Following hot on the heels of announcing a new MacBook Air and a new Mac mini with the M1 processor, Apple didn’t leave out another laptop.
The company officially announced the brand new MacBook Pro today, too. As is par for the course with the company’s new Macs, the new MacBook Pro features the brand new M1 processor. This is the most powerful processor Apple has created to date, and it’s based on the 5nm process.
Better performance
Apple’s new processor brings with it plenty of new capabilities to the mix. That includes a huge boost to processing power and performance. According to Apple, the M1 processor works up to at least 2.8X faster CPU performance, and up to a whopping 5X faster GPU performance. And for machine learning, the M1 processor ratchets things up even more, with the MacBook Pro getting up to 11X faster machine learning.
And, of course, the new MacBook Pro is equipped with Apple’s Neural Engine to help with the overall performance. Along with the M1’s unified memory architecture.
The new features
The new MacBook Pro brings new features to the table as well. It offers the same upgraded camera ISP for the webcam, which means it will offer better face detection, and better performance overall. The new MacBook Pro supports Wi-Fi 6, will run iPhone and iPad apps, supports Universal apps (both M1 and Intel apps), and features the Secure Enclave for improved on-device security.
The new MacBook Pro also features improved battery life. Up to 20 hours on a single charge — and Apple says this is the best battery life for a Mac ever. The display now supports P3 wide color, so colors will be even more accurate on the new machine. Speaking of which, the MacBook Pro features a 13.3-inch display.
It supports Touch ID, up to 16GB RAM, and up to 1TB SSD.
Pricing and availability
Apple says the new MacBook Pro starts at $1,299 — or $1,199 for education buyers. Orders go live today, and the computer starts shipping next week.