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MacBook Pro 2015 Specs Vs. New MacBook 2016: Is It Worth Upgrading To Apple’s New Laptop For Owners Of Last Year’s Model?

By Josh Moorcroft
Published on: 23:10 PST, Oct 30, 2016

Apple used an event on Thursday to completely refresh their MacBook Pro lineup of laptops. Whilst the 13-inch and 15-inch variants of Apple’s MacBook Pro have seen minor updates each year, this is the first time that Apple has completely overhauled the design and functionality of their flagship laptop. But is the new 2016 MacBook Pro a worthwhile upgrade for owners of the current 2015 model? In this article, we’ll compare the two Apple laptops and what they offer in terms of design, power and functionality.

Design

If there’s one area where Apple has always had an advantage over their competition, it’s in design. According to PC Mag, the new 2016 model MacBook Pro drastically improves upon the design of the 2015 model MacBook Pro – which has used the same design since 2012. Apple boasts that their new laptop is 17 percent thinner than last year’s model, with 23 percent less volume. Each new MacBook Pro is also considerably lighter than its predecessor. The 13-inch model, in particular, weighs only 3 pounds – which is on par with the MacBook Air.

What’s more, for the first time in the MacBook Pro’s history, Apple is offering some colour variation to consumers. Unlike the 2015 model MacBook Pro and previous models before it, the 2016 model MacBook Pro is available in both traditional silver finish and space grey – a popular colour option available with the iPhone 6S and iPad Pro.

Functionality

Perhaps where the 2016 MacBook Pro stands out the most from its predecessor is the new touch bar. According to The Guardian, Apple uses their new touch bar to completely replace the traditional row of function keys across the top of the keyboard. This new OLED touch screen changes depending on what the user is doing with the laptop. For example, the screen will act as your favorites bar whilst browsing the web in Safari. That being said, this functionality won’t come with all new MacBook Pro models.

That being said, anyone who decides to upgrade from the 2015 MacBook Pro to this year’s model will take advantage of a new Retina display that boosts brightness by 67 percent and offers an altogether higher resolution than last year’s model. At the same time, the size of the Force Touch trackpad has been increased by 46 percent.

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Specs

When it comes to the specs inside of this year’s MacBook Pro models, Apple has improved the performance capability of its flagship laptops, albeit by not all that much. Apple’s cheapest 2016 model with the aforementioned touch bar will set you back $1,799 and offers a sixth-generation 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Graphics 550, 8GB of memory and a 256GB PCIe-based solid-state drive. Those specs are largely on par with last year’s base model MacBook Pro, with the only noticeable difference being the newest generation processor.

That being said, there’s a considerable leap in price this year. Last year’s MacBook Pro would have cost you $1,299, which is considerably cheaper than this year’s offering. What’s more, the new MacBook Pro models will cost you even more if you live in the U.K., with the company citing Brexit as the reason behind a considerable price jump in the country.

Finally, on the hardware side of the laptop, it’s also worth mentioning Apple’s drastic changes in terms of the MacBook Pro’s ports. As a laptop design for power users, the 2015 model MacBook Pro comes complete with an HDMI port, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, an SDXC card reader, and two USB 3.0 ports. In comparison, this year’s model offers either two or four Thunderbolt 3 ports and a headphone jack. Whilst these ports are capable of replacing all of the above, you’re undeniably going to need a lot of adapters to use with the new MacBook Pro.

[Featured Image by Stephen Lam/Getty Images]

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