The new MacBook Pro Retina seems to be exactly like the 2013 model – but don’t let the design trick you.
For starters, it’s still sporting a 13-inch display, and its design basically looks the same, but it feels different. Probably due to the fact that Apple has changed the touch pad on their new device – it’s a new technology that is trying to make our lives easier by navigating without a mouse. The Force Touch Pad, complemented by a feature called Force Click, is based on something Apple likes to call – Taptic Engine; which produces a rather intriguing tactile feedback so the user has a better understanding on what’s happening on the screen.
The new MacBook Pro Retina is faster that its predecessor, has a longer battery life, a beautiful screen that is perfect for movie marathons – it doesn’t make you feel sluggish after staying in front of it for 5 hours; and a new redesigned, super comfortable keyboard.
If you’re a tech aficionado like me, you have most definitely tried the MacBook in Apple’s store before deciding if you truly want to buy it – or until employees begged you to go home. It’s built out of exactly the same materials that its predecessors were built. It’s made out of aluminium, and this time it’s a bit heavier than the last model – from 3.46 pounds to 3.48 pounds, or for you metric users 1,56 kg to 1,57 kg. All of it envelopes a beautiful display that stands out at 2560×1600, and the keyboards that have the perfect spacing between them.
As it were expected, Apple built in the same ports that we are accustomed to – two USB 3.0 connections, a HDMI port, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, a headphone jack, and of course an SD card slot. No, there’s no love for the standardized USB Type-C port – it boggles the mind, but at least this model is also scratch-proof.
The all new Force Touch Pad
Apple is taking risks this year. First off they stated that only clients who make an appointment would be able to buy their new smart watch – and it paid off – and now you find out that they completely changed the touch pad. Why change it if it ain’t broken? Everybody loved the last one – users, and reviewers had absolutely no problem with it.
The Force Touch Pad isn’t awful, it isn’t even mediocre, it’s actually pretty great, but there are some features that just don’t warrant a change. It can let you fast forward at 60x the normal speed if you hard press down on the skip button in QuickTime, you can search for word definitions, or Wikipedia previews by using Force Click, and of course you can annotate in Mail and Preview. The only really great thing that has come from this is the fact that in the near future developers can build features into third-party apps as well – not only Mac built-in apps.
The Taptic Engine can be a deal breaker
Apple has spent quite a lot of time redesigning their touch pad, and coming up with the Taptic Engine. There are no moving parts to the mechanism, and Apple’s engineers trick you into thinking that you are actually clicking something, but nothing depresses. Veterans of the MacBook will feel awkward using the new touch pad, and if you are a computer addict like me, then you’ll sense the change immediately – and it won’t go away for a long time. New users don’t have anything to worry about – yes, it doesn’t feel like your normal touch pad, but, like I said before, it’s not bad, it’s a pretty good change.
I don’t think that Apple’s gamble will pay off this time. Yes, these are cool features, but when are you going to use them? It’s much more easier to just open a new tab and Google search, instead of using Force Click to pop up the definition and Wiki preview. Are there millions of users out there that use fast forward at warp speed in Quicktime? Have they all complained about the fact that it takes them 10 seconds to find what they were looking for? – instead of 9 using the hard-press on skip.
The new MacBook Pro Retina will be paired with Intel’s fifth generation Core processors named Broadwell. It has a nice ring to it, somewhere on the lines of what I would expect to see in a James Bond movie – Mission Broadwell, or commonly known in spy communities as The Life Ender. But don’t worry, Intel isn’t going to end your life with its new tech – mostly your social life. Apple’s new device will make you choose between Core i5 and i7 chips – but only dual cores. Intel will be releasing its new Broadwell quad cores this summer.
Benchmark Tests
Although its weapons of choice is a high performance 2.7GHz Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM, it doesn’t make a big difference comparing it to the last model. Here are OS X benchmark tests from Geekbench and Xbench for Apple’s different models:
- 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (early 2015, 2.7GHz Core i5, Intel Iris 6100):
GeekBench: 6,293 (32-bit) / 7,062 (64-bit); Xbench: 487; Battery life: 11:21;
- 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (late 2013, 2.4GHz Core i5, Intel Iris graphics)
GeekBench: 6,288 (32-bit); Xbench: 428; Battery life: 11:20;
- 13-inch MacBook Air (mid 2013, 1.3GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 5000)
GeekBench: 6,021 (32-bit); Xbench: 304; Battery life: 12:51;
- 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (late 2012, 2.5GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 4000)
GeekBench: 6,812 (32-bit); Xbench: 378; Battery life: 6:07;
As you can see, there’s not a huge difference between older models – except the 32-bit 2012 model. The only worthwhile difference that I can say is really notable is the battery life. Sacrificing an hour and a half for a slight increase in performance isn’t what I am really looking for.
Gaming wise, it was tested with the same game as the 2013 model – Batman: Arkham City – and it’s frame rate increased from 32 fps to 33 fps. An incredible minor change that nobody can sense it.
But let’s not just focus on processor benchmarks, or gaming capabilities, let’s talk about disk speeds. Apple has stated that their new PCIe-based SSDs are twice as fast as the first ones they ever used – and it can reach speeds of 1.6 GB/s and max sequential write speeds of 1.5 GB/s. That’s a huge improvement from the last model, and more so, it really stands tall amongst its peers – I don’t think I have recently tested a model that can pump up those disk speeds.
