Best Specs For Mac 2017

Apple Today, Apple begins shipping the new 2018 refresh of the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro. The new machines are not major redesigns, but they offer configurations with 8th-generation Intel processors and more cores than before—a maximum of six cores on the 15-inch model (compared to four in last year's models) and four in the 13-inch model (compared to two). That means faster performance for many use cases.

Maximum SSD capacity is also doubled, and the MacBook Pro line offers DDR4 RAM for the first time. The laptops also borrow some features from the iMac Pro and the iPad Pro—the T2 chip and True Tone, respectively—and feature a revised butterfly keyboard, the third generation of the design Apple introduced in 2016 (the revision is a little more significant this time around). Apart from those tweaks to the keyboard, the basic design of the MacBook Pro is unchanged. The specs, though, get a noteworthy bump. Internals and specifications The top configuration of the 15-inch model includes an 8th-generation, six-core Intel Core i9 CPU clocked at 2.9GHz. Six-core Intel Core i7 processors are also options.

The 2017 iteration of the MacBook Pro featured DDR3 memory with a maximum configuration of 16GB. This time, it's DDR4, and the maximum is 32. The faster memory uses more energy, so a bigger battery is now included—but Apple's battery life estimate remains the same as last year's. The GPU in the top standard configuration is listed as an AMD Radeon Pro 560X. Note: We originally reported that the top GPU available for this machine was the AMD Radeon Pro 555X, as that was what slides Apple showed us indicated, but now that the machines have launched in Apple's stores, we've learned that it's the 560X, so we've updated it here.

You will want the best specs for video card, and the thunderbolt 3/USB C v.2 will allow for decent performance from external storage. I would advise you to get the largest SSD size, so that you aren't constantly running out of space and you will get excellent speed from it.

Further ReadingThe 13-inch model has different specs, of course. It still only offers integrated Intel graphics, for one thing—Intel Iris Plus 655, this time with 128MB of eDRAM. But the maximum number of cores is again doubled—in this case to four—in 8th-generation Intel Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs, which run at up to 2.7GHz. Maximum SSD capacity is also doubled; it's now 2TB.

The maximum memory is still 16GB. Apple claims the 13-inch model is up to twice as fast as its predecessor, though it will of course depend on the application. The new MacBook Pros will ship with macOS High Sierra, but they can be upgraded to Mojave, Apple's newest announced operating system, when it launches later this year. The 2016 MacBook Pro, an Apple-made chip that is almost an integrated mini iOS device that controls the Touch Bar and Apple Pay while also acting as a bridge for certain hardware. The T2 chip added in the iMac Pro last December greatly expanded on this, becoming an all-purpose system-management controller and offering a bunch of new security features. Both new MacBook Pros now include the T2. Further ReadingWe described the T2 in some detail.

The T2 in the MacBook Pro does everything that the iMac Pro's does, plus some new things. It facilitates a secure boot feature, encrypts files in storage on the fly, manages the SSDs, and enables Hey Siri, whereby you can simply call up Siri with your voice. Most users wouldn't really know about the T2 chip unless you told them, but it has noteworthy security ramifications, and it speaks to Apple's focus on end-to-end integration and its aggressive efforts to free itself from dependence on outside chip providers. The iPad Pro introduced a feature called True Tone, which also made it to the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X. When enabled, it adjusts the white balance of the screen based on ambient light to maintain eye comfort and achieve what Apple has described as a more natural look. It doesn't actually make the screen more objectively accurate, but it's a popular feature, especially for long sessions of use in varying lighting conditions. All of the new 2018 Touch Bar MacBook Pros support True Tone now, both on the main display and the Touch Bar. The keyboard The butterfly keyboard design Apple introduced in 2016 has been divisive.