Roger Fingas
One of Apple's less emphasized upgrades in the 2016 MacBook Pro is better internal speakers, which should — in theory, anyway — be good enough that you might choose them over headphones or external speakers, if just for the sake of convenience.
Apple says that it has redesigned the speakers to ensure "maximize air displacement," as well as connect them directly to system power, allowing up to three times more peak power.
The net effect is claimed to be up to 58 percent more volume, and bass that's as much as 2.5 times louder. Bass is often one of the weakest aspects of laptop audio, since there's no room for a dedicated subwoofer.
Apple is also promising twice the dynamic range, though it hasn't provided any firm numbers in that area. It should, however, expand the highs and lows the speakers can hit without distortion or other issues — another common obstacle with laptops.
Apple announced the new MacBook Pro last week at an event at its Cupertino headquarters. Its main feature is the Touch Bar, a multitouch display strip at the top of the keyboard that replaces function keys and adapts automatically to the app being used.
While the computer is already on sale, in 13- and 15-inch sizes, U.S. online orders are currently taking 4 to 5 weeks to ship. One exception is the 2016 13" MacBook Pro without Touch Bar, which is now in stock at $1,499.00 with no tax outside NY in both Space Gray and Silver from Apple authorized reseller B&H Photo.
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18 Comments
Wait, I thought they were just charging exorbitant prices for basically the same computer... you mean they're actually innovating and putting real improvements in this machine and expect to recoup their r&d spending?! Preposterous... such a greedy company, they could just eat that cost and keep the computers the same price and lose money... they can afford it. /s
Great. Louder speakers, but no SD card slot so I can't even use it on the road with my camera without a stupid dongle. You'll need 3 or 4 dongles to make this a true "Pro" machine actually.
Really!? Wow. Big news. I thought they removed the speakers :{
I do appreciate the improvement in audio quality. My 12" MacBook is the best sounding MB/MBP I've ever heard.
Still, they're all pricey notebooks. I'll skip this round and wait for the next. And buy a bigger dongle box. Waiting for manufacturers to sell fast, high-capacity USB-C sticks. With multiple USB-C ports, I really don't need much in the way of dongles.
Not that I need one (cuz I don't), MacBook Pros while fairly stout machines, have been becoming commodity/consumer machines, and not high-end pro machines they once were.
Except that Apple wouldn't want to minimize the 'Pro' part of the name, I'd like to see them manufacture a more capable notebook for pro use- more than 16G RAM, user replaceable and user replaceable storage. Don't know how there current video chipsets compare to the competition, but I'd like to see star-of-the-art video. And keep at least one USB3 port. Maybe an ethernet port, too.
Basically, have one heavy-duty, high end MBP that isn't designed with thinness being the first priority. Or even the fifth. Sure the market would be small. Apple would adjust the price accordingly.