Pro video editor with hands-on time praises new MacBook Pro for Touch Bar & speed

The new 15-inch model is "buttery smooth" when cutting 5K ProRes footage in Apple's Final Cut Pro X, Trim Editing's Thomas Grove Carter said in a Huffington Post article retweeted by Apple marketing head Phil Schiller. Carter commented that he's been using his system at work for the past week, though it's not clear how he obtained the machine, since the first online orders are only now preparing to ship.

The Pro is said to run faster than Windows laptops with superior components, and in fact be powerful enough to support twin 5K displays, possibly making it good enough to use as a full-time editing tool — not just away from a desk.

On the Touch Bar, Carter suggested that "your cold heart will soften," since it provides direct access to contextual commands that can make keyboard shortcuts redundant. "It works, it's faster and it's more productive," he said.

He adopted a more defensive tone with the computer's ports, suggesting that for him the need for USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 adapters "might be an annoyance for six months" before he's "in the future again." The editor mentioned that he's already been using USB-C-based Samsung T3 SSDs as external drives, and that the Pro actually let him stop using USB-A adapters.

Many professionals are still using USB-A and Thunderbolt 2 peripherals, leaving them no choice but to buy adapters if they also want the new Pro. The computer is also missing an SD card slot, and even a native HDMI port, potentially demanding even more adapters.