Macbook Pro Developer Review

1. Macbook Pro Developer Review Car And Driver
2. Macbook Pro Developer Review Pro
3. Macbook Pro Developer Reviews

Specs of the model reviewed:

• 2.3GHz 8-core 9th-generation Intel Core i9 processor Turbo Boost up to 4.8GHz

• AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 4GB of GDDR6 memory

• 16GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory

• 1TB SSD storage

The last the Macbook Pro got a major update was a shocking 4 years ago and many publications are celebrating the new design. However, the lack of physical Escape and Function keys is a disaster for one major set of Apple's customers — Developers. Here is the 13-inch MacBook Pro configuration sent to TechRadar for review: CPU: 2.0GHz Intel Core i5-1038NG7 (quad-core, 8 threads, 6MB cache, up to 3.8GHz) Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics RAM.

The saga of the Apple butterfly keyboard has seemed like an endless one. It is still something that consumers will associate with Apple for many more years to come. I had one keyboard replacement for my laptop, and it was a complete pain. Luckily the replacement was done in 24hrs, but the hassle of having to spend a working day without my computer was enough to make me realise the pain that some people must have gone through with longer waits and more failures.

Since then, I have had no further issues. However, as soon as there was an announcement that Apple had replaced the butterfly mechanism with something in between a traditional scissor and the butterfly that would not have the same issues, I was interested. Not only were repeating keys annoying and replacements inconvenient, but I was also not keen on the feel of the butterfly mechanism. There was not enough travel and the keys made far too much noise.

So, while my previous laptop still had good resale value, I took the plunge and picked up the new 16'. I chose the higher-end base model (i9) because I do a lot of data analytics and use virtual machines to test computer code. As a coder, the addition of a physical escape key was the icing on the cake, as I loathed the Touch Bar escape key, especially when working in editors like VIM and when programming. To my pleasant surprise, there is far more to the new MacBook than just a new keyboard.

I was reluctant to upgrade to the last generation of 15.4' MacBooks for a simple reason: throttling. I wanted the capabilities of an 8-core processor to be able to virtualise and to be able to run complex Spark scripts using the cores as cluster nodes. However, when I experimented with a colleague's machine, the performance was severely limited due to thermal issues. Apple claims that the 16' has a new cooling system that has made this much less of a problem, and after using the machine for a couple of weeks and doing extensive multi-core processing, I can attest that this is true. The performance is stunning, and it is easily 2x the speed of the 4-core models that I've been using in the past. It makes a previously painful 10-minute data analysis that made changing scripts laborious, into something that only takes a few minutes and equates to much more productivity. It has also handled video conversions (using compressor) with ease and makes editing 4K a pleasure in Final Cut.

The most profound performance increase is in virtual machines. I do a lot of work with students running on different platforms and therefore get code that cannot be smoothly run on a Mac. Windows runs amazingly well on Parallels, and it has gone from being something I dread running because it is slow and takes ages to do anything, to a non-hassle. I have to do a lot of work with Hadoop systems and prefer to do this in a virtual machine so I can experiment without affecting my production environment. Linux also performs well, and even when under load it never slows down.

The screen is gloriously big, and allows me to have lots going on when I'm working. It is not much larger than the older model 15.4', but it looks far better with the smaller bezels. The brightness and clarity are excellent.

The 1TB of storage also means that I have the space for virtual machines, lots of datasets and video. This move to increase storage and bring down the price is one of the best Apple have ever made, and I am glad they have listened to their users and made the minimum workable for professionals.

Less relevant to me, but still notable, are the speakers. I do not do audio and video professionally except for presentations, so the speakers are not something I use in my typical workflow. Nevertheless, they sound great, and I am happy with the improvements. I still prefer a dedicated speaker for music, but while travelling this will mean I do not need a portable speaker anymore and less luggage is always a bonus.

Are there any downsides? I cannot find much to complain about at all. The weight is substantial but worth the trade-off for the power and screen size. The fans are loud when putting the system to work, and in a silent office, this can be a little disturbing for fellow workers. I use an iPad when working in places such as cafés and I think the 16' is too big for these locations, but the predecessor (15.4') was also the same. I also would not find a laptop this size comfortable when flying. For most people, it will be worth waiting for the 13/14' to be released next year with the new keyboard. If you are not a creative professional or coder, then that will more than suffice.

