I've been using a 2013 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina for almost four years now, and until recently, to be honest, I didn't even think about buying a new generation computer. Firstly, the power of my "old man" is enough for the eyes (all the more so), and the pricing for Mac in Russia leaves much to be desired. But, as is often the case, that all changed the moment I got a 15-inch MacBook Pro with a 2017 Touch Bar on my desk.
When Apple introduced the touchpad in its laptops, I considered it more of a toy, even after the complete opinion did not change. However, when I started using such a computer myself (and not for 2-3 days, but for a whole month), I realized all the advantages of the Touch Bar, especially when working with text. Almost a quarter of this review will be written in Pages using the Touch Bar “hints” —in an interesting way, it guesses which word I want to write next. If you get the hang of it, you can save a lot of time.
The Touch Bar doesn't just help with text. So, for example, this is a very convenient way to rewind videos on YouTube, interact with controls in the same Final Cut and Photoshop. The touchpad is used to both increase brightness and adjust volume - it's hard to say what it can't do. But I removed the Siri button next to the Touch Bar almost immediately; when deleting the text, the finger accidentally touched it all the time, and the voice assistant was called. Otherwise, there were no accidental contacts with the MacBook touch panel: it is located at such a distance that it is convenient to reach with one finger.
I mainly use my MacBook for word processing, photo editing and of course surfing the Internet. As soon as I bought the first computer from Apple, I stopped chasing processors, RAM and other improvements, except that I expanded the storage - the work speed was fine. Therefore, I did not think that something would change from Kaby Lake and a faster SSD. What a surprise it was when a MacBook Pro with a 2.9 GHz processor, 16 GB of memory and discrete graphics with 4 GB of memory began to perform the usual tasks not only quickly, but just lightning fast. Export of photos, which previously took about a minute, now takes 10-15 seconds, video processing (sometimes it is necessary) has been reduced by 6-7 times, I simply do not notice the “jumping” icon when opening the application in the dock - the program is launched so quickly.
Of course, this is a top-end MacBook Pro for almost 205,000 rubles in the official Apple online store, and it would be strange to expect anything else from it, but it is still difficult to believe in such a big difference in performance. The point here is completely in personal feelings, when it seems that everything is working quickly, but in fact it is possible (and necessary) even faster.
Perhaps the experience would not be the same if I had used a 2016 MacBook Pro before - in the case of it, the performance gain was not noticed so much. While Apple says the new model is 28% faster than the 2016 MacBook, few will actually notice the change. But in the case of a 4-5 year old computer, the difference is really tangible. I will try to briefly summarize my impressions.
What else did you like?
What didn't you like?
If among our readers there are owners of MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, I will be glad to hear their opinion about their computers.
Apple has also updated its laptops: MacBook and MacBook Pro. The most interesting update is the 12-inch model, since more than a year has passed since the release of the previous generation MacBook. In this article, we'll take a closer look at the innovations.
First of all, it's worth noting that the design of the 2017 MacBook hasn't been updated in any way from the 2016 model. It's the same impeccably thin and light chassis, with a wonderful full-size keyboard and touchpad, and one single USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) port.
We have already discussed various aspects of this design many times, so we recommend that you read the previous articles - they remain relevant. Here, let's focus on what has changed: the hardware configuration and therefore the performance.
Configuration
As before, there are two basic 12-inch Apple MacBook models that differ in processor and SSD storage. The younger one has an Intel Core m3-7Y32 processor and a 256 GB SSD, while the older one has an Intel Core i5-7Y54 processor and a 512 GB SSD. We tested the junior model, its different characteristics are highlighted in the table below.
| Apple MacBook 12 ″ (Mid 2017) | ||
| CPU | Intel Core m3-7Y32 (2 cores, 4 threads, 1.2GHz, Turbo Boost up to 3.0GHz)/ Intel Core i5-7Y54 (2 cores, 4 threads, 1.3 GHz, Turbo Boost up to 3.2 GHz) | |
| Chipset | N / A | |
| RAM | 8 GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 | |
| Video subsystem | Intel HD Graphics 615, 850 MHz | |
| Screen | 12 inches, IPS, 2304 × 1440, 226 ppi | |
| Storage (SSD) | 256 GB/ 512 GB | |
| Optical drive | No | |
| Card reader | No | |
| Network interfaces | Wired network | support via 3rd party USB-C adapter |
| Wireless network | 802.11a / g / n / ac 2.4GHz / 5GHz | |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 4.0 | |
| Interfaces and ports | USB | 1 × Type C 3.1 |
| HDMI 1.4 | ||
| VGA | no (support available via adapter) | |
| Thunderbolt | No | |
| RJ-45 | no (support available via 3rd party adapter) | |
| Microphone input | yes (combined) | |
| Headphone out | yes (combined) | |
| Audio line out | No | |
| Linear audio input | No | |
| Input Devices | Keyboard | island type with backlight |
| Touchpad | Force touch | |
| IP telephony | Webcam | 480r |
| Microphone | there is | |
| Battery | non-removable 4-cell (41.4 Wh, 5552 mAh) | |
| Dimensions (edit) | 281 x 197 x 13 mm | |
| Weight without power supply | 0.92 kg | |
| Average price of the junior configuration (Core m3, 256 GB SSD) | ||
| Average price of an average configuration (Core i5, 512GB SSD) | ||
| Low-end retail offerings (Core m3, 256GB SSD) | ||
| Mid-range retail offerings (Core i5, 512GB SSD) | ||
Here is information about this model in the OS X operating system (in this test we used the pre-installed OS without upgrading it to High Sierra, although such an upgrade is, of course, possible).
So, the basis of the laptop that came to the test is a dual-core Intel Core processor m3-7Y32(Kaby Lake). This processor has a base clock speed of 1.2 GHz (configurable frequency for higher TDP is 1.6 GHz); in Turbo Boost mode, the frequency can be increased up to 3 GHz. Its L3 cache size is 4MB and its rated maximum power is 4.5W. The processor is integrated with the Intel HD Graphics 615 graphics core, the base clock frequency of which is 300 MHz, and the maximum (in Turbo Boost mode) is 900 MHz.
