Items tagged with MacBook Pro
Apple yesterday confirmed the rumors that we’ve been hearing in tech circles for years; that it would be pushing Intel aside as its chip supplier for Macs. Instead, Apple has decided to pursue its own processor designs based around Arm architecture rather than x86. There should be some pretty sizable costs savings for Apple by bringing processor design in-house, and it allows for broader compatibility across all of its hardware families, including the ability to run iPhone and iPad apps in macOS 11 Big Sur. The folks in Cupertino are also banking on significant performance-per-watt gains over its currently-deployed Intel-based systems, and future Intel processors in the pipeline....
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Apple has finally done it; after years of speculation and hints that this move was coming, CEO Tim Cook announced today that the company is taking the steps to distance itself from Intel processors. Apple’s partnership with Intel dates back to 2006, when the company announced that it would shift from PowerPC to x86-based Core processors. However, Apple will now plot its own course using custom Arm chips that will power a new family of Mac computers. Cook called this a “Huge leap forward for the Mac”, while adding that “Integrating hardware and software is at the heart of what we do.” Interestingly enough, Apple still has new Intel-based hardware in...
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Later today, Apple is widely reported to announce that it will be shifting its future Macs from Intel x86 architecture to Arm. This wouldn't be the first time that the folks in Cupertino have made a seismic shift in processors used for its computers, but the stakes are even higher this time around as these machines will be using Apple-designed hardware. Famed Apple leaker, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, is reporting that the first Macs to be powered by its own Arm-based processors will be a new 13-inch MacBook Pro and an all-new 24-inch iMac. Apple wouldn't be leaving Intel behind if there wasn't some big upside in store for it (and its customers). In this case, Apple will have even more control...
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Apple's flagship 16-inch MacBook Pro is getting a new upgrade option today, and it doesn't come cheap. Both Apple and AMD today announced the availably of the new Radeon Pro 5600M mobile GPU, which will be the new high-end option for mobile professionals, slotting in above the current Radeon Pro 5500M. The Radeon Pro 5600M is still based on AMD's 7nm RDNA (Navi) architecture, but features a total of 40 compute units and 2560 stream processors with FP32 compute performance coming in at 5.3 TFLOPs. There are also changes to memory configuration; while the base Radeon Pro 5300 and Radeon Pro 5500 are only available with either 4GB or 8GB of GDDR6 memory, the Radeon Pro 5600M features 8GB...
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Apple has never been a company that has been praised for building "value laden" computers, but the company is drawing considerable flak for its more recent change with respect to its newly-launched 13-inch MacBook Pro (2020 model). Apple released the new 13-inch MacBook Pro earlier this month with a new scissor-style Magic Keyboard and 10th generation Intel Ice Lake processors in high-end configurations. However, base configurations of the new MacBook Pro soldiered on with 8th generation Coffee Lake processors, which was a bit of an annoyance to Apple fans (and likely a cost saving move for Apple). Now, Apple has doubled the price of the 16GB RAM upgrade for these base systems....
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As expected, Apple has announced the latest update to its entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, and it's pretty much a mixed bag if you been hanging on to every leaked spec that has been churned out by the rumormill. However, it's still a pretty solid upgrade for those that are firmly within the Apple camp. The biggest change, however, is the move to Apple's Magic Keyboard, which uses butterfly-style switches instead of the hated and failure-prone scissor switches that the company first introduced back in 2015. This update means that all of Apple’s MacBooks -- starting with last year’s 16-inch MacBook Pro, and then proceeding to the refreshed MacBook Air -- now have...
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If you're of the Apple persuasion, Best Buy is currently running an excellent deal on last year's 15-inch MacBook Pro laptop. Earlier this month, the retailer was running a promotion on three different 2019 MacBook Pros, but the cheapest of those models still rung in at a hefty $2,400. Today's deal is a lot easier on your wallet, and still gets you a pretty potent machine at a steep discount. Best Buy is selling the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (MV922LL/A) for $1,799 with free shipping, which represents a $600 discount from its MSRP. This is the base configuration with a 9th generation hex-core 2.6GHz Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM. For storage duties, you’ll find a 256GB...
