pro 16in
is up there with the very best: it’s solidly built
and fast across the board, and it comes with
some genuinely welcome improvements.
There are laptops that it would make
more financial sense to buy instead –the
Surface Book 2and Dell XPS 15 are both
more affordable powerhouses –but the
MacBook Pro 16in is undeniably atop-
quality luxury option.
JonathanBray
VERDICT
This mildly upsized MacBook Pro is expennnsive,but high-
performance laptops don’t get much betttttter than this
SPECIFICATIONS
Windowsoverall
Multitasking
Battery life
0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100
Seepage98for performancedetails
PROCESSOROcta-core2.4GHz IntelCorei9-9980HK•
RAM32GB•DIMENSIONS358x246x16.2mm•WEIGHT2kg
- SCREEN SIZE16in•SCREEN RESOLUTION3,072x1,920•
GRAPHICSADAPTORAMDRadeon Pro5500M•
TOTAL STORAGE2TB•OPERATINGSYSTEMmacOS•
WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.apple.com/uk•
PART CODEMacBook Pro16in
7h 22m
249
285
26
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