“The first of the long-awaited updates to Apple’s pro-level laptops is on our teardown table, but what the heck is it? MacBook Pro Without Touch Bar? MacBook Pro With Function Keys? MacBook Pro With Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports?” iFixit writes. “No one quite knows what to call it—but we know exactly what to do with it.”
“While we are dying to send emojis with a tap of the Touch Bar, this ‘Book is missing the headlining feature of the 2016 MacBook Pro series—it sports physical function keys instead,” iFixit writes. “However, we do spy an XL (extra-long) escape key that sets this row of function keys apart.”
“At 54.5 Wh, this battery doles out ~27% less power between charges than last year’s edition—although with just three cells instead of six, it might be a tad easier to remove. That said, this Pro actually packs more oomph than its Touch Bar-equipped sibling, whose battery clocks in at 49.2 Wh,” iFixit writes. “Plus, Apple claims this battery’s good for 10 hours of wireless web browsing, equivalent to both last year’s 13″ MacBook Pro and the 41.4 Wh Retina MacBook 2016.”
Tons more info and gruesome photos in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Remember: “The RAM is soldered to the logic board. Pay for the upgrade now, or be stuck with 8 GB forever. There is no chance of upgrade.”
SEE ALSO:
Analyst: Apple’s MacBook Pro likely to get 32GB of RAM capacity in 2017 update; current 16GB RAM limitation due to Intel – November 1, 2016
How upgradeable is Apple’s brand new MacBook Pro? – October 31, 2016
The key mission of Apple’s new MacBook Pros – October 28, 2016
TIME Magazine: Apple’s new MacBook Pro Touch Bar is an inventive new way to get work done more quickly – October 28, 2016
Apple does touch right and, as usual, Microsoft does it wrong – October 28, 2016
IBT: Apple’s MacBook Pro Touch Bar is the coolest thing ever; will change the way we use laptops – October 28, 2016
Wired hands on with Apple’s New MacBook Pro: It’s a whole new kind of laptop – October 27, 2016
CNET on the new MacBook Pro: Apple’s amazing strip show reinvents the notebook – October 27, 2016
Hands on with Apple’s new MacBook Pro: Looks and feels so good it’s unreal – October 27, 2016
Apple debuts three new TV ads for all-new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar – October 27, 2016
Apple unveils groundbreaking new MacBook Pro with revolutionary Touch Bar and huge Force Touch trackpad – October 27, 2016
Soldered on ram is not a Pro laptop.
They should have gone this route to push the MacBook Air to it’s best, but kept the MacBook Pro at previous thickness to add more battery and easy to do ram and SSD upgrades.
Not looking forward to a client meeting this afternoon to talk about the new laptops and the sad state of the Mac Pro. What the hell Apple.
I agree– we can either buy the same MBP’s we’ve bought for the last 1.5 years for the SAME price or spend a bundle more for the new stuff which has all the useful ports removed and the Douche-Bar we didn’t ask for (or this lame basic 13-inch hobbled with only two ports, which isn’t acceptable in enterprise). Add to that all the fricken adapters we’re going to have to manage with the new hardware to do what we did without adapters before. Grade: D-
It seems to me the last optical drive MBP is hard to beat. 16 GB RAM, lots of ports, long lasting battery, easy to swap drives and battery.
Yeah! And Apple should also (re)-equip their mac with a mini-dp, usb-a/b, VGA, HDMI, DP, SD card, ethernet port. Their video card should also be swap. The ram and disk space should be upgradable to infinity. They should put a Blueray in there or 2.
While we are at it, Apple should also include a dongle for a zip and a SCSI drive.
Guys, I don’t know about you but, when I look at my bin, Apple didn’t started this dongle war. Look closer.
And pppppplllllleeeeaaaaasssse, don’t act like if this dongles swap war was new. Apple did not start it, too bad nobody sees that, they are trying hard to make it 1 port fits all. Few are actually figuring this out.
We’d be more satisfied if they actually moved forward faster with that, and committed to it completely but their own brand-new iPhone still requires lightning, and therefore can’t be charged from or synced with their own new laptops.
The USB-C/TB revolution should have waited one more year, so they could get all their ducks in a row – iPads, iPhones, Airpods, all should be USB-C/TB next year, and lightning will be done.
No one should buy an Apple device right now unless they have to, or just really enjoy having the latest, because next year should see the whole ecosystem change again (unless Apple is so lost they can’t see where they should be going).
To be fair you have a point, been checking dome of the competitors particularly the highly complimented HP machines and USB C only is not uncommon. Cost for such a relatively uninspiringly spec’d laptop is my main grimace I think.
@therealspike No one is saying we should not change with the times and add new technology. But the sudden removal of all those ports in one product year will be a pain in the butt for Mac admins. I’m not talking about folks who have one or two at home, I am looking at this as an admin of hundreds of Macs and feeling it for those who manage thousands. My 2015 15″ has two USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt 2, a MagSafe 2, an SD card slot, and an HDMI port. The replacement model will need a dongle or adapter to use any of the dozens of peripherals we have just in our office of 150. The 2016 model could have had two USB-C/T-bolt3 ports to replace one each USB and T-bolt2 and kept the rest. They are all useful, I use all of them every day. I will need over $150 in adapters to replicate these ports if/when I upgrade. The greater point is that it would be so easy for Apple to find out what the customers want/need/use but they increasingly don’t seem to care.
They should have done like they did in the past.
MacBook Pro Early 2008 – Magsafe, two USB 2, one Firewire 400, one Firewire 800, one ethernet, one Dual-link DVI, one ExpressCard slot. Total of eight ports. Seven different.
MacBook Pro Mid 2010 – Magsafe, two USB 2, one Firewire 800, one ethernet, one Mini DisplayPort, one SD slot. Total of seven ports. Six different.
MacBook Pro Mid 2011 – Magsafe, two USB 3, one Firewire 800, one ethernet, one Thunderbolt, one SDXC slot. Total of seven ports. Six different.
MacBook Pro Mid 2012 – Magsafe, two USB 3, one Firewire 800, one ethernet, one Thunderbolt, one SDXC slot. Total of seven ports. Six different.
MacBook Pro Retina 2012 – Magsafe, two USB 3, two Thunderbolt, one HDMI, one SDXC slot. Total of seven ports. Five different.
MacBook Pro Retina 2015 – Magsafe, two USB 3, two Thunderbolt 20, one HDMI, one SDXC slot. Total of seven ports. Five different.
MacBook Pro 2016 – Four USB-C. Total of four ports. One type.
In the past, they overlapped new ports with old ones. Firewire 400 to 800. Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt. USB 3 to Thunderbolt overlapped FIVE years.
Now with the 2016 model, you have no overlap with Magsafe, USB 3, Thunderbolt 20, HDMI and SDXC. It’s not like they don’t have room. In 2008 they had 8 ports. It’s going with the thin build that they eliminated them. Sorry, I thought thin was the “MacBook Air” line and the “Pro” line was for professionals doing real work in the field and having to connect to a multitude of devices. As a support person, I can’t use this new laptop. I have too many clients with such a variety of equipment that I might need to work on, that I need all the various connections for support.
For instance, is there a USB-C to Firewire 800 adapter? I can’t find one yet.
What is the new command-option-escape key sequence going to be I wonder???!?!