It took also me about 15 seconds to reach the login screen – not bad at all!
Battery Life hasn’t changed that much
Apple has stated that if you use the MacBook Pro Retina for web surfing it will last you up to 10 hours, and up to 12 hours of continuous video playback. Dana Wollman of Engadget has reported logging in 11 hours and 23 minutes of ” […] video looping test, using an episode of Breaking Bad purchased through iTunes.”. It’s on the margins Apple has stated.
Although 11 hours and 23 minutes really fairs well in terms of battery life, it’s somehow disappointing comparing it to the 2013 13-inch MacBook Air model that can last up to almost 13 hours. I always hoped that with the passing of years technology will focus more and more on battery life expectancy rather than high-performance. It’s a good thing that technologically speaking we have more performance driven devices accessible on the go, but I wouldn’t feel ashamed with a 24 hour battery life using Intel’s 2010 processors.
Different models, different prices
The 13-inch Retina display MacBook Pro can start from $1,299 with a 2.7GHz fifth-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Graphics 6100, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB PCIe-based solid-state drive. But you can choose to upgrade the standard laptop to a 2.9GHz Core i5 processor for $1,399, or you can dig deep down in your pockets and find another $300 if you want a 3.1GHz Core i7 CPU. Not happy with the RAM they are offering? You can double it to 16GB for $200. Need more storage for those HD movies? No problem – you can choose from a 256GB model that will cost $1,499, and a 512GB SSD for $1,799. There is also a 1TB option for $500, but it’s only available for the $1,799 model as an upsell.
Kinda expensive isn’t it? Well, before you settle down and buy it on impulse, check out the competition first. It will only take you a few minutes, and it’s just down below.
The competition
- Dell XPS 13
Like the MacBook Pro Retina, it also sports a 13-inch display – and it has ranked as a finalist in 2015’s Best of CES awards. It weighs about 2.6 pounds, that is 1.1 kg, and the design is one you would be accustomed to Dell’s previous models of Ultrabooks. On the edges you can find a Mini DisplayPort, a headphone jack, one of two USB 3.0 connections, and of course the power socket. That’s just the left side, on the right side you have a Kensington lock slot, a full-sized SD card reader and the second USB 3.0 socket.
The only downside seems to be that it doesn’t have an HDMI port – I for one use it a lot, for presentations or just connecting my laptop to a big screen so I can watch a movie.
Battery life consists of 8 hours – not much if you ask me.
For a 13-inch display it can pump up a 1080p resolution, that goes up to 3200×1800. But if you are planning on having it with a touch screen so you can profit off of it’s superb display and resolution you’ll need to cough up $1,300 instead of the standard price of $800. It also comes bundled with Intel’s fifth-generation Core CPU code-named Broadwell – a dual-core 2.2GHz Core i5-5200U CPU and 8GB of RAM for the $1,300 model, but don’t fret, the standard one is almost as good.
$800 for the basic model that consists of an Intel Core i3-5010U Broadwell processor, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, Intel HD 5500 Graphics and a matte 1920×1080 screen which I think is more than enough for everyone. But you can upgrade it to i5, even i7, more RAM, more storage – the high-performance, top of the line model, will make you unburden yourself of about $1,900. Definitely worth it!
- HP Spectre x360
It starts at $900, and even though it has Hewlett-Packard’s name on it, it was built from scratch with the help of Microsoft’s engineers. The windows team was closely collaborating with HP on optimizing everything – from the fan noise, to how comfortable the keyboard should be. The Spectre is HP’s flagship notebook at this moment.
It weights about 3.26 pounds, that is 1.47 kg and its casing consists of a unibody CNC-machined aluminium frame. For a 13-inch laptop it’s just perfect.
On the edges you’ll find three USB 3.0 connections, an HDMI socket, a Mini DisplayPort, an SD card slot, a headphone jack and a volume rocker – designed specifically for tablet mode. One nice little thing that is nice to have is the Ethernet and HDMI-to-VGA adapters – they are sold separately by HP for $30 a piece.
The standard model comes with a rich and beautiful 1080p display, but you can choose to upgrade it up to 2560×1440 for a few hundred dollars – it also comes packed with a nice touch screen.
HP has stated that the battery will last up to 12 hours and 30 minutes – but it will depend on its configuration.
The entry level model is $900, and for that kind of money you will get a Core i5-5200U processor, 4GB of RAM and a 1080p touch screen. This is the only version that can be customized – you can double the RAM for $50, add a Quad HD screen for $100, upgrade the processor to a dual-core i7 processor for $150, and even change the 128GB standard storage space for a 256GB, and 512GB disks – $50, to $200.
The $1,150 model also has the 1920×1080 display but its technical capabilities are stronger – Core i7 CPU, 8GB of memory and 256GB of disk space.
Their high-performance model will cost you $1,400 for a better higher-res 2560×1440 screen and a 512GB SSD – it has the same processor and RAM as the mid-level model.
The Conclusion
Although is MacBook Pro Retina is the most expensive laptop on the market offering the same technical capabilities like the Dell XPS 13, and the HP Spectre x360, when you buy an Apple laptop you buy it for the simplicity and quality that it stands for. I’m pretty happy with using the new MacBook Pro Retina, but I also have other laptops that I work on, or game on. In the end it depends on your taste – and if you are sick with Windows’ OS.
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Michael Turner