In conclusion, the 16' MacBook Pro is an excellent improvement over the previous generations. The keyboard is the star with the escape key and much improved key travel. The i9 offers incredible power, enabled through a much improved cooling system, and the extra storage means professionals no longer have to worry about carrying around external hard disks. The speakers rival portable ones and mean less luggage when travelling and will be a massive benefit for people dealing with audio on the move. In sum, this is the Apple laptop that we've been waiting for, and it has far more to it than just a better keyboard.

Apple's overhaul of its laptop lineup is complete: the new 13-inch MacBook Pro ditches the controversial butterfly keyboard in favor of the tried-and-true Magic Keyboard, and it brings spec bumps, to boot.

While the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is in most respects very similar to its 2019 predecessor, this update rounds out an overhaul of the MacBook lineup that Apple has had underway for several months.

The result is an effective workhorse machine that fills a gap in the lineup for the kinds of professional and hobbyist users who need strong CPU performance, but for whom graphics are secondary—people like developers and the like.

Table of Contents

Specifications

Our review unit has four ports, and that's the one we'd recommend buying to most people who are interested in this device. The benefit of the 13-inch MacBook Pro over the MacBook Air is a bit fuzzy at the former's low-end specs. But going to those 10^th-gen CPUs and four Thunderbolt ports makes a big difference. (The 4-port configurations start at $1,799.)

The cheapest two-port spec comes equipped with a 1.4GHz quad-core 8^th generation Intel Core i5 CPU, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645, 8GB of LPDDR3 memory at 2133MHz, and 256GB of solid-state storage. The four-port config starts with a 2GHz quad-core 10^th-generation Core i5, newer Iris Plus graphics with 64 execution units 16GB of 3733MHz LPDDR4X memory, and 512GB of storage with read/write up to 3GB/s.

You can upgrade the CPU to a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, the memory to 32GB, and the storage to 1, 2, or 4TB. (The last of those storage upgrades costs a bonkers $1,200 over the base 512GB option, so it certainly won't be an option for everybody.)

Maybe this is just a person with a hammer seeing everything as a nail, but to me, this machine's configuration options seem deliberately tailored for Web and mobile app developers. They're more than adequate for most Web and mobile design work, too. However, as strong as Intel's Iris Pro integrated graphics have gotten over the years, they still don't hold a candle to discrete graphics. Potential buyers looking to do 3D modeling, game development, video editing, or even heavy-duty photo editing might want to look at the 16-inch model instead (or any number of desktops or Windows laptops, of course).

The current version of macOS supports external GPU solutions, and Apple sells one in its own store from Blackmagic Design that includes a Radeon Pro 580 GPU with 8GB of GDDR5 memory. That's a step-up for this device, but that GPU is getting a little long in the tooth, and Apple seems to have stopped selling a more expensive, more powerful alternative from Blackmagic.

All that is to say that as long as graphics performance is not your main priority, the 13-inch MacBook Pro offers plenty of configuration options to you.

In terms of other specs, the MacBook Pro has a 720p front-facing camera (which seems a little weak for this price, to be honest), and it supports Bluetooth 5.0. Unfortunately, this laptop doesn't support Wi-Fi 6—an unfortunate omission given that these laptops should be built to last, and Apple's new mobile devices have it. Wi-Fi 6 isn't widespread yet, but it surely will be well before this laptop's life cycle is over.

This device has a 2,560×1,600-pixel, 13.3-inch display at 500 nits of brightness. It's a very good display, and while there are higher-resolution screens out there, it's more than good enough for this screen size.

Apple claims this laptop can get up to 10 hours of battery life when browsing the Web wirelessly or watching video content on the Apple TV app.

Macbook Pro Developer Review Car And Driver

Design

At first glance, you might not notice a difference between this MacBook Pro and its immediate predecessor. While Apple slimmed the bezels and increased the screen size from 15 inches to 16 in this laptop's bigger cousin, the basic design is essentially unchanged here.