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Here we are again, folks; the latest chapter in the ongoing "will they or won't they saga" of Apple's inevitable transition to Arm processors for its Mac computers. Today, we're receiving additional information that Apple's Arm conversion will start in 2021, and it comes from a very reliable source. That source is Mark Gurman, who says that the first Mac Arm chip will be based on Apple's upcoming A14 Bionic SoC destined for the iPhone 12 family of processors. Like the A14 Bionic, the Mac-centric processor will be built on TSMC's 5nm process node and will have a total of 12 cores. 8 of them will be high-performance cores (codename Firestorm), while 4 will be efficiency cores (Icestorm). For...
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Rumor has it Apple was originally planning to unveil a new set of AirPods during an event last month, but the Coronavirus pandemic prompted a later launch. When exactly will that be? We can't say for sure since the supposed AirPods Pro Lite is not an official product, but you can tentatively expect it to arrive next month. That is coming from Jon Prosser, a tech analyst and who runs the YouTube channel Front Page Tech. Prosser has his pulse on Apple's activities, and has accurately revealed launch plans in the past before they were officially made public. "New AirPods (which were supposed to be at the March Event) are now ready to go. Probably alongside the MacBook Pro next month," Prosser stated...
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Apple was forced to add user-facing battery health functionality in iOS 11.3 for its iPhones after it was found throttling performance on devices with "well worn" batteries. This battery management feature now allows you to see what percentage of your max capacity is available, and if your performance is currently being crippled due to an old battery (usually at 80 percent or less capacity). Apple is bringing similar functionality to Macs with a feature that will be called Battery Health Management according to The Verge, and will be found in Energy Saver Preferences within Settings. The purpose of the feature is to prevent premature aging of the batteries inside MacBooks, which...
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More than a few Apple MacBook users are reporting serious issues after trying to install the macOS Catalina 10.15.4 supplemental update. One Apple user reports that when attempting to install the update, about halfway through the computer shuts down. What's worse, this user noted that they were left with a bricked 2018 13-inch MacBook. The MacBook owner says that the computer won’t power on and that there is no power, no fans, or another activity when pressing and holding the power button. This same user also says that the MacBook was plugged in and fully charged while updating. An SMC reset did not help the issue. Several other users have posted in Apple's support forum that they also...
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When it comes to Apple's flagship 16-inch MacBook Pro, there's no question that it's an expensive proposition. The professional-focused laptop starts at $2,499 with a hexa-core Intel processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD and an AMD Radeon Pro 5300M discrete GPU. But if you're willing to put up with a slightly smaller display and Apple's butterfly keyboard, there are some excellent deals to be had on the previous generation 15.4-inch MacBook Pro family (Mid-2019). These deals come to us courtesy of Best Buy, which is discounting those notebooks by as much as $1,500 in the higher-spec'd configurations. At the lower end of the spectrum, we have model MV912LL/A, which comes with 16GB of...
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Technology companies sometimes talk about wanting to move on from passwords in favor of other authentication methods, with biometric security leading the way. But are biometric methods really secure? Researchers from Cisco's Talos division put fingerprint scanning under the microscope, and found some interesting shortcomings. Fingerprint scanners are in lots of places these days. Your smartphone probably has one, assuming it is relatively modern. So do encrypted USB devices, padlocks, and laptops, including Apple's MacBook Pro and a bunch of Windows system equipped with support for Windows Hello (which can include other security methods as well). Now here is what's frightening—in its testing,...
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Slowly but surely, Apple is moving on from using keyboards with a flawed butterfly mechanism, and outfitting new products with scissor switches like the ones it used on MacBook Pro models prior to the 2015 redesign. As such, it's expected that a couple of upcoming products—a new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air—will implement a so-called "Magic Keyboard" as well. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo outlined his predictions in a research note to investors. According to his note, Apple will release new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models in the second quarter of 2020, both with Magic Keyboards, which is how Apple dubs the return to scissor switches (it has a better ring to it, we suppose). His prediction...
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We could be seeing a barrage of products from Apple that utilize mini LED technology. In a note to investors, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted Apple will release half a dozen mini LED products throughout this year and next, including a 27-inch iMac Pro, 14.1-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, 12.9-inch iPad Pro, 10.2-inch iPad Pro, and a 7.9-inch iPad mini. That would be quite the refresh if it comes to pass. It could also lead to some tantalizing deals on current generation products as vendors look to clear out store shelves (physical and virtual) to make room for the new stuff. It's already been happening to some extent—the 32GB iPad is listed at $279 on Amazon (down from $329),...