The laptop comes with 8GB LPDDR3 RAM. It is impossible to increase this volume even when ordering through the site. The memory in the new MacBook runs at the same frequency as its predecessor - 1866 MHz.
Communication capabilities of the laptop are determined by the presence of a wireless dual-band (2.4 and 5 GHz) network adapter that meets the IEEE 802.11a / b / g / n / ac specifications.
It remains to add that the laptop is equipped with a built-in 480p webcam located above the screen, as well as a non-removable rechargeable battery with a capacity of 41.4 Wh. Below is information from the battery controller, obtained using the Terminal when entering the ioreg -n AppleSmartBattery -r command:
It is curious that, according to the conclusion of this command, the battery capacity has slightly increased: 5552 mAh versus 5115 mAh before.
Performance Testing in Final Cut Pro X and Compressor
We'll start with our main test on a new technique: video editing in Final Cut and final rendering in Compressor. At the time of testing, the current versions of these programs were 10.3.4 and 4.3.2, respectively. The operating system was macOS Sierra 10.12.5.
However, here we have failed, albeit differently than a year ago. As we recall, in last year's MacBook, launching Full HD video stabilization in Final Cut left the computer hanging. Now this problem was not noted, even the stabilization of 4K video did not confuse the model, and at first everything went well. But at some point (about 40 minutes after starting the test) the speed dropped so much that further testing simply made no sense.
Obviously, the laptop was overheating (indeed, there is no active cooling here, and the case at the place where the screen is attached is heated like a frying pan), and the performance - already low - forcibly decreased. As a result, the operation time was stretched to the point of absurdity.
Thus, MacBook 12 ″ is still not suitable for video editing and other tasks that are really demanding on system resources. If, for example, you take a laptop with you on a business trip, and there you may hypothetically need to do some small calculation work, then you can try to do it on a MacBook 12 ″, but it makes no sense to take it specifically for tasks such as video editing.
Regarding further testing, let's make a reservation right away: since we did not test last year's MacBook using the new method, we cannot compare it with the new product. Therefore, the comparison will be two MacBook Pros. This, of course, is not very correct and indicative, because it is clear that the "proxies" are much more productive. They are just different classes of devices. However, the results may make some practical sense in order to get a picture of how big the difference is between the highest performing Apple laptops and the weakest (in terms of performance) macOS device. In addition, having these results, we will then be able to compare the newer MacBook models.
Compiling and searching through source code
So, let's see how things are in the operations typical for programming: compilation and searching through the source code.
Here we see that the MacBook 12 ″, although inferior to the older MacBook Pro models, is not at times (at least in terms of compilation), and this, of course, pleases.
Browser Benchmarks: JetStream
Now let's move on to benchmarks. Let's start with a browser JavaScript benchmark. Safari was used as a browser.
Here the result is quite expected. The gap between the novelty and other models is again obvious, but again not at times.
Geekbench
In Geekbench, the difference between last year's MacBook Pro 13 ″ and the new MacBook 12 ″ is not very big, although undeniable.
In the Compute subtest, the difference is noticeably greater. so for mining MacBook 12 ″ is not very suitable :)
GFX Benchmark Metal
Below are the detailed test results. And this is the only benchmark where we can make any comparison with last year's MacBook. But the comparison is also conditional, since the benchmark has been updated, and now in the Offscreen mode, rendering is performed at 1080p, not 720p - hence the small loss of the novelty. However, in the Manhattan test, it showed some advantage. However, this is not a gaming device anyway.
| GFX Benchmark 3 | MacBook 12 ″ (Mid 2017) | MacBook 12 ″ (Early 2016) | MacBook Pro 13 ″ (Late 2016) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1440р Manhattan 3.1.1 Offscreen, fps | 13,6 | — | 36,3 |
| Manhattan 3.1, fps | 11,5 | — | 21,9 |
| 1080p Manhattan 3.1 Offscreen, fps | 24,0 | — | 66,0 |
| Manhattan, fps | 16,6 | 13,5 | 34,6 |
| 1080p Manhattan Offscreen, fps | 28,9 | 29,6 | 90,2 |
| T-rex | 29,2 | 29,5 | 81,6 |
| 1080p T-Rex Offscreen, fps | 56,7 | 70,0 | 199,2 |
CompuBenchCL
The last benchmark to test GPU performance is Compubench. Here, among other things, it is important to be able to test the OpenCL performance of any of the GPUs (discrete and integrated) and the CPU.
So here are the results. In the case of the 15-inch MacBook Pro, the first number is the test result using the most powerful GPU available (discrete graphics card), and the second is the integrated graphics.
| CompuBenchCL | MacBook 12 ″ (Mid 2017) | MacBook Pro 13 ″ (Late 2016) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Face Detection, MPixels / s | 21,5 | 33,6 / 26,0 | 39,7 |
| TV-L1 Optical Flow, MPixels / s | 2,63 | 6,56 / 3,17 | 6,30 |
| Ocean Surface Simulation, fps | 174 | 575 / 261 | 354 |
| Particle Simulation - 64k, MInteractions / s | 91 | 284 / 173 | 108 |
| Video Composition, fps | 13,6 | 48,1 / 17,7 | 23,7 |
| Bitcoin Mining, MHash / s | 2,68 | 163 / 31,0 | 33,6 |
What should you pay attention to here? That the results are highly dependent on the subtest. Somewhere the difference with the 13-inch MacBook Pro is relatively small, but somewhere (as in the case of Bitcoin Mining) it is huge (yes, this is not a typo, indeed the difference is more than 12 times!).
BlackMagic Disk Speed
While the benchmarks listed above help us evaluate the performance of the CPU and GPU, then BlackMagic Disk Speed is focused on testing the drive - the speed of reading and writing files.
Here, unfortunately, the new product has nothing to brag about - the results are worse than those of the Pro models, but, strictly speaking, this is more than enough for everyday use, the SSD is fast here.
Games
The MacBook 12 ″ is certainly not a gaming model. Therefore, you should not run serious games on it: the battery will be rapidly discharged, and the laptop will warm up strongly, and the SSD volume will hardly be enough for several modern toys.
However, this does not mean at all that the laptop cannot be played. For example, he copes with World of Tanks: Blitz. For performance testing, we used the Count It utility.
