What's New At its "Spring Forward" media event on March 9, 2015, Apple released an updated 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro. The new machine offers several improvements over the 2014 model, including a Broadwell processor, improved Intel graphics, a "Force Touch" trackpad, faster flash storage, and improved battery life. Apple followed up with an update to the 15- inch lineup on May 19, incorporating the Force Touch trackpad, faster flash storage and graphics, and longer battery life. While the 13- inch models moved to Intel's latest Broadwell processors, the 15- inch models continue to use the same Haswell processors from the previous generation, as Intel has yet to release quad- core Broadwell processors suitable for the larger model. 13- Inch Retina MacBook Pro The 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro is currently the only notebook in the MacBook Pro family to run Intel's new Broadwell processors, offering increased performance and battery life compared to the previous generation. Though there were many other internal upgrades, the new 13- inch MacBook Pro continues to have the same design as the previous- generation versions, with a 2560 x 1600, 227 pixels- per- inch Retina Display. It weighs 3.48 pounds and is 0.71 inches thick, as it is focused on performance over portability. Three
base configurations are available, priced at $1,299, $1,499, and $1,799 depending on processor and storage space. With the new Broadwell processors, the 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro offers an impressive battery life of up to 10 hours of wireless web browsing or 12 hours of itunes movie playback. PROCESSOR AND GRAPHICS Geekbench benchmarks have revealed that the new 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro's Broadwell chips offer only small gains over their predecessors, which is not surprising as Broadwell focuses on improved efficiency and better battery life over raw processing power. In general, performance improvements of 3-7 percent are seen in various benchm. Along with a Broadwell processor, the new 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro comes equipped with upgraded Intel Iris Graphics 6100, estimated to be slightly faster than a dedicated GeForce 820M. There is no option to add a discrete graphics card to the 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro as there is in the 15- inch Retina MacBook Pro. FLASH STORAGE
According to Apple, the new 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro features upgraded flash storage that is two times faster than the flash storage in the previous- generation machine. The 13- inch MacBook Air received the same update, and benchmarks conducted on that machine suggest that Apple's estimate is accurate. The flash storage in the 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro is indeed much faster than the flash storage in previous models.
FORCE TOUCH TRACKPAD The major new feature in the 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro is a revamped "Force Touch" trackpad, which was also added to the new Retina MacBook. The trackpad's Force Touch capabilities allow it to distinguish between a hard press and a soft press, enabling new gestures. For example, while a light press is a regular click, a deeper press on a highlighted word while browsing Safari might bring up a Wikipedia entry, much as a control + click does now. There are a number of new built- in gestures, and Apple's also allowing developers to access Force Touch APIs to build pressure sensitivity into Mac apps. The trackpad works using four Force Sensors, which allow users to click anywhere on the trackpad. This is an improvement over previous- generation trackpads that were difficult to click near the top portion adjacent to the keyboard. The Force Sensors that detect presses work in conjunction with a magnet- powered Taptic Engine, giving users tactile feedback on the actions they make. This combination of Force Touch and haptic feedback means the actual trackpad no longer moves - - there is no actual physical clicking - - but it continues to feel largely the same as the previous trackpad. Electromagnetic coils on Force Touch trackpad, which push and pull against a metal rail to create a "buzz" of feedback with each click (Source: ifixit) Essentially, when the trackpad on the new Retina MacBook Pro is pressed with enough force to "click," the trackpad vibrates against the fingers to let users know they've performed the action. According to reviews of the Force Touch trackpad, the haptic feedback feels very much like a physical click. OTHER FEATURES The 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro also includes faster 802.11ac Wi- Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, dual Thunderbolt 2 ports to allow users to connect multiple displays, dual mics, stereo speakers, two USB 3 ports, an SDXC card slot, an HDMI port, a headphone port, and a MagSafe 2 power port.
The new 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro models no longer support Windows 7 in Boot Camp. BUILD- TO- ORDER OPTIONS The two middle- tier Retina MacBook Pro options can be configured with a 2.9GHz dual- core Intel Core i5 processor, while the high- end model can be configured with a 3.1GHz dual- core Intel Core i7 processor. The maximum amount of RAM available for the machines is 16GB, and the high- end 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro can be configured to have 1TB of flash storage. Lower- end models ship with 128GB or 256GB. 15- Inch Retina MacBook Pro Apple updated the 15- inch Retina MacBook Pro on May 19, 2015, and while it does not include Broadwell processors because of Intel's delays, the new machine does offer many of the same improvements introduced with the 13- inch Retina MacBook Pro. Among the improvements are the same Force Touch trackpad as the 13- inch model, improved discrete graphics from AMD, faster flash storage, and a bump in battery life from 8 hours to 9 hours, enabled in part by the thinner Force Touch trackpad making room for a slightly larger battery. The new 15- inch MacBook Pro still offers a quad- core Crystal Well processor, a variation of the Haswell, and it includes Intel's Iris Pro HD 5200 graphics. The high- end model now features AMD Radeon R9 M370X discrete graphics with 2 GB of memory, an upgrade over
the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M graphics from the previous generation. Like the 13- inch model, the 15- inch MacBook Pro offers faster 802.11ac Wi- Fi and PCIe- based flash storage, as well as dual Thunderbolt 2 ports to allow users to connect multiple displays. BUILD- TO- ORDER OPTIONS The entry level 15- inch Retina MacBook Pro can be upgraded to a maximum 2.8 GHz quad- core Intel Core i7 processor and 1 TB of PCIe- based flash storage. The high- end version includes the same upgrade options, but it also comes equipped with AMD Radeon Non- Retina MacBook Pro Apple has not updated its non- Retina MacBook Pros with Haswell processors and has ceased offering the non- Retina 15- inch MacBook Pro. While Apple is still selling the non- Retina 13- inch MacBook Pro, it has not been refreshed since June of 2012. As the Retina MacBook Pro has reached near pricing parity with the non- Retina version with recent price drops, Apple will likely discontinue its non- Retina model in favor of an all Retina MacBook Pro lineup at some point.