It's very slightly, barely noticeably thicker to accommodate the new keyboard. And obviously, the keyboard and Touch Bar layout is different. But other than that, this is the same old 13-inch MacBook Pro. That's not a bad thing, though it would have been nice to get just a little more screen real estate like we did in the bigger MacBook Pro.

The laptop comes in two color options: silver and space gray.

As mentioned above, there are configurations with two Thunderbolt 3 ports, and others with four. For most use cases this laptop is intended for, I don't feel that two is enough—especially since one is going to be used for power.

Buying the two-port option essentially guarantees that most users will want to buy a USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 dock, and many of those are pricey enough that a lot of people might as well just buy the four-port version of this laptop.

Yes, the butterfly keyboard is gone

The most noticeable change is the new keyboard. I've already written quite a bit about this transition in the previously published 16-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air reviews, but the short version is that the butterfly keyboards included in the previous model were both divisive (some people hated the typing experiences, others liked it) and unreliable.

The latter was arguably the biggest issue; Apple had to launch a free repair program for virtually its entire laptop line to fix repeatedly failing butterfly keyboards. The company tried updating the design a couple times, which might have helped with reliability, but ultimately the answer was to hit the reset button and go to a tried-and-true scissor switch design modeled after the Magic Keyboard peripheral that Apple has long sold to go along with Macs.

Macbook Pro Developer Review Pro

So, this laptop's keyboard is now called the 'Magic Keyboard.'

Sometimes I wonder if Apple's propensity for clearly absurd names like 'Magic Keyboard' drives away more customers than it inspires; it might make people assume Apple is composed of charlatans selling snake oil. But in any case, it's a very good laptop keyboard, even if it's not 'magic.'

It offers 1mm of key travel. Apple says a rubber dome under each keycap preserves more energy than before, and the scissor mechanism locks into the keycap at the top of travel. Apple claims the latter of those details reduces wobble and increases stability.

The layout is a little different from prior, butterfly-equipped units, too. The arrow keys now have an inverted T shape, there's a physical escape key, and the Touch ID sensor (which doubles as the power button) is now distinct from the Touch Bar.

Touch Bar support from third-party apps is still mixed, and no one really needs a Touch Bar, but it can be nice to have. The only thing you're sacrificing for it now is physical function keys. Most users won't care, but a few will. Unfortunately for them, Apple no longer sells any MacBook Pros with physical function keys.

I didn't hate the butterfly keyboards as much as some people did, but I think this scissor-switch design offers a great typing experience. Between that and Apple's top-notch touchpad, I don't think most people will have many complaints about input, here.

Our review unit has four ports, and that's the one we'd recommend buying to most people who are interested in this device. The benefit of the 13-inch MacBook Pro over the MacBook Air is a bit fuzzy at the former's low-end specs. But going to those 10^th-gen CPUs and four Thunderbolt ports makes a big difference. (The 4-port configurations start at $1,799.)

The cheapest two-port spec comes equipped with a 1.4GHz quad-core 8^th generation Intel Core i5 CPU, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645, 8GB of LPDDR3 memory at 2133MHz, and 256GB of solid-state storage. The four-port config starts with a 2GHz quad-core 10^th-generation Core i5, newer Iris Plus graphics with 64 execution units 16GB of 3733MHz LPDDR4X memory, and 512GB of storage with read/write up to 3GB/s.

You can upgrade the CPU to a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, the memory to 32GB, and the storage to 1, 2, or 4TB. (The last of those storage upgrades costs a bonkers $1,200 over the base 512GB option, so it certainly won't be an option for everybody.)

Maybe this is just a person with a hammer seeing everything as a nail, but to me, this machine's configuration options seem deliberately tailored for Web and mobile app developers. They're more than adequate for most Web and mobile design work, too. However, as strong as Intel's Iris Pro integrated graphics have gotten over the years, they still don't hold a candle to discrete graphics. Potential buyers looking to do 3D modeling, game development, video editing, or even heavy-duty photo editing might want to look at the 16-inch model instead (or any number of desktops or Windows laptops, of course).