The graph above shows that almost all the time during the game the number of frames per second was stable at around 60. The deep drop in the graph at the beginning is the moment the splash screen is shown during the game launch, so you should only take into account further data.
In general, summarizing the gaming capabilities of the model, you can play something very simple on it, although, of course, there is no need to talk about purposeful gaming use (as evidenced, in particular, by GPU tests).
Screen
The 2017 MacBook has a display with the same diagonal and resolution as its direct predecessors. It is 12 inches, 2304 x 1440, which gives 226 dpi. Alexey Kudryavtsev, editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections, will tell you about how other screen parameters have changed. Here is his report.
The front surface of the screen is made of, apparently, a glass plate, at least, rigidity and scratch resistance are available. The outside of the screen is mirror-smooth and has some oleophobic (grease-repellent) properties. The finger slides on the surface of the screen with less resistance, fingerprints do not appear so quickly, but are removed much easier than in the case of ordinary glass. Judging by the brightness of the reflected objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are noticeably better than that of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply the Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected on the screens of both devices (where it is easy to figure out what):
Due to the difference in color tone and color of the frames, it is difficult to visually assess which screen is darker, but the brightness determined from the photograph shows a clear victory for the MacBook - 62 versus 118 for the Nexus 7 (average gray scale 0-255). From a practical point of view, the anti-glare properties of the screen are so good that even direct reflection from bright light sources does not interfere too much. We did not find any significant doubling of objects reflected in the screen, that is, there is no air gap in the layers of the screen, which, however, is expected for an LCD screen without a touch layer.
With manual brightness control, its maximum value was about 390 cd / m², with the minimum brightness adjustment value, the backlight turns off completely, and at the first step (using hot keys) of adjustment from the minimum position, the brightness is 7 cd / m². As a result, at maximum brightness in bright daylight (taking into account what was said above about anti-glare properties), the screen remains readable, and in complete darkness, the screen brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. There is an automatic brightness control according to the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front camera peephole). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider - the user sets the desired brightness level in the current conditions. By moving the slider in the office, we managed to achieve an acceptable result: in an office illuminated with artificial light (about 550 lx) - 160 cd / m2, in complete darkness - 20 cd / m2, in a very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outside, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or slightly more) the brightness rises to 390 cd / m². At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering either.
This MacBook uses an IPS-type matrix. The micrographs show the typical IPS subpixel structure:
For comparison, you can see the gallery of photomicrographs of screens used in mobile technology.
The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift, even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen, and without tint inversion. For comparison, we present photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of MacBook and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m2 (along the white field across the entire screen), and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K. Perpendicular to screens white field:
Note the acceptable uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field (here the quality of the lens is more questionable). And the test picture:
The color rendition is good and the colors are moderately saturated on both screens, the color balance is slightly different. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:
It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, and the contrast remained at a high level. And white box:
The brightness at this angle decreased noticeably on both screens (the shutter speed was increased by 5 times), and in the case of the MacBook, the drop in brightness is about the same. The black field, when deviated along the diagonal, is lightened weakly and acquires a slight purple tint. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is about the same!):
With a perpendicular view, the uniformity of the black field is excellent (in the center - the mouse cursor):
Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is normal - 770: 1. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 25 ms (14 ms on + 11 ms off), the transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (by the numerical value of the color) and back takes 37 ms. The gamma curve, plotted using 32 points at equal intervals in terms of the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal a blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.29, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power dependence:
These and all other results were obtained under the device's native operating system without changing the original display settings. Recall that in this case, the original properties of the matrix are precisely corrected by software.
The color gamut in the case of test images without a profile or with an sRGB profile is practically equal to sRGB:
The spectra show that the matrix filters plus some kind of software correction to a moderate extent mix the primary colors with each other:
As a result, the colors visually have a natural saturation. Note that such spectra with a relatively narrow peak in blue and with wide humps of green and red are characteristic of screens that use LED backlighting with a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor. The color gamut in the case of test images with the Display P3 profile is slightly higher than sRGB:
The gray scale balance is good, as the color temperature is close to the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the spectrum of the absolute black body (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, the color temperature and ΔE vary little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of the color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)
Let's summarize. The MacBook's screen has a high enough maximum brightness and very good anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. It is also permissible to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works quite adequately. The advantages of the screen include the absence of screen flickering, excellent uniformity of the black field, high stability of black to deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the plane of the screen, sRGB color gamut and good color balance. The screen has no drawbacks.
Battery life
As we did a year ago, we used the film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", purchased from the iTunes Store and downloaded to a laptop in Full HD resolution, for the battery life test. QuickTime was used as a player. The movie played in a loop until the laptop was turned off. Wi-Fi didn't turn off. The brightness of the screen was set to 100 cd / m².
The results are below.
The difference in the results of the new and last year's models does not exceed the possible error. So, in general, the battery life remained the same. This is quite a normal result, and even excellent for an ultra-compact laptop. But, of course, you need to understand that the MacBook Pro will have a better result.
conclusions
The MacBook 12 ″ update turned out to be purely cosmetic: they installed a new generation processor, and everything else remained the same. This is both good and bad. Good, for example, because the screen is beautiful here. However, the performance of the MacBook 12 ″ is still inferior to the models of the MacBook Pro line - and very significantly. Moreover, this laptop is still not suitable for serious work (long maximum load leads to throttling and a radical drop in the already low speed), or for serious games. However, for targeted use, which does not involve thorough work in video editors and other professional applications, it is quite enough.
The Air 13, Macbook 12 and Macbook Pro 13. For nearly the same price point, they offer excellent battery life, good screen size and light weight combined with ample I / O ports.
Screen
The smallest screen among our competitors is the Macbook 12, with a resolution of 2304x1440 16:10, which in turn is 226 pixels-per-inch (PPI). These screens are called Retina Display by Apple. The brightness of the screen in the center is 390 cd / m2, the contrast is 823: 1 (data for the 2016 model, in the 2015 model the brightness is slightly lower, but the contrast is higher). SRGB color space coverage - 61%. The latter will disappoint professional photographers a little; for ordinary users, the color reproduction quality is quite sufficient.
In general, a good IPS panel. Only one external monitor can be connected to MacBook 12 using a USB-C or HDMI cable (via adapter) with a resolution of 3840x2160 at 30Hz or 4096x2160 at 24Hz.
