While we wait year after year for completely redesigned MacBooks, the flagship MacBook Pro has slowly remade itself with regular incremental upgrades. This is especially true of the 15-inch MacBook Pro, which received a hefty internal tuneup last summer, and is getting another one today.
Back in 2018, we called the jump to 8th-gen, 6-core Intel Core i7 and Core i9 processors, more storage and RAM options and a color-temperature-sensing True Tone screen, “an impressive, if predictable, set of internal component upgrades.” This year’s pre-WWDC MacBook Pro refresh does even less, but the impact may be greater.
That’s because the new processor options are jumping to the front of the pack, adding 9th-gen Core i7 and i9 CPUs, in both 6-core and 8-core versions. That marks the first time an 8-core processor has been available in a MacBook, and Apple says it stands as the “fastest Mac notebook ever.”
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Calling the creatives
Why focus on raw CPU power when so many of the complaints we see about the MacBook lineup concerns wonky buttery keyboards and lack of useful ports, or the growing white elephant status of the OLED touch bar?
It may be because Apple needs to win (or in many cases hang on to) the hearts and minds of the creative class, its most important constituency. That’s what prompted the move to 6-core Core i9 processors last year, and the even bigger jump to 9th-gen 8-core versions of the Core i9 this year.
For anyone dealing with editing very high-resolution images or video, compiling large blocks of code, or working in 3D, the extra headroom can be important, if you’ve got the budget to spring for the highest-end configurations. But new parts in some of the other configurations will also give those systems a boost.
For example, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is getting new, faster quad-core CPU options, but just as was the case last year, the entry level 13-inch Pro without the Touch Bar gets ignored again. That’s a shame, as it’s the model most likely to attract new or casual buyers. Apple is clearly pushing those shoppers to the latest MacBook Air.
Overall, Apple says jumping from a quad-core model to an 8-core one will double performance, and even the 6-core to 8-core improvement is 40 percent. As always, we’ll test these claims in the CNET Labs when new hardware is available. One lesson Apple has hopefully taken to heart is the heat-related CPU throttling that affected last year’s high-end models, quickly fixed via a patch.
Sticky fix
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mac update without some news about the now-infamous butterfly keyboard. As part of the MacBook Pro update, the company says it is still working to “address customer concerns” about the shallow keyboard now found on every current MacBook.
That means a change to the keyboard mechanism itself. The company wouldn’t specify what part it was changing, but presumably it’s something with the membrane under the keys or the very thin butterfly hinges under each keycap.
As part of this upgrade program, Apple says it is also making some changes to how keyboard repairs are processed, to make them faster, and will extend out-of-warranty keyboard service to every MacBook with a butterfly keyboard, all the way back to the original 12-inch MacBook.
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To take an unpopular position for a moment, I’ve been one of the few out there willing to defend, or at least tolerate, the butterfly keyboard. In my overall defense of the MacBook keyboard, I never arrive at a ringing endorsement, but at least say, “The sheer level of MacBook keyboard hysteria overstates the case. Like all computer horror stories, the evidence is largely anecdotal (except for all the lawsuits).”
If you’re looking at buying a new MacBook Pro, consider this. The gains over last year’s models will be modest, and there’s a reason Intel (and Apple) often compare systems versus models from three or so years ago. If you’re in the 3-plus year club, the gains are likely to be astounding, and as good as they’re going to get until probably this time next year at the earliest.
CNET’s Shara Tibkin contributed to this report.