The current version of macOS supports external GPU solutions, and Apple sells one in its own store from Blackmagic Design that includes a Radeon Pro 580 GPU with 8GB of GDDR5 memory. That's a step-up for this device, but that GPU is getting a little long in the tooth, and Apple seems to have stopped selling a more expensive, more powerful alternative from Blackmagic.

All that is to say that as long as graphics performance is not your main priority, the 13-inch MacBook Pro offers plenty of configuration options to you.

In terms of other specs, the MacBook Pro has a 720p front-facing camera (which seems a little weak for this price, to be honest), and it supports Bluetooth 5.0. Unfortunately, this laptop doesn't support Wi-Fi 6—an unfortunate omission given that these laptops should be built to last, and Apple's new mobile devices have it. Wi-Fi 6 isn't widespread yet, but it surely will be well before this laptop's life cycle is over.

This device has a 2,560×1,600-pixel, 13.3-inch display at 500 nits of brightness. It's a very good display, and while there are higher-resolution screens out there, it's more than good enough for this screen size.

Apple claims this laptop can get up to 10 hours of battery life when browsing the Web wirelessly or watching video content on the Apple TV app.

Macbook Pro Developer Review Car And Driver

Design

At first glance, you might not notice a difference between this MacBook Pro and its immediate predecessor. While Apple slimmed the bezels and increased the screen size from 15 inches to 16 in this laptop's bigger cousin, the basic design is essentially unchanged here.

It's very slightly, barely noticeably thicker to accommodate the new keyboard. And obviously, the keyboard and Touch Bar layout is different. But other than that, this is the same old 13-inch MacBook Pro. That's not a bad thing, though it would have been nice to get just a little more screen real estate like we did in the bigger MacBook Pro.

The laptop comes in two color options: silver and space gray.

As mentioned above, there are configurations with two Thunderbolt 3 ports, and others with four. For most use cases this laptop is intended for, I don't feel that two is enough—especially since one is going to be used for power.

Buying the two-port option essentially guarantees that most users will want to buy a USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 dock, and many of those are pricey enough that a lot of people might as well just buy the four-port version of this laptop.

Yes, the butterfly keyboard is gone

The most noticeable change is the new keyboard. I've already written quite a bit about this transition in the previously published 16-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air reviews, but the short version is that the butterfly keyboards included in the previous model were both divisive (some people hated the typing experiences, others liked it) and unreliable.

The latter was arguably the biggest issue; Apple had to launch a free repair program for virtually its entire laptop line to fix repeatedly failing butterfly keyboards. The company tried updating the design a couple times, which might have helped with reliability, but ultimately the answer was to hit the reset button and go to a tried-and-true scissor switch design modeled after the Magic Keyboard peripheral that Apple has long sold to go along with Macs.

Macbook Pro Developer Review Pro

So, this laptop's keyboard is now called the 'Magic Keyboard.'

Sometimes I wonder if Apple's propensity for clearly absurd names like 'Magic Keyboard' drives away more customers than it inspires; it might make people assume Apple is composed of charlatans selling snake oil. But in any case, it's a very good laptop keyboard, even if it's not 'magic.'

It offers 1mm of key travel. Apple says a rubber dome under each keycap preserves more energy than before, and the scissor mechanism locks into the keycap at the top of travel. Apple claims the latter of those details reduces wobble and increases stability.

The layout is a little different from prior, butterfly-equipped units, too. The arrow keys now have an inverted T shape, there's a physical escape key, and the Touch ID sensor (which doubles as the power button) is now distinct from the Touch Bar.

Touch Bar support from third-party apps is still mixed, and no one really needs a Touch Bar, but it can be nice to have. The only thing you're sacrificing for it now is physical function keys. Most users won't care, but a few will. Unfortunately for them, Apple no longer sells any MacBook Pros with physical function keys.

I didn't hate the butterfly keyboards as much as some people did, but I think this scissor-switch design offers a great typing experience. Between that and Apple's top-notch touchpad, I don't think most people will have many complaints about input, here.

Macbook Pro Developer Reviews

Even if you preferred the butterfly keyboard, I don't think you'll hate this one. The reliability improvements probably make it worth the change no matter how you felt about the old keyboard.