Apple released an updated MacBook Pro series last fall. For the first time in many years, they have changed in appearance and acquired impressive innovations. And this summer 2017, the release of improved 13-inch and 15-inch notebook models of this series took place. In fact, the Cupertinians have upgraded their insides.
I got my hands on a MacBook Pro 15 "2017 laptop in the maximum configuration. This means that it has a 4-core Intel Core i7 processor with a clock speed of 3.1 GHz, a 2 TB SSD, 16 GB of RAM and an AMD Radeon Pro 560 graphics card with 4 GB of video memory. The price of such a car exceeds the mark of 280 thousand rubles, which seems unrealistic a lot, especially in today's difficult realities.
This MacBook configuration feels very fast, but is it really and is it worth overpaying $ 2,000 for it?
Technical characteristics of the top-end MacBook Pro 15 "2017:
- Processor: 7th Generation Intel Core i7 (Kaby Lake) 3.1GHz (4.1GHz Turbo Boost), 8MB L3 cache.
- Screen: 15.4-inch Retina (220 dpi), 2880 x 1800 pixels, 500 nits brightness, P3 color gamut, LED backlight.
- Memory: 16GB 2133GHz LPDDR3 RAM, 2TB SSD.
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 630, AMD Radeon Pro 560 with 4GB VRAM.
- Connectors and interfaces: 4 ports USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gb / s) / Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gb / s), 3.5 mm audio jack.
- Communication: Wi-Fi 802.11ac (also compatible with a / b / g / n), Bluetooth 4.2.
- Camera: 720p (1280 x 720 pixels).
- Sound: Stereo speakers, three microphones.
- Battery: Li-Po 76 W * hour, fast charging (power adapter 87 W).
- Other: Touch ID fingerprint reader, Touch Bar.
- Colors: Silver and Space Gray.
Price in Russia
The 2017 MacBook Pro 15 "is still quite an expensive laptop, especially when it comes up to it. The top model, which is now in stock, with a 7th generation 4-core Intel Core i7 processor with a clock speed of 2.9 GHz, 512 GB SSD and a Radeon Pro 560 video card with 4 GB of video memory will cost 204 thousand rubles.
Custom configuration MacBook Pro 15 "is not yet available in Russia, but the company promised to return the ability to" assemble "the filling of this laptop with their own hands in the near future.
For the most complete custom version of this computer, you will have to pay more than 60 thousand rubles. It will feature a 2 TB SSD and an overclocked processor up to 3.1 GHz.
Appearance and build quality
I will briefly talk about the appearance of the 15-inch MacBook Pro of the 2017 model, although in this regard there have been no changes compared to the 2016 model range. If you put laptops from this year and last year side by side, you won't be able to tell the difference unless you take a look at the About This Mac menu.
This is the same all-metal construction that is impressive in its dimensions. Together with the cover, the thickness of the computer is 15.5 mm, that is, it is only slightly thicker than the iPhone 7 smartphone. The 15 ”MacBook Pro is 350mm long and 240mm wide. It weighs just 1.83 kg, which means it is 200 grams lighter than its 2015 predecessor.
The thin bezels around the display make Apple's laptop feel very modern. This innovation made it possible to reduce the overall dimensions of the device, which also had a positive effect on its weight.
It's actually lighter than it sounds. It is convenient to hold with one hand, in contrast to the same "tag" released 2 years ago. It seems to me that now there is no point in buying a 13-inch MacBook, since its larger brother is almost as compact, and will fit into any backpack or bag. The 15.4-inch screen is just that, no less, no more, but I will analyze this point a little later.
MacBook Pro 15 "2017 has the perfect screen size. I do not want more or less, but the price bites. To save money, many people buy the 13-inch model.
The laptop lid is very lightweight, and the hinges on which it is held convey an unforgettable feeling every time you open it. It would seem that this is just an ordinary mechanism, but Cupertin's engineers not only have it just perform its function. Obviously, these are small things, but they delight users.
As with the 2016 model, the latest iteration of the MacBook Pro has lost the glowing apple on the lid. Perhaps this was done in order to unify the design of all their products, including the MacBook, iPhone and iPad. The last two never had a burning logo on the back of the case.
The glowing Apple logo on the lid of MacBooks is a thing of the past. Now in its place is stainless steel, which perfectly reflects light.
As a result of the upgrade, the 2017 model does not lose its excellent build quality. Even after many years, the anodized aluminum that the entire body of the new MacBook is made of will not lose its former appeal. It practically does not scratch, does not peel off and does not rub.
The case of my 2017 MacBook Pro hasn't been scratched or damaged in all the time I used it. Perhaps the fact is that I was very careful with him.
The hinge used to fix the cover has a huge resource. Do not worry that after a year of active use of the computer, it will begin to dangle, since the mechanism weakens very slightly. The first "trinashki" and "tag", released in 2016, to this day have not shown obvious flaws.
All connectors, including 4 Thunderbolt 3 / USB Type-C ports, fit in their sockets so well that you would rather break the cable itself, that is, the connector present on it.
The Force Touch trackpad has no moving parts, so knocking it out is no easy task. It detects the degree of pressure using a special sensor layer, and thanks to this, engineers have been able to abandon the mechanical key, like on old MacBooks.
The keyboard is also very good, although some users still complain that some keys are sticky. Apple has acknowledged this issue and is replacing laptops under warranty, so no problem. If there were no defects from the factory, then this input method will last no less than the computer itself.
This Mac has a lot of holes because it needs to “breathe”, so dust will accumulate inside over time. Long-term experience suggests that even after several years of use, you will not notice if the computer gets hotter due to a large accumulation of debris inside the case.
Display
In this regard, too, there are no differences between the iterations of the MacBook Pro 2017 and 2016. The most recent model received an identical Retina screen with a pixel density of 220 dpi. At the same time, its physical resolution is 2880 x 1800 pixels, but the operating system scales the interface to 1920 x 1200 pixels. This has a positive effect on the legibility of small objects such as text.
The display is made in accordance with the DCI-P3 color space, not sRGB. It is used in digital cinemas and for a reason. MacBook Pro 15 "2017 has P3 coverage in the region of 99%. Thanks to this, well, the ability to display many millions of colors, the picture looks natural and balanced. As a result of the transition from the traditional sRGB standard to DCI-P3, the picture has become more contrasting by 67%.
