New external GPU gives MacBook Pro up to 8-times better performance

That’s significant because for the first time the MBP 13 packs quad-core processors, doubling the number of processor cores over previous generations.

The updated MacBook Pro with Touch Bar will now be configurable with up to 32 GB of RAM, compared with a maximum of 16 GB of RAM previously. At the moment, the MacBook Pro 13 only comes with Core i5 while the MacBook Pro 15 is listed with the Core i7 option. And with up to a 2TB SSD on the 13-inch model and up to a 4TB SSD on the 15-inch, MacBook Pro gives customers the flexibility to work with large asset libraries and projects wherever they go. In other words, it can also act as a hub for your brand new MacBook Pro. However, super-sizing to the 2.9GHz 6-core 8th-gen Intel Core i7 or a 2.9GHz 6-core Intel Core i9 adds an extra $300. Apple’s butterfly keys are more hard to remove for cleaning than standard keys if the issue was caused by dust. It also supports Apple’s Metal API for maximising compute and gaming performance. That product, an external GPU, is based around a Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB of video memory.

The laptops will also have a new “Hey Siri” capability that allows people to trigger Apple’s voice assistant without having to hit a combination of keys beforehand. It also carries True Tone display technology, Touch Bar and Touch ID.

But that’s not all. The new devices are available for purchase right now, starting at $1,799 for the 13-inch model and $2,399 for the 15-inch model. The company is making a couple of significant-ish changes to the MacBook Pro, while the existing design intact.

And now to the not-so-fun part – the pricing.

They’re not cheap though – the 13-inch starts at $1799 (R24,000), and the least powerful 15-inch model will cost $2399 (R32,000). The sentiments shared in his post about the 15-inch Retina Macbook Pro model – titled “The best laptop ever made” – were echoed across the web. As always, prices are hefty but are probably well worth it for die-hard MacBook fans.