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Late last year, Apple performed a major update to its flagship MacBook Pro family with the release of a new 16-inch model. The company kept the same Intel Coffee Lake processors, but included a number of key updates including a replacement for the failure-prone and unloved butterfly keyboard. Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro family is also due for an update, and the company is expected to launch it sometime this year. According to this latest 3DMark benchmark result unearthed by @_rogame, Intel is switching to Ice Lake processors for the 13-inch model, replacing the current Coffee Lake options. Time Spy i5-8279U 4C/8T 2.4GHz base 4.1GHz boost + Iris Plus 655 with 128MB eDRAM 28W (2019...
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Apple may be ready to add a "free" performance boost to its MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops in a future software update according to references found in beta macOS Catalina code. The latest build of the macOS Catalina 10.15.3 beta makes reference to what Apple calls "Pro Mode", and it will apparently be user-configurable. According to 9to5 Mac, the new strings related to Pro Mode can be traced directly to macOS' power management system. With the new strings, Apple provides the following warning for those that attempt to enable Pro Mode: "Apps may run faster, but battery life may decrease and fan noise may increase." There are also options to keep the fans running at a higher RPM until the...
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Late in 2019, Apple released its [mostly] new flagship MacBook Pro laptop with a larger 16-inch display, 100 WHr battery, and most importantly a new scissor-style keyboard to replace the hated and trouble-prone butterfly keys. It's a given that the more robust scissor key mechanism will arrive on Apple's smaller MacBooks in the future, and we could be looking at signs of the first of these products today. Thanks to some sleuthing by MacRumors, the company found his Apple product identifier in the European Economic Commission (EEC) database: A2289. A2289 is simply described as a "portable personal computer brand Apple" that is running macOS 10.15. Given that the 16-inch MacBook...
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If your 2019 model MacBook Pro (13-inch, two Thunderbolt 3 ports) is shutting down when there seems to be plenty of battery life left, you might have received a dud. You are certainly not alone. Several MacBook Pro owners have taken to support forums to complain of that very issue, and Apple has responded by posting a new support document acknowledging the issue. According to the support document, the shutdown bug is limited to just the 2019 MacBook Pro. It apparently affects two of the four available SKUs, including the one with a 1.4GHz quad-core processor and 128GB of storage ($1,299), and the one that pairs a 1.4GHz quad-core processor with 256GB of storage ($1,499). The two higher end SKUs...
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The hits just keep coming for Apple and its butterfly keyboard design that debuted back with the 2015 MacBook. A U.S. District judge nixed Apple's request to have a class action lawsuit brought against it over keyboard issues dismissed. As we have discussed on numerous occasions, the keyboards have been plagued with reliability issues, including keys that become stuck or fail completely after regular use. In some cases, a single speck of dust is enough to "kill" a key, resulting in an expensive keyboard replacement. Over the years, Apple has made refinements to the keyboard -- including the use of a silicone membrane to prevent debris from entering the key mechanism...
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Just last month, Apple out of the blue launched its 16-inch MacBook Pro flagship laptop, which includes a higher resolution display, a better keyboard, and a larger battery. However, a new research note from popular Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that another big update for the laptop is coming next year. Apple is said to be moving from a traditional LCD panel to Mini-LED technology, which is something that we've heard rumored for years now. However, Kuo says that the switch will happen by late 2020. The new Mini-LED displays will allegedly "significantly improve productivity and the entertainment experience", which doesn't really give us much to go on. However, a MacBook Pro with...
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Apple answered its numerous critics earlier this month when it released the all-new 16-inch MacBook Pro, which most notably ditched the incredibly problematic (and loathed) butterfly key switches in favor of the tried and true scissor mechanism. The move back to the scissor switches -- which had been employed in MacBooks prior to 2016 -- has resulted in a slightly thicker chassis, but the reliability and key "feel" improvements are more than worth it. In what should be a surprise to no one, reports are now indicating that an all-new 13-inch MacBook Pro will be arriving during the first half of 2020 with the same “Magic Keyboard” outfitted with scissor key switches. This...
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