The viewing angles are phenomenal. I did not observe a noticeable color shift even with large deviations, I did not notice any inversion of shades either. The contrast ratio is 1400: 1, which is extremely high for an IPS matrix.
Built-in LED backlighting delivers a screen brightness of 500 nits, which means you can comfortably use your laptop outdoors despite the glossy finish. This is indeed the case. You will have to raise the brightness to maximum, but the image will be easy to read.
It looks like the screen is covered with a glass panel, which protects it from scratches and punching. It may have an oleophobic coating on it, but I was unable to verify this. I came to this conclusion when I noticed that it is very difficult to get this panel dirty.
If the 15-inch screen of this laptop is not enough for you, then you can always connect a 4K or 5K monitor. Its filling allows you to connect two external screens at once and work in them simultaneously.
Sound
Apple MacBook 15 "2017, like its predecessor, has stereo speakers located on the sides of the keyboard. They hide under the grille familiar to all poppy-breeders with round holes that let sound through. The sound quality is very good: good bass is felt even at low volumes, and at high volumes, the audio stream retains its purity.
The sound is so decent that I connect my headphones less and less. When the situation allows, I listen to music, watch movies and videos on YouTube through the built-in speakers.
Compared to 2015 or older models, the 2017 MacBook Pro offers a significantly wider dynamic range. The maximum volume is sufficient for the room.
What it comes with: Your MacBook Pro 15 2017 box contains a power adapter, a universal USB cable, and a set of common instructions in various languages. The complete set of laptops of this series until 2016 was a little richer: extension cords came with them. Then the charger was long enough to reach both the work table and, for example, the sofa.
On the other hand, the charging cable is now removable, and if something bad happens to it, you can buy it separately for relatively little money. Previously, when the Magsafe 2 wire broke, I had to buy a new adapter, which costs several times more than a good USB Type-C cable.
The power of the complete unit is 87 watts, which is more than enough to quickly charge the battery.
It is disappointing that Apple does not provide a USB Type-A to Type-C adapter. A similar accessory comes with every iPhone 7 and 7 Plus - it allows you to plug a regular 3.5mm headphone into a single Lightning port.
Why didn't the Cupertinos put this adapter in the box with the MacBook Pro? How did this make life easier for the computer user, right? It took me a long time to find a good solution to this problem.
Trackpad, keyboard, Touch Bar and Touch ID
Thoughtful keyboard with large keys and large trackpad (159 x 99 mm) provide an inimitable feel. The buttons are perfectly short travel, and the touchpad, while looking oversized, still offers a unique computer experience. Touch Bar, in turn, seems to be a much more controversial innovation, but more on that later.
In fact, the 2017 MacBook Pro uses the identical Force Touch Trackpad, which boasts pressure sensing technology. As I already said, it allowed to abandon mechanical elements that have a limited resource. Now, in order to perform a click of the left or right mouse button, the user has to press his finger a little harder with one or two fingers, respectively.
Birthday gift. MacBook Pro 15. Can't wait to try it out.
Feedback is provided by the Taptic Engine vibration motor. All the benefits of a trackpad are evident in professional programs like Final Cut Pro, Affinity Photo, Logic Pro X, and so on.
The Touch Bar is also not a thing for everyday tasks. It is becoming clear that Apple is not going to equip its laptops with a touchscreen and this display panel, which replaces the top row of function keys, is a compromise - therein lies the problem. Even more frustrating is the fact that 2017 Pros only have USB Type-C ports.
The touchpad, which runs along the entire length of the keyboard, is especially handy in Final Cut Pro itself, and even in Safari and Chrome it often speeds up the process of interacting with Mac functionality.
In the Touch Bar, namely on the right side of it, there is a built-in Touch ID fingerprint scanner. He does all the steps required of him: sign in to your account, pay for purchases with Apple Pay, and buy content from the iTunes Store. I must point out that it also combines a power button.
Enrolled fingerprints are not stored in the cloud and cannot be viewed by the operating system. Even Apple doesn't have access to them.
It is possible to register 3 fingerprints in one account - this is more than enough, because, in fact, you will only use one. If your MacBook has two or more accounts, you can switch between them with just one touch of your finger. Convenient, isn't it?
Software
Out of the box, all 2017 MacBook Pro models run macOS 10.12.5. This means that they are devoid of the jambs that are inherent in new products. All previously highlighted problems in version 10.12.1 have been resolved, and at the same time the developers have significantly improved its stability, performance and security.
Complete with this laptop, the user receives the integration of Apple Pay with Touch ID, as well as a virtual assistant named Siri, who speaks Russian well. What's even more interesting is that after the release of the macOS High Sierra update, the artificial intelligence of the voice assistant will noticeably grow wiser. This may not happen immediately in Russia, but it will not take long to wait.
Technical parameters and test results
Now I'm going to talk about what has really changed in the new generation of 15-inch MacBook Pros. Regardless of configuration, 2017 Apple laptops are equipped with 7th generation (Kaby Lake) processors. The core clock of my Mac at its maximum configuration is 3.1 GHz (Turbo Boost 4.1 GHz). It is equipped with a 2000 GB high speed SSD and 16 GB LPDDR3 RAM with a speed of 2133 MHz.
Many advanced users require 32 GB of RAM from a computer, but buying such a MacBook will not work, since it does not exist. Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president, spoke out on the matter following a barrage of criticism. Phil argues that the increase in RAM is detrimental to the autonomy of the portable Mac. His words are confirmed by the fact that the new iMac of the current iteration can be ordered with 32 GB of RAM.
Anyway, for most users, 16GB of RAM is more than enough, so it doesn't make sense for them to overpay for 32GB. I'm sure the next generation MacBook Pro will get twice as much RAM as the current one.
Benchmarks have shown that the updated models this year are faster than their predecessors by 20%. This is a pretty good performance boost considering the fact that Apple has just replaced processors and graphics cards.
Both the processor and video card are faster as a result of the increased clock speed.
In the Geekbench 4 benchmark, the 15 ”MacBook Pro released in mid-2017 scores 4815 points in single-core mode and 16,410 points in multi-core mode. All cores are clocked at 3.1 GHz.
