After seeing in iFixit's teardown that the base model of the new 2016 MacBook Pro without the Touch Bar had a removable PCIe SSD storage unit, many were excited at the possibility of aftermarket upgrade parts across the new MacBook Pro lineup.
But new images surfacing on the web this week after the first MacBook Pro with Touch Bar units began reaching the hands of buyers are showing that the Touch Bar models don't follow suit and have SSD storage chips soldered into their logic boards instead.
The Touch Bar is an exciting new feature that comes with the higher end MacBook Pro Apple unveiled last month, but you don't have to buy a new MacBook Pro to experiment with the Touch Bar resources that come baked into macOS on every Mac.
Last week we showed you a way to simulate the Touch Bar experience with a third-party app that utilizes the resources already in macOS, and now, another app called Touché is bringing a cleaner implementation of the Touch Bar simulator to all Macs.
As first customers begin to receive the new MacBook Pro, reviews of the long-expected hardware refresh to Apple's Pro notebook family hit the web this morning. Depending on the reviewer, the Touch Bar feature is either a gimmick or a productivity-boosting addition.
As for performance, the reviews are mixed: some people are saying that a lot faster SSD and RAM make the machine super snappy and others note Intel's Skylake chips barely push performance forward versus 2013 or later MacBook Pros.
After previewing a new version of its popular password-management utility, developer AgileBits today updated 1Password for Mac with support for the Touch Bar and Touch ID features on the new MacBook Pro (that you can't have yet).
The update is free to existing users of the $64.99 Mac app. 1Password can now be unlocked by resting your finger on the Touch ID sensor that's built into the new MacBook Pro's Touch Bar.
In addition, you can access your vaults faster by tapping the app's dedicated shortcuts on the Touch Bar.
Much has been said about the limits of the new MacBook Pro and the fact that its memory is capped at 16GB, presumably to preserve battery. Some users see this as a terrible limitation that could slow them down when performing memory-intensive tasks. But does the new MacBook Pro really need 32GB of RAM? Robin Harris, writing for ZDNet doesn't believe so:
Apple have a proven track record of ardently pursuing their vision, no matter the cost. The latest MacBook Pro serves as another reminder that the company is wholly unimpressionable by outside opinions, keeping up the dream of more simplistic products with every iteration, all the while taking away your beloved USB ports or SD card slots.
The ends might be justifiable, but the means can regardless lead to frustration with the most patient customers and complete alienation of the more short-fused ones. This cycle repeats every other year, when Apple decides to roll out hardware that is often just a little ahead of the curve.
Much has been made of the MacBook Pro’s latest changing of guard in the USB department. For now, the story goes, Apple has simply done their homework and found USB-C to be the technology fit for the immediate future. But the days of all ports are numbered if rumours are to be believed, as Apple generally contends that less is more and wireless the ultimate endgame. It does not take a giant leap to draw that conclusion and granted its validity, focus on the port situation has drowned out another discussion we clearly need to have at this point: Apple plans to get rid of the physical keyboard, and with the launch of Touch Bar on MacBook Pro the process is well under way.
There's a lot to love about Apple's new MacBook Pros. They're sleeker, smaller, have a larger trackpad and better speakers, and feature all-new USB-C ports. Unfortunately, these new ports also mean you're probably going to need to purchase some new cables.
Want to plug in your iPhone? You'll need a new cable. Connect your MacBook Pro to a non-Thunderbolt display? Yep, cable. You get the idea. So with this in mind, we decided to put together a list of some of the common cables you're probably going to need.
If you're really interested in that new Touch Bar that comes built into the top of the keyboard portion of the higher-end MacBook Pro, but don't have the dime to drop on an expensive new computer right now, then you're gonna love this.
A new hack has surfaced on Github that lets you simulate the Touch Bar on any Mac, and it's fully functional, sans the flashy OLED touch surface. We'll show you how to get it in this tutorial.
As the Internet keeps whining about supposed lack of features on the new MacBook Pro (let's bring back the floppy drive, shall we?) and Apple's master plan to make us buy more dongles, the Cupertino firm appears confident in the face of strong criticism that its latest notebook is indeed going to appeal to the general public and mainstream users.
According to supply chain chatter echoed by Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes, Apple's been pretty “aggressive” in placing orders for the new MacBook Pros.
The MacBook Pro controversy isn't dying down yet so Apple dispatched Craig Federighi, its Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, who discussed the new Pro and thinking behind the Touch Bar feature in a short video interview with CNET in which he also defends no-touchscreen Mac stance.
He goes on to reveal that Apple had in fact built several touchscreen prototypes that however didn't impress Apple executives enough to greenlight the project.
In addition to discounting USB-C adapters and peripherals, it appears Apple is also offering 25% off the new 4K and 5K LG displays for a limited time. On the company's website, you can see that both models have seen significant reductions in price with a "special pricing" note.
Apple on Friday announced that it would be temporarily cutting the prices on USB-C adapters and peripherals it sells in its stores. In a statement sent to several publications, the company said that it recognizes many users still rely on legacy connectors to get work done, and it wants to help them move to the latest technology.