For your information, the new processor, unlike what is inside the Mac computers released last fall, has hardware support for the H.265 codec. Thus, it handles 4K HDR video streaming and downloading faster. Previously, the processing of this codec was handled by the software, which put the processor under severe stress. Now that H.265 is supported in hardware, the load is much lower and the computer runs faster.
The difference between the 2017 and 2016 MacBook Pros is that the former handles HEVC in hardware and the latter in software.
On board the 2017 model, there are 4 USB Type-C / Thunderbolt 3 ports. They can be used to connect an external screen or charge the battery. If you have an old monitor with HDMI or Thunderbolt 2, then you can't do without a special adapter. The maximum transfer speed of USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 2 reaches 10 Gb / s, while the third generation Thunderbolt provides 40 Gb / s.
In order to be able to connect ordinary headphones, the engineers of the American company provided a 3.5 mm audio jack, which the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus lack.
Autonomy and charging time
Inside the 2017 15-inch MacBook Pro is a battery rated at 76 Wh. Apple claims that the laptop can last a month in standby mode. This is not surprising, because it practically does not consume battery power while in this state.
What's really impressive is that this unit is able to last about 10 hours of video playback. For the same amount of time he will be able to work with an open browser and a constant connection to Wi-Fi. Tests for the autonomous operation of the computer have confirmed this information.
Of course, a fully equipped MacBook Pro for 250 thousand rubles lives on one charge less than the most affordable one. The fact is that the top-end configuration received a much more powerful video card that consumes more power. In everyday use, you may not notice the difference in performance, but in resource-intensive, the differences are obvious.
For day-to-day tasks such as surfing the Internet, the system disables the powerful AMD Radeon Pro and uses Intel HD Graphics instead. This saves battery power noticeably.
The included charger has enough power to quickly charge the MacBook's battery. If you do not touch the computer during recharging, that is, do not use it, then the process will take no more than 2 hours. Moreover, it can be connected to an external Power Bank power supply, but it must also support fast charging.
Alternatives to MacBook Pro 15 "2017
The laptop market has no shortage of 15-inch models. Particularly competitive with the current MacBook Pro 15 ”is the Dell XPS 15.6. The latter is not inferior to its rival in performance, despite the fact that it is noticeably cheaper. For example, the XPS 9560 with a seventh generation Core i7 processor, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, a powerful Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics card and a 4K screen will cost less than 200 thousand rubles.
Dell XPS 9560 on the left and MacBook Pro 15 "2017 on the right
A good alternative is offered by Razer, a company in the business of gaming laptops and not only. For the price of a top-end 2017 MacBook Pro, you can get the Blade Pro with a 17-inch screen. It will have a quad-core i7, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD, and a full suite of required ports.
Conclusion
The first MacBook Pro computer was released 11 years ago, and during this time Apple has achieved an impressive result. Professionals all over the world use them, including me. These computers primarily captivate with their beautiful Retina display, usability and performance.
So is it worth overpaying for a top-of-the-line 15-inch tag? In my opinion, no. If it is more powerful than the basic configuration, then it is quite insignificant. MacBook Pro 15 ”in the maximum configuration is more expensive than the minimum by more than 120 thousand rubles, and for this money you get 2 TB of memory (instead of 256 GB), a faster processor and a video card. On paper, the difference in performance is significant, but in real conditions, the situation is completely different. One way or another, the cheapest Pro-scale will not disappoint you in this regard, its power reserve is solid.
Advantages:
- Improved performance;
- Hardware support for H.265 (10-bit 4K);
- macOS 10.12.5 right out of the box;
- Touch ID;
- Super fast memory.
Flaws:
- There is no possibility of choosing the amount of RAM;
- Low autonomy under load;
- Insufficient number of ports;
- The Touch Bar seems a bit small.
2017 15-inch MacBook Pro review.
Apple did not delay the release of the new version of the massively updated MacBook Pro in the fall of 2016 and presented it in the summer of 2017 at WWDC 2017. The new MacBook Pros have not changed externally, but the characteristics have improved more than noticeably - the seventh generation Intel Kaby Lake processor did his job. In this review - a detailed study of the MacBook Pro 2017 - the new "king of laptops".
Design
The 15-inch MacBook Pro 2017 is no different from its predecessor in Fall 2016 in terms of design. And this is by no means a minus, but, on the contrary, a plus of the laptop.
With notable hardware improvements, the 2017 MacBook Pro has managed to maintain the same chassis design, which is still just 15mm thick. For a second, this is less than the latest MacBook Air models, which until recently were considered the undisputed leaders in terms of thickness and weight. Now, the Pro line has not only caught up with the Air, but also surpassed it. A few years ago, this might have seemed like something fantastic. The 2017 MacBook Pro retains the weight of its predecessor. The new "proshka" is very light - only 1.83 kg.
Reducing the thickness and weight of Apple devices most often entails changes in other parameters. MacBook Pro 2017 (exactly like 2016) is no exception. First of all, the fan holes have moved to the underside of the laptop. They are quite sharp, albeit not critical. But most importantly, they will cause MacBook Pro users to make sure that the desk on which the laptop is installed is dry.
The key design changes for the 2017 MacBook Pro from the 2015 model are the giant Force Touch trackpad and Touch Bar. The only word that is right to describe the new trackpad is luxurious. It's really big, even when compared to the traditional, rather large trackpads of Apple laptops. True, in use it will be many times more convenient than previous versions only for people engaged in creative work. In normal use, the trackpad simply won't be able to reach its full potential. The Touch Bar is described in more detail below.
The MacBook Pro 2017 has only five connectors - four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, two on each side and a 3.5 mm audio output. Note that four Thunderbolt 3 ports are available on every 15-inch model, but only on the most expensive 13-inch model. The basic version of the MacBook Pro 2017 with a 13-inch display has only two such ports.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro 2017 is available in two colors - silver and a slightly darker space gray. Apple did not dare to release the MacBook Pro in gold and pink, believing that a professional tool should remain serious.
The 2017 MacBook Pro comes with a traditional set: the laptop itself, an 87W power adapter, a 2m USB-C cable for charging and flyers. It is important to note that an adapter from USB-C to USB-A is not included with the device, which is why after purchasing laptops, most users will almost immediately need to purchase it.
Touch Bar
The Touch Bar is a narrow OLED strip with a resolution of 2170 × 60 pixels, which you would like to call a display. Apple, however, is against and encourages users and developers to refer to the panel as an "input device." Apparently, in order to reinforce this point of view in the community, Apple has forbidden to manually adjust the brightness of the panel, it adjusts to the laptop screen. The Touch Bar does not copy the brightness of the display, it always remains slightly darker, but at the same time visible and legible from any angle, even if you are not directly behind your laptop.
Despite the fact that the Touch Bar is not an innovation of the 2017 MacBook Pro, but the version of the fall of last year, we decided to tell you more about it. For the sake of completeness.
The Touch Bar replaces the top row of keys on the MacBook Pro keyboard, offering the user different information instead, depending on which application is running, settings, and actions. To the right of the Touch Bar is the Touch ID fingerprint scanner. It is physically separate from the touchpad, but they work together. So, when you open the laptop lid, an inscription appears on the Touch Bar, requesting unlocking using Touch ID.
About the Touch ID itself a little lower, now we will focus on the Touch Bar. The standard panel options include buttons: Esc, adjust the brightness and volume, and call the voice assistant Siri. The basic Touch Bar layout also features a small button (with an arrow icon) that allows you to access the traditional MacBook keyboard functionality. The button is really small and sometimes you can't get to it, which certainly causes inconvenience, especially when getting to know the Touch Bar.
In applications, the Touch Bar is being rehabilitated. When working in Safari, the panel displays thumbnails of open web pages, search buttons, and open a new tab. Initially, it may seem that there is absolutely no need for them, but over time you realize that the Touch Bar can be a huge time-saver. For example, to switch to the required tab, you do not need to remove your hand from the trackpad or mouse and, accordingly, waste time. Easy, and over time, intuitive movement - and now you have saved a second. Over a year of using a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, there are thousands of such seconds.
The Calendar app on the Touch Bar displays dates you can quickly switch between, Pages and Word use text editing tools, media players use the navigation bar, and more. Each Touch Bar-optimized application offers a list of options for use that are most often customizable. If the application does not have Touch Bar support, then when you work with it, the OLED panel will display standard controls.
The Touch Bar has a lot of standard settings, but most of all, I am glad that Apple allows you to change the same standard panel layout. The selection of elements for the panel is carried out by simply transferring the necessary objects from the main screen to the "lower" one. There are many such elements ranging from the function of minimizing all windows, ending with the launch of Launchpad.
Again, we note that although the initial introduction of the Touch Bar back in the fall of 2016, the touch bar remains the main feature of the MacBook Pro and the 2017 sample. Apple has managed to create a new way of control that you want to use. The main thing is that it really increases productivity.
Touch ID
The Touch ID fingerprint reader in the 2017 MacBook Pro works in the same way as the iPhone and iPad. When the laptop is first started, the system prompts the user to add their fingerprint by repeatedly pressing their finger on the sensor. When the fingerprint is registered, in the settings it is possible to specify for what purposes to use Touch ID. In addition to unlocking your MacBook Pro, the scanner can be activated for purchases using Apple Pay, as well as in the Mac App Store and iTunes Store.
Screen
The main screen specs of the 2017 MacBook Pro are unchanged from the previous two models. The laptop is equipped with the same 15.4-inch Retina display with LED backlight with a resolution of 2880 × 1800 pixels (220 ppi) and high quality color reproduction (millions of colors). Additional features have been improved to make the 15-inch MacBook Pro's display the best Apple laptop ever has.
The 2017 MacBook Pro borrows the P3 wide color gamut from the iPhone 7, which Apple calls Wide Color. Display P3 has richer reds and greens than sRGB, whites are also purer and blacks are deeper. This will make watching modern movies in high quality and working with graphics on the MacBook Pro 2017 especially enjoyable, and in the latter case, effective.
The screen brightness of the 2017 MacBook Pro is just as impressive. With manual settings, the maximum display brightness was 530 cd / m2. At the same time, the officially declared display brightness is 500 cd / m2. In daylight conditions, the screen with such brightness remains readable at a fairly comfortable level. MacBook Pro screen brightness can be adjusted automatically, but based on user preferences.
The anti-glare properties of the MacBook Pro 2017 display are at their best, which further enhances readability in bright daylight. The screen itself is not easily soiled - leaving a fingerprint on it is not so easy, and removing them is not a problem at all.
Hardware
The whole point of the MacBook Pro 2017 is to update the technical specifications of the laptop, to be more specific - to equip the new items with the seventh generation Intel Kaby Lake processor. When the original MacBook Pro came out with a refreshed design and Touch Bar in the fall of 2016, these processors weren't yet available.
There are two main configurations for the 15-inch MacBook Pro. We tested the most powerful model with a 3.1GHz Intel Core i7 and a Radeon 560 GPU with 4GB of GDDR memory and compared it to the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro from Fall 2016. The latter is powered by an Intel Core i7 2.9GHz chip and a Radeon 460 GPU.
The new MacBook Pro has managed to surprise. In the Geekbench 4 benchmark, it scored 4891 points in single-core mode and 16,426 points in multi-core. For comparison, last year's MacBook Pro scored 4635 and 13,416 points in similar tests, respectively. The increase in performance, therefore, was 12% in single-core mode and 24% in multi-core. These numbers turned out to be surprising, since typically typical processor improvements result in up to 10% performance gains.
Although the nominal clock speeds of the MacBook Pro processor increased by 200-300 MHz, the actual usable performance under load increased by 500-600 MHz. This explains such a strong increase in benchmarks in multi-core mode. Also, Kaby Lake heats up significantly slower than Skylake (last year's MacBook Pro), which allows Turbo Boost technology to increase the clock speed of the processor for a longer period during intensive work.
Kaby Lake processors have support for over 16GB of DDR3 and DDR4 RAM. However, the MacBook Pro uses LPDDR3 modules, which are spec-limited to 16GB. Because of this, the new MacBook Pros come with "only" 16GB of RAM. Those looking for a 32GB MacBook Pro will have to wait for the next update in the lineup, which is likely to use Cannon Lake processors.
Now for the GPUs. The 15-inch MacBook Pro 2017 has a Radeon Pro 555 (2GB GDDR5) and Pro 560 (4GB GDDR5) graphics cards, depending on the model, with a performance of 1.5 teraflops and 1.9 teraflops, respectively. Despite a different series compared to the predecessor model (the MacBook Pro 2016 is equipped with Radeon 400-series chips), the new GPUs do not have a big increase in terms of performance.
The OpenCL graphics benchmark in Geekbench 4 showed that the performance of the MacBook Pro 2017 and MacBook Pro 2016 video cards is almost the same. The novelty scored 42 990 points, and last year's version - 42 887. Almost complete absence of changes is confirmed by other tests. In the 3D benchmark Unigen Heaven, the older model received 461 points and 18.3 fps, while the new items got 468 points and 18.6 fps.
Like previous models, the 2017 MacBook Pro can automatically switch to an integrated GPU when power savings are needed. The integrated graphics processor is Intel HD Graphics 630, while the 2016 model was equipped with Intel HD Graphics 530. The improvement is insignificant, but we consider it necessary to fix it.
Connectors
As mentioned above, the 2017 MacBook Pro has five connectors. On the left side there are two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, on the right, closer to the screen, the same two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports and a 3.5 mm headset jack. That's all - the laptop has no other connectors or slots for cards.
The decision to leave only such connectors in the MacBook Pro drew criticism back in the fall of 2016, when the original cardinally updated model of the "firmware" was released. After a few months, the negative reviews did not diminish. To connect a regular flash drive, SD card, external hard drive and other devices to the MacBook Pro 2017, you will have to use adapters, which Apple itself sells at fairly high prices. So, a single-port USB-C / USB adapter in the official online store of the company is estimated at 1,490 rubles, and a multi-port USB-C / VGA with the ability to connect a device with a standard USB connector to a MacBook Pro, a VGA monitor and a USB-C charging cable - 5 490 rubles. In other words, expensive.
To justify Apple, it is worth noting that this is exactly how the purposeful transition to a different connector format is performed. The company intends to establish USB-C as a single and universal format for its devices, making it the mainstream in a few years.
I still want to end the conversation about the ports of the MacBook Pro 2017 on a good note. Even two. First, Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) connectors allow you to charge your laptop from an external battery. This option can really help out in situations when access to the laptop is needed like air, and its charge level has come to an end. And secondly, MacBook Pro 2017 charges through any Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) port - you don't have to put up with the inconvenient location of the charging cable.
Webcam
You don't need to talk a lot about the MacBook Pro 2017 webcam. The laptop has the same 720p FaceTime HD camera found in both the 2016 MacBook Pro and the 2015 MacBook Pro. Apparently, Apple does not yet see any point in improving this component. In general, we agree with them. The camera reproduces colors decently, which is enough for making video calls. Photos taken with the 2017 MacBook Pro are grainy, even in good lighting conditions.
Audio
The sound of the MacBook Pro 2017, in contrast to the camera, pleases. The stereo speakers of the 15-inch laptop are located to the left and right of the keyboard, due to which the sound has become much louder. Back at the presentation of the previous version of the MacBook Pro with the same speakers, Apple promised that their sound will fill the whole room. And the promise was kept.
The sound from the 2017 MacBook Pro stereo speakers is clear across the board, including bass. And it's not just about listening to lossless formats. In our tests, even YouTube music did not contain any audio anomalies or any interference. MacBook Pro speakers will satisfy everyone, but you should understand that they will not replace studio speakers.
Battery life
All MacBook models have a battery life as stated by Apple. MacBook Pro 2017 proves it once again. According to Apple, the laptop should last up to 10 hours while browsing the Internet or playing movies without the need for recharging. Testing in practice showed that the company did not lie. The 2017 MacBook Pro lasted 10 hours and 20 minutes when playing movies over the Internet, with headphones connected and brightness reduced to 75%.
Configuration and prices
13-inch MacBook Pro 2017
Note: All 13-inch MacBook Pro models feature 7th Gen Intel Kaby Lake processors and 8GB of RAM.
- Intel Core i5 2.3 GHz, SSD 128 GB, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640, two Thunderbolt 3 ports - 94,990 rubles.
- Intel Core i5 2.3 GHz, SSD 256 GB, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640, two Thunderbolt 3 ports - 109,990 rubles.
- Touch Bar and Touch ID, Intel Core i5 3.1 GHz, 256 GB SSD, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650, four Thunderbolt 3 ports - 131,990 rubles.
- Touch Bar and Touch ID, Intel Core i5 3.1 GHz, SSD 512 GB, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650, four Thunderbolt 3 ports - 146,990 rubles.
15-inch MacBook Pro 2017
- Touch Bar and Touch ID, Intel Core i7 2.8 GHz, 16 GB of RAM, SSD 256 GB, Radeon Pro 555 2 GB, four Thunderbolt 3 ports - 174,990 rubles.
- Touch Bar and Touch ID, Intel Core i7 2.9 GHz, 16 GB of RAM, SSD 512 GB, Radeon Pro 560 4 GB, four Thunderbolt 3 ports - 204,990 rubles.
Should you buy?
If you need a powerful tool for work, in particular, on the road, and you have not updated your MacBook in several years, or are just thinking about buying a great laptop that will last a long time, the MacBook Pro 2017 is the best candidate. Once again, we note that we are talking about a tool for work. For games or performing some basic tasks, it is better to look for an option with a more affordable price tag.
If you own a 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, then the 2017 MacBook Pro is probably best to skip. Yes, you will feel a significant performance boost, but nothing more. There are too few changes from the previous model to migrate. In addition, if you just want a powerful Apple computer, you better take a closer look at the iMac 5K 2017 ().
Conclusion
In the case of the 2017 MacBook Pro, Apple decided to please everyone and it did it. The updated line of "firmware" presents a relatively inexpensive 13-inch MacBook Pro without Touch Bar, but with much better characteristics than the 12-inch MacBook and similar portability; 13-inch MacBook Pro with almost top-end filling and thus the Touch Bar - for those who really want it; and 15-inch versions for maximum productivity. Each laptop is great and worth the money, again for those people who know why they need a MacBook Pro.
